Aaron LeBeau
Credentials: PhD
Position title: Associate Professor
Email: aaron.lebeau@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-262-5586
- Profile
- Department Profile
Education
BS in Chemistry, University of Arizona, 2001
BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, 2001
PhD in Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 2009
Postdoctoral Fellow in Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, 2014
Department Affiliations
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Radiology
Research Interests
- Single-domain antibody engineering
- Targeted radionuclide therapy and nuclear imaging
- Antibody-drug conjugates
- Strucutral biology
The LeBeau laboratory operates at the interface of synthetic biology and nuclear medicine. Our goal is to decrease cancer mortality and morbidity by developing antibody‑based molecular imaging agents and targeted therapeutics. We are pioneering the use of Variable New Antigen Receptors (VNARs) isolated from shark antibodies as targeting vectors in models of human cancer. All of our VNARs are generated in-house through the direct immunization of nurse sharks. VNARs are a fraction the size of human antibodies and possess a high degree of molecular dexterity. This allows us to engineer VNARs onto different scaffolds to create multivalent, bispecific, or biparatopic constructs for enhanced targeting. Our research has been featured by multiple national and international media outlets ranging from the BBC to NPR’s Radiolab.