Dannielle Engle

Dannielle Engle is an American biologist and assistant professor of the regulatory biology laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Engle's research aims at improving detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Early life and education
Engle started her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University in music as a violinist. She then changed her path to explore biology and conducted undergraduate research in genetics studying fruit flies. Engle graduated from Northwestern with degrees in both biological sciences and asian studies. After her undergraduate degree, Engle pursued graduate school at the University of California San Diego. During this time, Engle lost her father to pancreatic cancer and decided to dedicate her career to pancreatic cancer research. She joined the lab of Dr. Geoffrey M. Walh at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in order to begin her career in cancer biology studying the mammogenesis in stem cells due to the similarity in cellular processes to cancer progression. After graduate school, Engle moved to the United Kingdom to complete her postdoctoral studies under the mentorship of Dr. David Tuveson at the Cambridge Research Institute but she finished her time in the lab back in the United States after helping move the lab to Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory where she held the title of Senior Research Fellow and became a Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Research Laboratory Ambassador through her community outreach efforts. During her postdoctoral studies, Engle focused her efforts on probing a specific carbohydrate antigen, CA19-9, released by pancreatic tumor cells. She also pioneered studies of pancreatic cancer in organoid pancreas models.

Career and research
In 2019, Engle returned to the Salk as an assistant professor. Her lab is focused on improving detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer which has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. Since starting in 2019, Engle's lab has begun creating transgenic mouse models of pancreatic cancer that have tumors that express the uniquely human CA19-9 tumor antigen. This will allow the lab to better recapitulate the human tumor environment and move towards better diagnostics and treatments for pancreatic cancer.

Awards and honours

 * 2019 Skip Viragh Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Career Development Award
 * 2016 - 2018 NIH NCI Career Transition K99/R00 Award
 * 2009 -2011 California Breast Cancer Research Program Fellowship
 * 2005 - 2009 UCSD Chancellor's Fellowship
 * Theodore T Puck Award

