Leslie Shaw

Leslie Shaw, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology at UMass Chan Medical School's T.H. Chan School of Medicine. She holds secondary appointments across multiple graduate programs including Cancer Biology, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies, and MD/PhD training. Her laboratory investigates signaling pathways driving breast cancer metastasis, with a decade-long focus on Insulin Receptor Substrate (IRS) proteins.

Shaw's research centers on the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway and its role in tumor progression. Her lab employs in vitro and in vivo models to dissect how IRS adaptors regulate cancer stem cell self-renewal, invasion, and metabolism. Current structural work aims to solve IRS-1/2 conformations using CryoEM to develop novel metastatic cancer therapeutics. Key findings include IRS-2's regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics and MYC-mediated stemness.

Her recent publications (2022-2024) reveal IRS-2's role in mitotic regulation and metastatic niche formation, with translational emphasis on targeting hyperinsulinemia-driven progression in obese patients. The lab maintains active collaborations with UMass Cancer Center researchers.

• Dean's Award for Outstanding Faculty Contributions to Graduate Education (2023)
• Numerous student fellowships including NIH/NCI F31 and DOD Breast Cancer awards
• 2024 R01 grant: "IRS2 and mitotic regulation in breast cancer"

Shaw mentors MD/PhD students and postdocs through UMass's Morningside Graduate School, with 15+ alumni now in academic medicine (UNC Chapel Hill, Novartis, Takeda Oncology). Her lab maintains core facilities for CryoEM, mass spectrometry, and mouse modeling of metastasis, with recent SPARK grant funding for oligonucleotide therapeutics development.