Leah Mitchell Email & Phone Number

La Jolla, Ca, Us

New York, New York, Us

New York, New York, Us

New York, New York, Us

At Tocagen I oversee an outstanding group of individuals that run preclinical studies to assess immune MOA, PK, and biocompatibility of Tocagen's current and future gene therapy products.

San Diego, California, Us

Fate Therapeutics is dedicated to using cellular therapy to treat rare diseases and blood cancers. Fate utilizes small molecule, ex vivo, pulse treatment of umbilical cord blood in order to enhance stem cell engraftment. I worked with a team that focused on researching ways in which to build upon this platform in order to reduce Graft versus host disease and enhance Graft versus tumor response.

At GNF I conducted research in the lead discovery/high throughput screening group; specifically, designing screens to assess the impact of proteins and small molecules on human T cell activation and differentiation. Additionally I conducted follow-up analysis on newly identified targets that emerged from these screens and worked with several groups (protein production, genetic sequencing and expression, pharmacology, compound management) in order to identify new druggable pathways which could be targeted for treatment of autoimmunity and cancer immunotherapy. Additionally, follow-up on lead targets involved the use of animal models of disease including but not limited to autoimmune mouse models and transplantable tumor models.

Fort Collins, Co, Us

At Colorado State University my research focused on understanding how inflammation, which is essential to most successful vaccines, also paradoxically serves as a major constraint on vaccine effectiveness. I observed that vaccination induces the rapid mobilization and recruitment of a population of CD11b+Gr-1+ myeloid cells to draining lymph nodes. Critically, these cells appeared to markedly suppress overall vaccine responses by blocking T and B cell activation. For example, when vaccine-elicited myeloid cells were eliminated by administration of liposomal clodronate at the time of or shortly after vaccination, cellular and humoral immune responses were markedly increased. We hypothesized therefore that vaccine-associated inflammation induced strong counter-regulatory immune responses that limited overall vaccine effectiveness and that these myeloid cells homed to draining lymph nodes and were key mediators of this process. Moreover, systemic depletion of these cells or blockade of their recruitment to the LN using small molecule chemokine receptor antagonists dramatically improved vaccine responses. This work was validated in several tumor models in mice with the end goal of developing a therapeutic cancer vaccine adjuvant and required pharmacokinetic analysis of our small molecule as well as extensive work with the dosing formulation. The follow up work included a trial in 21 companion dogs with spontaneous B cell lymphoma with full immune assessment throughout the study and determination of remission duration and survival.

Albuquerque, Nm, Us

Investigated the immunological impact of nanoscale carbonaceous particulate matter, more specifically multiwalled carbon nanotubes, in adult mice. Duties included development and testing of a novel hypothesis that inhaled mutiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) resulted in increased production of Transforming Growth Factor Beta in the lung leading to systemic activation of the cyclooxygenase pathway and subsequent systemic immune suppression in mice. Most notably, mice were unable to mount a T-cell dependent antibody response and had reduced T cell proliferative capacity.

Albuquerque, Nm, Us

The University of New Mexico works in close collaboration with Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute which allowed me to conduct research at a private contract research organization while completing my graduate work. To that end, I also conducted several projects external to my dissertation studies which included designing and coordinating a full toxicity study in mice with inhaled arsenic trioxide, and measuring the immunological impact of inhaled Coal, diesel and gasoline exhaust. I also designed and conducted several non-human primate studies to investigate a model of LPS- induced pulmonary inflammation and protection following budesonide insufflation and low level Carbon Monoxide inhalation treatment and was also part of several contract studies for pharmaceutical companies involving toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of inhaled compounds in animal models including non-human primate, beagle dogs, ferrets, rats and mice.

Albuquerque, Nm, Us