Select publications

 * Ponz-Sarvise, M., Corbo, V., Tiriac, H., Engle, D.D., Frese, K.K., Oni, T.E., Hwang, C.I., Öhlund, D., Chio, I.I.C., Baker, L.A., Filippini, D., Wright, K., Bapiro, T.E., Huang, P.S., Smith, P.D., Yu, K.H., Jodrell, D.I., Park, Y., Tuveson, D.A. Identification of Resistance Pathways Specific to Malignancy Using Organoid Models of Pancreatic Cancer. (2019) Clinical Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-1398
 * Elyada, E., Bolisetty, M., Laise, P., Flynn, W.F., Courtois, E.T., Burkhart, R.A., Teinor, J.A., Belleau, P., Biffi, G., Lucito, M.S., Sivajothi, S., Armstrong, T.D., Engle, D.D., Yu, K.H., Hao, Y., Wolfgang, C.L., Park, Y., Preall, J., Jaffee, E.M., Califano, A., Robson, P., Tuveson, D.A. Cross-Species Single-Cell Analysis of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Reveals Antigen-Presenting Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts. (2019) Cancer Discovery. 9(8):1102-1123. DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-19-0094
 * Engle, D.D., Tiriac, H., Rivera, K.D., Pommier, A., Whalen, S., Oni, T.E., Alagesan, B., Lee, E.J., Yao, M.A., Lucito, M.S., Spielman, B., Da Silva, B., Schoepfer, C., Wright, K., Creighton, B., Afinowicz, L., Yu, K.H., Grützmann, R., Aust, D., Gimotty, P.A., Pollard, K.S., Hruban, R.H., Goggins, M.G., Pilarsky, C., Park, Y., Pappin, D.J., Hollingsworth, M.A., Tuveson, D.A. The glycan CA19-9 promotes pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in mice. (2019) Science. 364(6446):1156-1162. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw3145
 * Tiriac, H., Belleau, P.*, Engle, D.D.*, Plenker, D., Deschênes, A., Somerville, T.D.D., Froeling, F.E.M., Burkhart, R.A., Denroche, R.E., Jang, G.H., Miyabayashi, K., Young, C.M., Patel, H., Ma, M., LaComb, J.F., Palmaira, R.L.D., Javed, A.A., Huynh, J.C., Johnson, M., Arora, K., Robine, N., Shah, M., Sanghvi, R., Goetz, A.B., Lowder, C.Y., Martello, L., Driehuis, E., LeComte, N., Askan, G., Iacobuzio-Donahue, C.A., Clevers, H., Wood, L.D., Hruban, R.H., Thompson, E., Aguirre, A.J., Wolpin, B.M., Sasson, A., Kim, J., Wu, M., Bucobo, J.C., Allen, P., Sejpal, D.V., Nealon, W., Sullivan, J.D., Winter, J.M., Gimotty, P.A., Grem, J.L., DiMaio, D.J., Buscaglia, J.M., Grandgenett, P.M., Brody, J.R., Hollingsworth, M.A., O'Kane, G.M., Notta, F., Kim, E., Crawford, J.M., Devoe, C., Ocean, A., Wolfgang, C.L., Yu, K.H., Li, E., Vakoc, C.R., Hubert, B., Fischer, S.E., Wilson, J.M., Moffitt, R., Knox, J., Krasnitz, A., Gallinger, S., Tuveson, D.A. Organoid Profiling Identifies Common Responders to Chemotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer. (2018) Cancer Discovery. 8(9):1112-1129. DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-18-0349
 * Quaranta, V., Rainer, C., Nielsen, S.R., Raymant, M.L., Ahmed, M.S., Engle, D.D., Taylor, A., Murray, T., Campbell, F., Palmer, D.H., Tuveson, D.A., Mielgo, A., Schmid, M.C. Macrophage-Derived Granulin Drives Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer. (2018) Cancer Research. 78(15):4253-4269. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-3876
 * Wolff, R.A.*, Wang-Gillam, A.*, Alvarez, H.*, Tiriac, H.*, Engle, D.*, Hou, S.*, Groff, A.F., San Lucas, A., Bernard, V., Allenson, K., Castillo, J., Kim, D., Mulu, F., Huang, J., Stephens, B., Wistuba, I.I., Katz, M., Varadhachary, G., Park, Y., Hicks, J., Chinnaiyan, A., Scampavia, L., Spicer, T., Gerhardinger, C., Maitra, A., Tuveson, D., Rinn, J., Lizee, G., Yee, C., Levine, A.J. Dynamic changes during the treatment of pancreatic cancer. (2018) Oncotarget. 9(19):14764-14790. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.24483
 * Öhlund, D., Handly-Santana, A., Biffi, G., Elyada, E., Almeida, A.S., Ponz-Sarvise, M., Corbo, V., Oni, T.E., Hearn, S.A., Lee, E.J., Chio, I.I., Hwang, C.I., Tiriac, H., Baker, L.A., Engle, D.D., Feig, C., Kultti, A., Egeblad, M., Fearon, D.T., Crawford, J.M., Clevers, H., Park, Y., Tuveson, D.A. Distinct populations of inflammatory fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in pancreatic cancer. (2017) Journal of Experimental Medicine. 214(3):579-596. DOI: 10.1084/jem.20162024
 * Ireland, L., Santos, A., Ahmed, M.S., Rainer, C., Nielsen, S.R., Quaranta, V., Weyer-Czernilofsky, U., Engle, D.D., Perez-Mancera, P.A., Coupland, S.E., Taktak, A., Bogenrieder, T., Tuveson, D.A., Campbell, F., Schmid, M.C., Mielgo, A. Chemoresistance in Pancreatic Cancer Is Driven by Stroma-Derived Insulin-Like Growth Factors. (2016) Cancer Research. 76(23):6851-6863. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-1201
