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Kate Lawrenson, PhD

Contact

lawrenson@uthscsa.edu

Departments & Divisions

Kate Lawrenson, PhD

Associate Professor

Director, OB/GYN Tissue Repository and Database

Associate Director, Postdoctoral Scientist Program

Dr. Lawrenson’s career has been dedicated to the study of unmet needs in women’s health. Her laboratory focuses on gene regulation endometriosis and ovarian cancer – and the pathways linking these two diseases. The multidisciplinary and collaborative research in her laboratory brings together genomics and epidemiology to identify new translational opportunities. The Lawrenson laboratory team includes both wet-lab and dry-lab researchers focused on studying the interplay between the genome, the epigenome and the transcriptome using large-scale ChIP-seq, CUT&TAG/RUN, RNA-seq, spatial in situ and single cell ‘omics’ technologies on population-based cohorts of disease relevant human tissues specimens. Candidate genes, regulatory elements and genetic variants are validated using functional assays that include organoid modeling, genome editing and in vivo modeling. Recent work from her team has been published in Nature Genetics and Cell Reports Medicine. Her research is funded by awards from the NIH, the Department of Defense, and others.

Dr Lawrenson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Health San Antonio (UTHSA), in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Dr Lawrenson obtained her PhD in Human Genetics from University College London and performed postdoc research at the same institution and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, USA. She spent 9 years on the faculty at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was Co-Director of the Women’s Cancer Research Program and Associate Director for the Postdoctoral Scientist Program, before joining UTHSA in Spring 2024. Her leadership activities focus on building multidisciplinary teams in endometriosis and ovarian cancers, through leadership roles as Co-Director for the Center for Inherited Oncogenesis and Director of the OB/Gyn Tissue Repository and Database. She is passionate about mentorship of junior scientists, particularly women and minority groups, and serves as Associate Director for the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. In her career to date, she has supervised 8 undergraduate students and 4 rotation graduate students, 4 PhD students, 6 postdoctoral fellows and 10 gynecologic oncology fellows, all of whom continue to have successful scientistic careers in academia or industry.

Dr. Lawrenson places a strong emphasis on contributing to the scientific community through regular service as a grant reviewer for the NIH, DOD, American Cancer Society (as a study section member) and others. She also regularly reviews manuscripts for multiple journals including Nature and Nature Genetics, and in 2023 served as a Guest Editor for a Special Issue of eLife focused on Reproductive Health.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2010 - PhD - Cancer Genetics - University College London, UK
    • 2005 - BSc (1st Class Honours) - Human Genetics - University College London, UK

    Highlights

    Apr 2015 AACR-Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc Scholar-in-Training Award Travel Award
    Apr 2013 AACR Aflac Scholar-in-Training Award Travel Award
    Sep 2012 Travel award, Marsha Rivkin 9th Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium
    Apr 2012 AACR Women in Cancer Research Scholar’s Award
    Apr 2011 AACR Susan G. Komen Scholar-in-Training Award

    Appointments

    • 2024 - Associate Professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Medicine; Director, OB/GYN Tissue Repository and Database; Associate Director, Office for Postdoctoral Affairs - University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
    • 2020 – 2024 - Associate Professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Biomedical Sciences; Director, Women’s Cancer Research Program; Associate Director, Postdoctoral Scientist Program - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    • 2015 – 2020 - Assistant Professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Biomedical Sciences Assistant Professor-in-Residence - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    • 2010 – 2015 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. Group Leader: Dr. Simon Gayther
    • 2010 - Postdoctoral Career Development Fellow - MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, UK. Group Leader: Dr. Yasuyuki Fujita

  • Research & Grants

    The main goal of my research is to use state-of-the-art genomics applied to gynecologic tissues or models to identify and test therapeutic targets in understudied gynecologic conditions, with a primary focus on endometriosis. This includes both wet-lab and dry-lab researcher focused on studying the interplay between the genome, the epigenome and the transcriptome using large-scale ChIP-seq, CUT&TAG/RUN, RNA-seq and single cell ‘omics’ technologies on population-based cohorts of disease relevant human tissues specimens. Candidate genes, regulatory elements and genetic variants are validated using functional assays that include organoid modeling, genome editing and chromosome interactome assays.

