Fransisca Leonard

Fransisca Leonard, PhD

Instructor in Neurology, Academic Institute
Instructor, Research Institute
Houston Methodist


fleonard@houstonmethodist.org
Description of Research

Dr. Leonard’s research focuses on nanomedicine design for polymeric and lipid nanoparticle platforms. She is particularly interested in macrophage modulation via in vivo targeted CRISPR editing in various inflammatory conditions such as atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer. She has also developed several disease-specific 3D in vitro models for drug screening and assessing treatment efficacy metrics

Education & Training

ME, Technical University of Berlin
PhD, Universität des Saarlandes
Publications

Modeling critical interaction for metastasis between circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and platelets adhered to the capillary wall
Milosevic, M, Simic, V, Nikolic, A, Shao, N, Kawamura Hashimoto, C, Godin, B, Leonard, F, Liu, X & Kojic, M 2023, , Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, vol. 242, 107810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpb.2023.107810

Heat-induced SIRT1-mediated H4K16ac deacetylation impairs resection and SMARCAD1 recruitment to double strand breaks
Chakraborty, S, Singh, M, Pandita, RK, Singh, V, Lo, CSC, Leonard, F, Horikoshi, N, Moros, EG, Guha, D, Hunt, CR, Chau, E, Ahmed, KM, Sethi, P, Charaka, V, Godin, B, Makhijani, K, Scherthan, H, Deck, J, Hausmann, M, Mushtaq, A, Altaf, M, Ramos, KS, Bhat, KM, Taneja, N, Das, C & Pandita, TK 2022, , iScience, vol. 25, no. 4, 104142, pp. 104142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104142

Insights into nanomedicine for immunotherapeutics in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
Xu, Q, Fang, M, Zhu, J, Dong, H, Cao, J, Yan, L, Leonard, F, Oppel, F, Sudhoff, H, Kaufmann, AM, Albers, AE & Qian, X 2020, , International Journal of Biological Sciences, vol. 16, no. 14, pp. 2506-2517. https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.47068

Nonlinear response to cancer nanotherapy due to macrophage interactions revealed by mathematical modeling and evaluated in a murine model via CRISPR-modulated macrophage polarization
Leonard, F, Curtis, LT, Hamed, AR, Zhang, C, Chau, E, Sieving, D, Godin, B & Frieboes, HB 2020, , Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, vol. 69, no. 5, pp. 731-744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02504-z

Design and in vitro characterization of multistage silicon-PLGA budesonide particles for inflammatory bowel disease
Leonard, F, Srinivasan, S, Liu, X, Collnot, EM, Ferrari, M, Lehr, CM & Godin, B 2020, , European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, vol. 151, pp. 61-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb.2020.03.020

Immunotherapeutics for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma stem cells
Qian, X, Leonard, F, Wenhao, Y, Sudhoff, H, Hoffmann, TK, Ferrone, S, Kaufmann, AM & