Leslie Saucedo

Visiting Assistant Professor

she/her

Phone: 253-535-7561

Email: lsaucedo@plu.edu

Office Location:Rieke Science Center - Room 147

Office Hours: (Off Campus) Mon: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (On Campus) Tue: 10:00 am - 11:00 am (On Campus) Thu: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Website: https://www.pugetsound.edu/biology-current-students/research/biology-faculty-research/leslie-saucedo

Curriculum Vitae: View my CV

  • Professional
  • Biography

Education

  • Ph.D., Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1999
  • B.S., Microbiology, University of Illinois, 1991

Selected Articles

  • Leslie Saucedo. "Getting to Know Your Cells." Springer Vol. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-30146-9, 2023: 108pps.
  • Leslie Saucedo, Rosalie Triolo,* Kate Segar*. "How model organisms can inform the emerging paradigm of the role of antioxidants in cancer." Molecular Cancer Research Vol. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786, 2021: Jan;19(1):38-41.
  • Krystle T. Pagarigan*, Bryce W. Bunn*, Jake Goodchild*, Travis K. Rahe* (Edlefsen), Julie F. Weis* and Leslie J. Saucedo. "Drosophila PRL-1 is a growth inhibitor that counteracts the function of the Src oncogene." PLoS One 2013: 8(4): e61084.

Accolades

  • 2018 John Lantz Senior Fellowship for Research or Enhanced Study
  • 2015 1st place award from Society for Professional Journalists in Magazine Science Reporting
  • 2014 USGS Non-Competitive Assistance Award
  • 2013 Dirk Andrew Phibbs Memorial Award for Research

Biography

Leslie Saucedo’s research focus is understanding the mechanisms that allow for unregulated cell growth—a basic hallmark of cancer. Cancer has long been understood to be a genetic disease; there are more than 100 genes implicated in promoting cancer when they are mutated. In particular, Saucedo uses fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model for the underlying genetic changes that subvert the normal biology of cell growth and division. Fruit flies share with humans more than two-thirds of the genes known to play a direct role in human disease. Saucedo and her students focus primarily on the protein PRL-1 in regard to human cancer biology. While elevated levels of PRL-1 are used as a clinical marker to stage advanced cancers, Saucedo’s work focuses on how misregulated PRL-1 functionally contributes to cancer. Uncovering such specific mechanisms in model organisms such as fruit flies is often the first step for developing targeted therapies to halt cancer progression. Saucedo’s genetic research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute. Her published work in journals such as PLOSONE, Mechanics of Development, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, and Nature Cell Biology has been well-cited in the field. Saucedo teaches courses in areas including Genetic Determinism, Cell Biology, and Cancer Biology.