Our People

Osamu Tetsu MD, PhD
Principle Investigator

Dr. Osamu Tetsu has benefited from extensive training in cancer and molecular biology after a residency in general surgery. Dr Tetsu received his MD and PhD in Japan and moved to the United States in 1997 for postdoctoral training with Dr. Frank McCormick at UCSF. Since then, Dr. Tetsu has discovered that cyclin D1 is a b-catenin target gene (Nature 398, 1999) and that CDK2 kinase activity is dispensable in cancer cells (Cancer Cell 3, 2003). The former work has been cited by more than 1,500 research papers. In addition, Dr. Tetsu has collaborated with Daiichi Pharmaceuticals to create a novel drug screening system for colon cancer therapeutics (Cancer Research 61, 2001; US Patent No.6787321, 2004). Together with a colleague in Pediatrics he identified causative genes in the MAPK signaling pathway in cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome (Science 311, 2006; Human Molecular Genetics 17, 2007). More recently, Dr. Tetsu found that cyclin D1 degradation is mediated by phosphorylation at Thr286 through the MAPK signaling cascade and the FBXW8, which is an E3 ligase (PLoS ONE 1, 2006). In 2007, Dr. Tetsu joined the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery to expand the scope of our basic science research programs to further integrate head and neck cancer.

Dr. Phuchareon received her PhD from the Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan in 1996. Upon completion of her degree, she was appointed as an Instructor at the Mahidol University Thailand and San Francisco State University. After completing her post-doctoral study at the UCSF Cancer Research institute, she joined the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery in January 2008.

Dr. Ohta is a visting scholar from Japan where he is a general surgeon. Dr. Ohta received his MD from the Kochi University and PhD from the Chiba University in Japan. With great interest in continuing his research career, Dr. Ohnta joined the Head and Neck Cancer Research laboratory in February 2008.