Welcome to the Laura Heiser Lab
The research laboratory of Laura Heiser, Ph.D., is focused on identifying predictors of drug response and resistance, using novel imaging techniques to identify phenotypic changes associated with molecular aberrations and therapeutic response, and studying the influence of the microenvironment on cancer cells. In all of this research, the lab uses well-integrated experimental and computational approaches to understand the complexity of cancer. Because this work is necessarily multidisciplinary in nature, the lab frequently collaborate with diverse teams of scientists, as illustrated by involvement in the NIH LINCS Consortium, NCI Cancer Systems Biology Consortium (CSBC), and DREAM Project.
Heiser Lab news
2024:
- Laura Heiser inducted into the 2025 class of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows
- Laura Heiser participates in expert cancer panel hosted by The Portland Business Journal and Kuni Foundation
- Laura Heiser appointed CEDAR's associate director of complex systems modeling
- Our collaborative paper published in Nature Communications describes a novel mouse model of triple-negative breast cancer: "MYC Deregulation and PTEN Loss Model Tumor and Stromal Heterogeneity of Aggressive Triple-Negative Breast Cancer" (September 2023)
- Heiser Lab study of dynamic drug responses published in Nature Communications: "Analysis and modeling of cancer drug responses using cell cycle phase-specific rate effects" (June 2023)
- Laura Heiser and collaborators write about agent-based modeling: "Digitize your Biology! Modeling multicellular systems through interpretable cell behavior"
- Laura Heiser and collaborators awarded $1.6M grant by Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation for Health and Policy to develop a prototype multiscale model designed to predict therapeutic responses of tumor ecosystems in triple-negative breast cancer
Prospective Ph.D. students
Learn more about the admissions process for OHSU's Department of Biomedical Engineering.
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The Heiser Lab is part of the Department of Biomedical Engineering's systems biology research.