    Grants

    NIH 1R01HD113693-01
    Lawrenson / Angelsio (Co-PIs)
    01/01/24 – 12/31/2028

    Functional Genomics Across an Ethnically and Racially Diverse Endometriosis Population
    DoD Investigator Initiated Award T9425-23-1-0361
    Lawrenson/Gayther (Partnering PIs)
    01/01/2023 – 12/31/2026

    A Multifaceted Approach to Biomarker Discovery for BRCA-Associated Fallopian Carcinoma
    DoD Pilot Award W81XWH2210143
    Lawrenson (PI)
    04/01/22 - 03/31/24

    Disordered Differentiation of Tubal Epithelia: Setting the Stage for Neoplastic Transformation
    NIH 1R01CA244569-01A1
    Gayther/Gusev (Co-PIs, Lawrenson Co-I)
    06/01/20 - 05/31/25

    Characterizing non-coding somatic and germline variant interactions in ovarian cancer
    NIH 1R01AI164504-01
    Jefferies (PI, Lawrenson Co-I)
    08/16/21 - 07/31/25

    Sex and gender differences in lupus - intersection between immunometabolism, epigenetic remodeling and cardiac involvement
    NIH R01AI154535
    Pisarska (PI, Lawrenson Co-I)
    09/01/2020 - 08/31/2024
    The Impact of Sex and Gender on Disease Progression, From Developmental Origins

  • Service

    Department

    My leadership activities focus on building multidisciplinary teams in endometriosis and ovarian cancers, through my leadership role as Director of the OB/Gyn Tissue Repository and Database. I am also passionate about mentorship of junior scientists, particularly women and minority groups, and I serve as Associate Director for the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Finally, I place a strong emphasis on contributing to the scientific community through regular service as a grant reviewer for the NIH, DOD, American Cancer Society (as a study section member) and others. I also review manuscripts for multiple journals including Nature and Nature Genetics, and in 2023 served as a Guest Editor for a Special Issue of eLife focused on Reproductive Health.

    Service to the Profession

    Professional Societies and Activities

    2023 Guest Editor, eLife Special Issue in Reproductive Health
    2020- Member, World Endometriosis Research Foundation ePHect study
    2019- Member, American Society of Human Genetics (Membership number: 409056)
    2009- Member, Tumor Microenvironment Working Group and Women in Cancer Research
    2009- Member, American Association for Cancer Research (Membership number: 220758)

    Journal reviewer: reviewer for Nature, Nature Genetics, Neoplasia, Lab. Invest., JNCI, and Clinical Cancer Research

  • Publications

      Fonseca MAS*, Haro M*, Wright KN*, Lin X*, Abbasi F, Sun J, Hernandez L, Orr NL, Hong J, Choi-Kuaea Y, Maluf HM, Balzer BL, Fishburn A, Hickey R, Cass I, Goodridge HS, Truong M, Wang Y, Pisarska M, Dinh H, Naggar AE, Huntsman D, Anglesio MS, Goodman MT, Medeiros F†, Siedhoff M†, Lawrenson K†$. Single cell transcriptomic analysis of endometriosis. Nature Genetics, Nat Genet. 2023 Jan 9. doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01254-1.

      Reddy J*, Fonseca MAS*, Corona RI*, Nameki R, Segato Dezem F, Klein IA, Chang H, Chaves-Moreira D, Afeyan LK, Malta TM, Lin X, Abbasi F, Font-Tello A, Sabedot T, Cejas P, Rodríguez-Malavé N, Seo JH, Lin DC, Matulonis U, Karlan BY, Gayther SA, Pasaniuc B, Gusev A, Noushmehr H, Long H, Freedman ML, Drapkin R, Young RA, Abraham BJ†$, Lawrenson K†$. Predicting master transcription factors from pan-cancer expression data. Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 26;7(48):eabf6123. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf6123. PMCID: PMC8612691