Research Summary

Over the past decade, my laboratory has pioneered multiple approaches for perturbing, quantifying, and interpreting cancer heterogeneity in normal and diseased tissues. We investigate phenotypic heterogeneity, whether arising from microenvironment, epigenetic or genetic sources, and its impact on cancer evolution, drug tolerance and effective treatment strategies.

Research Funding

  • August 1, 2014 - March 31, 2026 - Maximizing the predictive power of high-throughput, microscopy-based phenotypic screens , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA184984
  • April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2025 - Scalable Image-Based Approach for Profiling and Annotating Very Large Compound Libraries , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: 2R01 CA184984-06A1
  • September 1, 2019 - August 31, 2024 - A drug discovery paradigm for fast-tracking adaptations to high altitude , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: DARPA, Sponsor Award ID: Panacea
  • August 1, 2014 - July 31, 2019 - (PQD1) An Iterative Approach for Overcoming Evolving Targeted Therapy Resistance , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA185404
  • September 1, 2007 - July 31, 2014 - Image based phenotypic profiling of single-cell responses to perturbations , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01GM081549

Education

National Taiwan University, BA, 1985, Mathematics
University of California, San Diego, MA, 1987, Mathematics
University of California, San Diego, PhD, 1990, Mathematics (Advisor: Dr. Richard Hamilton)

Honors & Awards

  • 2004
    Thomas T. Hoopes Thesis Prize for best undergraduate thesis at Harvard (Maciag)
  • 2005
    UTSW endowed scholar: Cecil H. and Ida Green Scholar in Biomedical Computational Science
  • 2008
    Simmons Cancer Center Best Poster Award (Singh and Ku)
  • 2009
    Gilman Postdoc of the Year Award (Loo)
  • 2010
    UTSW Postdoc of the Year Award (Loo)

