Faculty profile

Leonardo Salmena

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Associate ProfessorDepartment of Pharmacology and ToxicologyUniversity of Toronto

Leonardo Salmena

Associate Professor

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Canada Research Chair in Signal Transduction and Gene Regulation in Cancer

Scholar ORCID

Supervision signals

Professors usually supervise graduate students in their department's programs.
15 publications in the last five years, latest in 2025.
Senior (last) author on 8 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 8 research grants (7 CIHR, 1 NSERC), most recently in 2024.
Supervised 1 trainee who won CIHR awards, most recently in 2021.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

Citations

h-index

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the works listed on the university profile; citation counts come from Dimensions.

Education

Ph.D. Medical Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Cancer Genetics, T-cell Immunology
M.Sc. Pharmacology and Toxicology, Molecular Pathology, Cancer Therapeutics, Drug Resistance Mechanisms
H. B.Sc. (graduated with distinction), Toxicology Specialist

Profiles and links

University Profile Personal Website Google Scholar iDORCID

Find them onX · LinkedIn · Bluesky · YouTube

Signals and details

Research

Read how they describe their research on their University of Toronto profile.

Inpp4b Phosphoinositide Signalling Chemoresistance Lysosome Metastasis Aml Crc Invasion

Latest papers

ITGAV and SMAD4 influence the progression and clinical outcome of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Molecular oncology · 2025 · senior author
A microRNA CRISPR screen reveals microRNA-483-3p as an apoptotic regulator in prostate cancer cells.
Cell death & disease · 2025 · senior author
The lipid phosphatase INPP4B controls pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion by regulating fibronectin exocytosis.
The Journal of biological chemistry · 2025 · senior author

All 45 publications

Latest funding

Targeting a novel phosphoinositide-lysosomal signalling axis for pancreatic cancer therapy
CIHR · 2024 · Nominated PI
$1,071,000
Investigating a novel phosphoinositide-lysosomal signalling axis for pancreatic cancer therapy
CIHR · 2022 · Nominated PI
$100,000
CRISPR-Cas9 screen to identify microRNA associated with metastasis in prostate cancer
CIHR · 2021 · Supervisor
$105,000

All 9 grants and awards

45 publications.

ITGAV and SMAD4 influence the progression and clinical outcome of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Lee DKC, Chen K, Loke R, Li X, Liubart D, Saffi GT, Chow JTS, Melo CMP, To L, Salmena L

Molecular oncology2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1002/1878-0261.70080 PMID: 40739706

A microRNA CRISPR screen reveals microRNA-483-3p as an apoptotic regulator in prostate cancer cells.

Chow JT, Desjardins A, Lee DKC, Grigore IA, Lee L, Fu NJ, Chau S, Lee BY, Gabra MM, Salmena L

Cell death & disease2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41419-025-08098-7 PMID: 41136394

The lipid phosphatase INPP4B controls pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion by regulating fibronectin exocytosis.

Saffi GT, Kleine N, Salmena L

The Journal of biological chemistry2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2025.110716 PMID: 40962057

Discovery of miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks in glioblastoma reveals novel insights into tumor microenvironment remodeling.

Grigore IA, Rajagopal A, Chow JT, Stone TJ, Salmena L

Scientific reports2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-78337-y PMID: 39528571

INPP4B promotes PDAC aggressiveness via PIKfyve and TRPML-1-mediated lysosomal exocytosis.

Saffi GT, To L, Kleine N, Melo CMP, Chen K, Genc G, Lee KCD, Chow JT, Jang GH, Gallinger S, Botelho RJ, Salmena L

The Journal of cell biology2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202401012 PMID: 39120584

Delineating the relationship between circulating osteoprotegerin and bone health in women with a pathogenic variant in BRCA1: A cross-sectional analysis.

Mokhber A, Hall E, Uzelac A, Salmena L, Cheung A, Lubinski J, Narod SA, Kotsopoulos J

Bone reports2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.bonr.2024.101802 PMID: 39297019

The LCLAT1/LYCAT acyltransferase is required for EGF-mediated phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate generation and Akt signaling.

Chan V, Camardi C, Zhang K, Orofiamma LA, Anderson KE, Hoque J, Bone LN, Awadeh Y, Lee DKC, Fu NJ, Chow JTS, Salmena L, Stephens LR, Hawkins PT, Antonescu CN, Botelho RJ

Molecular biology of the cell2024

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e23-09-0361 PMID: 39024272

A high-throughput approach to identify BRCA1-downregulating compounds to enhance PARP inhibitor sensitivity.

Sellars E, Savguira M, Wu J, Cancelliere S, Jen M, Krishnan R, Hakem A, Barsyte-Lovejoy D, Hakem R, Narod SA, Kotsopoulos J, Salmena L

iScience2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110180 PMID: 38993666

Correlates of Circulating Osteoprotegerin in Women with a Pathogenic or Likely Pathogenic Variant in the BRCA1 Gene.

Park SS, Zaman T, Kim SJ, Brooks JD, Wong AKO, Lubiński J, Narod SA, Salmena L, Kotsopoulos J

Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology2024

DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-23-0577 PMID: 38015775

Stroma-derived miR-214 coordinates tumor dissemination.

Orso F, Virga F, Dettori D, Dalmasso A, Paradzik M, Savino A, Pomatto MAC, Quirico L, Cucinelli S, Coco M, Mareschi K, Fagioli F, Salmena L, Camussi G, Provero P, Poli V, Mazzone M, Pandolfi PP, Taverna D

Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR2023

DOI: 10.1186/s13046-022-02553-5 PMID: 36639824

Profile data last refreshed on September 25, 2026 from the university directory, publication records and CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding.

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Leonardo Salmena

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

ITGAV and SMAD4 influence the progression and clinical outcome of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

A microRNA CRISPR screen reveals microRNA-483-3p as an apoptotic regulator in prostate cancer cells.

The lipid phosphatase INPP4B controls pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion by regulating fibronectin exocytosis.

Discovery of miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks in glioblastoma reveals novel insights into tumor microenvironment remodeling.

INPP4B promotes PDAC aggressiveness via PIKfyve and TRPML-1-mediated lysosomal exocytosis.

Delineating the relationship between circulating osteoprotegerin and bone health in women with a pathogenic variant in BRCA1: A cross-sectional analysis.

The LCLAT1/LYCAT acyltransferase is required for EGF-mediated phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate generation and Akt signaling.

A high-throughput approach to identify BRCA1-downregulating compounds to enhance PARP inhibitor sensitivity.

Correlates of Circulating Osteoprotegerin in Women with a Pathogenic or Likely Pathogenic Variant in the BRCA1 Gene.

Stroma-derived miR-214 coordinates tumor dissemination.

A novel phosphoinositide signaling pathway in hematopoiesis and stem cell maintenance

Frequent collaborators

Joanne Kotsopoulos

Razqallah Hakem

Igor Jurisica

Paul Boutros

Dalia Barsyte-Lovejoy

Angela Cheung

Steven Gallinger

Mohamed Abdelhaleem

Martin Yaffe

Zhaolei Zhang

Andrea Jurisicova

Minna Woo

Andrea Eisen

Cheryl Arrowsmith

Andrea Eisen

David Chitayat

Pamela Ohashi

Angela Cheung

Linda Lee

Linda Penn

Steven Narod