Owen Witte

Work Address: 5-720 MRL; Campus Mailcode - 729022
 

Positions & Affiliations:

University Professor, University of California;
President’s Chair, Developmental Immunology;
Distinguished Professor, Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, Molecular & Medical Pharmacology;
Director Emeritus, Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research;
Member, Internal Advisory Board, CTSI, California NanoSystems Institute; Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis GPB Home Area; JCCC Genitourinary Oncology Program Area; Molecular Pharmacology GPB Home Area; Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC);
UCLA PICI-Center Co-Director

Biography:

Owen Witte received his undergraduate degree from Cornell and his MD from Stanford University. He completed postdoctoral research at MIT then joined the faculty at UCLA where he presently is a University Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and holds the President’s Chair in Developmental Immunology. He is the Director Emeritus of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.

Dr. Witte has made significant contributions to the understanding of human leukemias, immune disorders, and epithelial cancer stem cells. His work includes the discovery of tyrosine kinase activity for the ABL gene and the demonstration of the BCR-ABL oncoproteins in human leukemias. This has had practical impact in leading to the development of kinase targeted therapy as an effective treatment for these leukemias and other cancers. His work also led to the co-discovery of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) which is required for normal B-lymphocyte development, and when mutated leads to X-linked agammaglobulinemia, a form of immune deficiency. New inhibitors for BTK are entering clinical practice for the treatment of certain lymphomas and leukemias. Recent work has concentrated on defining the stem cells for epithelial cancers of the prostate and other organ sites to help define new types of therapy for these diseases. Recently, his group has defined a major form of therapy resistance in prostate, lung, and other epithelial cancer types driven by dramatic epigenetic changes that occur when aggressive adenocarcinomas convert to a small cell neuroendocrine phenotype. Understanding this conversion and defining new targets for immunotherapy of these small cell carcinomas are a major focus of current work in his laboratory.

Dr. Witte has extensive experience consulting in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. He is currently on the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board at Allogene Therapeutics, and a Founder and Scientific Advisory Board Chair at Kronos Bio, and he Chairs the Scientific Advisory Board at Vida Ventures.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine. He has received many awards for his research including most recently the Association of American Medical College’s Award for Distinguished Research in Biomedical Sciences and the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Arthur Kornberg and Paul Berg Lifetime Achievement Award in Biomedical Sciences.

Research Description:

My group has made significant contributions to the understanding of human leukemias, immune disorders, and epithelial cancers. This includes the discovery of tyrosine kinase activity for the ABL gene and the demonstration of the BCR-ABL oncoproteins in human leukemias. This has had practical impact in leading to the development of kinase targeted therapy as an effective treatment for these leukemias and other cancers. Our work also led to the co-discovery of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase which is required for normal B-lymphocyte development, and when mutated leads to X-linked agammaglobulinemia, a form of immune deficiency. New targeted inhibitors for this kinase are of value in treating several types of lymphoma and leukemia. More recent work has concentrated on defining the stem cells and growth regulatory pathways for epithelial cancers of the prostate and other organ sites to help define new types of therapy for these diseases. We also develop new probes and methods for whole body imaging techniques using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to monitor cancer growth and cellular immune functions.

Recent work has concentrated on defining new kinase targets for treatment of late stage castration resistant prostate cancer and small cell aggressive prostate cancer.

We have also defined specific kinases and their pathways that point towards new targets for therapy, as well as a developmental change of tumors in response to therapy that drives the evolution of a very aggressive small cell histology with neuroendocrine features.

Current Lab Members

• Nathanael Bangayan | Graduate Student | NBangayan@mednet.ucla.edu
• Chia-Chun (Olga) Chen | Graduate Student | chiachunchen@mednet.ucla.edu