Selected Publications

  1. Li L, Shen S, Bickler P, Jacobson MP, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Searching for molecular hypoxia sensors among oxygen-dependent enzymes. Elife. 2023 07 26; 12.  View on PubMed
  2. Bogdanov A, Salib MN, Chase AB, Hammerlindl H, Muskat MN, Luedtke S, Barbosa da Silva E, O'Donoghue AJ, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Molinski TF, Jensen PR. Small Molecule in situ Resin Capture - A Compound First Approach to Natural Product Discovery. bioRxiv. 2023 May 30.  View on PubMed
  3. Rinaldi C, Waters CS, Li Z, Kumbier K, Rao L, Nichols RJ, Jacobson MP, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Dissecting the effects of GTPase and kinase domain mutations on LRRK2 endosomal localization and activity. Cell Rep. 2023 05 30; 42(5):112447.  View on PubMed
  4. Heinrich L, Kumbier K, Li L, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF. Selection of Optimal Cell Lines for High-Content Phenotypic Screening. ACS Chem Biol. 2023 04 21; 18(4):679-685.  View on PubMed
  5. Stölzel F, Fordham SE, Nandana D, Lin WY, Blair H, Elstob C, Bell HL, Mohr B, Ruhnke L, Kunadt D, Dill C, Allsop D, Piddock R, Soura EN, Park C, Fadly M, Rahman T, Alharbi A, Wobus M, Altmann H, Röllig C, Wagenführ L, Jones GL, Menne T, Jackson GH, Marr HJ, Fitzgibbon J, Onel K, Meggendorfer M, Robinson A, Bziuk Z, Bowes E, Heidenreich O, Haferlach T, Villar S, Ariceta B, Diaz RA, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF, Prosper F, Montesinos P, Martinez-Lopez J, Bornhäuser M, Allan JM. Biallelic TET2 mutations confer sensitivity to 5'-azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia. JCI Insight. 2023 Jan 24; 8(2).  View on PubMed
  6. Heinrich L, Kumbier K, Li L, Altschuler SP, Wu LF. Selection of optimal cell lines for high-content phenotypic screening. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 12.  View on PubMed
  7. Bao F, Deng Y, Wan S, Shen SQ, Wang B, Dai Q, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF. Publisher Correction: Integrative spatial analysis of cell morphologies and transcriptional states with MUSE. Nat Biotechnol. 2022 Aug; 40(8):1295.  View on PubMed
  8. Bao F, Deng Y, Wan S, Shen SQ, Wang B, Dai Q, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF. Integrative spatial analysis of cell morphologies and transcriptional states with MUSE. Nat Biotechnol. 2022 08; 40(8):1200-1209.  View on PubMed
  9. Sun X, Bieber JM, Hammerlindl H, Chalkley RJ, Li KH, Burlingame AL, Jacobson MP, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Modulating environmental signals to reveal mechanisms and vulnerabilities of cancer persisters. Sci Adv. 2022 01 28; 8(4):eabi7711.  View on PubMed
  10. Bieber JM, Sanman LE, Sun X, Hammerlindl H, Bao F, Roth MA, Koleske ML, Huang L, Aweeka F, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Differential toxicity to murine small and large intestinal epithelium induced by oncology drugs. Commun Biol. 2022 01 27; 5(1):99.  View on PubMed
  11. Ji W, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Analysis of growth cone extension in standardized coordinates highlights self-organization rules during wiring of the Drosophila visual system. PLoS Genet. 2021 11; 17(11):e1009857.  View on PubMed
  12. Sanman LE, Chen IW, Bieber JM, Steri V, Trentesaux C, Hann B, Klein OD, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Transit-Amplifying Cells Coordinate Changes in Intestinal Epithelial Cell-Type Composition. Dev Cell. 2021 02 08; 56(3):356-365.e9.  View on PubMed
  13. Kochanowski K, Sander T, Link H, Chang J, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF. Systematic alteration of in vitro metabolic environments reveals empirical growth relationships in cancer cell phenotypes. Cell Rep. 2021 01 19; 34(3):108647.  View on PubMed
  14. Morinishi L, Kochanowski K, Levine RL, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Loss of TET2 Affects Proliferation and Drug Sensitivity through Altered Dynamics of Cell-State Transitions. Cell Syst. 2020 07 22; 11(1):86-94.e5.  View on PubMed
  15. Sanman LE, Chen IW, Bieber JM, Thorne CA, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Generation and Quantitative Imaging of Enteroid Monolayers. Methods Mol Biol. 2020; 2171:99-113.  View on PubMed
  16. Rajaram S, Roth MA, Malato J, VandenBerg S, Hann B, Atreya CE, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF. A multi-modal data resource for investigating topographic heterogeneity in patient-derived xenograft tumors. Sci Data. 2019 10 31; 6(1):253.  View on PubMed
  17. Hsu CH, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF. Patterns of Early p21 Dynamics Determine Proliferation-Senescence Cell Fate after Chemotherapy. Cell. 2019 07 11; 178(2):361-373.e12.  View on PubMed
  18. Deng Y, Bao F, Dai Q, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ. Scalable analysis of cell-type composition from single-cell transcriptomics using deep recurrent learning. Nat Methods. 2019 04; 16(4):311-314.  View on PubMed
  19. Mender I, LaRanger R, Luitel K, Peyton M, Girard L, Lai TP, Batten K, Cornelius C, Dalvi MP, Ramirez M, Du W, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Brekken R, Martinez ED, Minna JD, Wright WE, Shay JW. Telomerase-Mediated Strategy for Overcoming Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Targeted Therapy and Chemotherapy Resistance. Neoplasia. 2018 08; 20(8):826-837.  View on PubMed
  20. Curtis A. Thorne, Ina W. Chen, Laura E. Sanman, Melanie H. Cobb, Lani F. Wu, Steven J. Altschuler. Planar Enteroids Reveal an Autonomous WNT And BMP Circuit Controlling Intestinal Epithelial Growth and Organization. The FASEB Journal. 2018 Apr 1; 32:659.14-659.14.  View on PubMed

Go to UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI