Gustavo W. Leone, PhD

Gustavo W. Leone, PhD, started in his role as Director of the MCW Cancer Center, Senior Associate Dean of Cancer Research, and Professor of Biochemistry on April 15, 2020. Prior to his arrival at MCW, Dr. Leone served as the Director of the NCI-designated Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina from March 2017 to April 2020. Dr. Leone’s past research includes graduate work in biochemical and biophysical approaches to study protein function and virology (reovirus), with a specific emphasis on mechanisms of viral mediated entry into host cells. As a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University, he had the seminal finding linking Cyclin Dependent Kinases to the control of E2F transcription factors and regulation of the cell cycle.

Currently, Dr. Leone has an active research program that utilizes genetic models (cell-based systems, worms, and mice) to study Rb/E2F & PTEN signaling in the context of cell cycle control, endoreduplication, developmental biology and cancer (endometrial, liver, pancreatic, and breast cancers), as well as the genetics and biology of PTEN and the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Leone’s research group has made seminal contributions in two broad areas of research, one in the role of the Rb/E2F pathway in development and cancer, and the other in signaling between cells within the tumor microenvironment.