 * Nielsen, S.R., Quaranta, V., Linford, A., Emeagi, P., Rainer, C., Santos, A., Ireland, L., Sakai, T., Sakai, K., Kim, Y.S., Engle, D., Campbell, F., Palmer, D., Ko, J.H., Tuveson, D.A., Hirsch, E., Mielgo, A., Schmid, M.C. Macrophage-secreted granulin supports pancreatic cancer metastasis by inducing liver fibrosis. (2016) Nature Cell Biology. 18(5):549-60. DOI: 10.1038/ncb3340
 * Seifert, L., Werba, G., Tiwari, S., Giao Ly, N.N., Alothman, S., Alqunaibit, D., Avanzi, A., Barilla, R., Daley, D., Greco, S.H., Torres-Hernandez, A., Pergamo, M., Ochi, A., Zambirinis, C.P., Pansari, M., Rendon, M., Tippens, D., Hundeyin, M., Mani, V.R., Hajdu, C., Engle, D., Miller, G. The necrosome promotes pancreatic oncogenesis via CXCL1 and Mincle-induced immune suppression. (2016) Nature. 532(7598):245-9. DOI: 10.1038/nature17403
 * Boj, S.F., Hwang, C.I., Baker, L.A., Engle, D.D., Tuveson, D.A., Clevers, H. Model organoids provide new research opportunities for ductal pancreatic cancer. (2016) Molecular & Cellular Oncology. 3(1):e1014757. DOI: 10.1080/23723556.2015.1014757
 * Zambirinis, C.P., Levie, E., Nguy, S., Avanzi, A., Barilla, R., Xu, Y., Seifert, L., Daley, D., Greco, S.H., Deutsch, M., Jonnadula, S., Torres-Hernandez, A., Tippens, D., Pushalkar, S., Eisenthal, A., Saxena, D., Ahn, J., Hajdu, C., Engle, D.D., Tuveson, D., Miller, G. TLR9 ligation in pancreatic stellate cells promotes tumorigenesis. (2015) J. Exp. Med. 212(12):2077-94. DOI: 10.1084/jem.20142162
 * Roy, I., McAllister, D.M., Gorse, E., Dixon, K., Piper, C.T., Zimmerman, N.P., Getschman, A.E., Tsai, S., Engle, D.D., Evans, D.B., Volkman, B.F., Kalyanaraman, B., Dwinell, M.B. Pancreatic Cancer Cell Migration and Metastasis Is Regulated by Chemokine-Biased Agonism and Bioenergetic Signaling. (2015) Cancer Research. 75(17):3529-42. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-2645
 * Boj, S.F.*, Hwang, C.I.*, Baker, L.A.*, Chio, I.I.*, Engle, D.D.*, Corbo, V.*, Jager, M.*, Ponz-Sarvise, M., Tiriac, H., Spector, M.S., Gracanin, A., Oni, T., Yu, K.H., van Boxtel, R., Huch, M., Rivera, K.D., Wilson, J.P., Feigin, M.E., Öhlund, D., Handly-Santana, A., Ardito-Abraham, C.M., Ludwig, M., Elyada, E., Alagesan, B., Biffi, G., Yordanov, G.N., Delcuze, B., Creighton, B., Wright, K., Park, Y., Morsink, F.H., Molenaar, I.Q., Borel Rinkes, I.H., Cuppen, E., Hao, Y., Jin, Y., Nijman, I.J., Iacobuzio-Donahue, C., Leach, S.D., Pappin, D.J., Hammell, M., Klimstra, D.S., Basturk, O., Hruban, R.H., Offerhaus, G.J., Vries, R.G., Clevers, H., Tuveson, D.A. Organoid models of human and mouse ductal pancreatic cancer. (2015) Cell. 160(1-2):324-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.12.021
 * Naguib, A., Bencze, G., Engle, D.D., Chio, I.I., Herzka, T., Watrud, K., Bencze, S., Tuveson, D.A., Pappin, D.J., Trotman, L.C. p53 mutations change phosphatidylinositol acyl chain composition. (2015) Cell Reports. 10(1):8-19. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.010
 * Sherman, M.H., Yu, R.T., Engle, D.D., Ding, N., Atkins, A.R., Tiriac, H., Collisson, E.A., Connor, F., Van Dyke, T., Kozlov, S., Martin, P., Tseng, T.W., Dawson, D.W., Donahue, T.R., Masamune, A., Shimosegawa, T., Apte, M.V., Wilson, J.S., Ng, B., Lau, S.L., Gunton, J.E., Wahl, G.M., Hunter, T., Drebin, J.A., O'Dwyer, P.J., Liddle, C., Tuveson, D.A., Downes, M., Evans, R.M. Vitamin D receptor-mediated stromal reprogramming suppresses pancreatitis and enhances pancreatic cancer therapy. (2014) Cell. 159(1):80-93. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.08.007
 * Spike, B.T.*, Engle, D.D.*, Lin, J.C., Cheung, S.K., La, J., Wahl, G.M. A mammary stem cell population identified and characterized in late embryogenesis reveals similarities to human breast cancer. (2012) Cell Stem Cell. 10(2):183-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2011.12.018
 * Wang, Y.V., Leblanc, M., Fox, N., Mao, J.H., Tinkum, K.L., Krummel, K., Engle, D., Piwnica-Worms, D., Piwnica-Worms, H., Balmain, A., Kaushansky, K., Wahl, G.M. Fine-tuning p53 activity through C-terminal modification significantly contributes to HSC homeostasis and mouse radiosensitivity. (2011) Genes & Development. 25(13):1426-38. DOI: 10.1101/gad.2024411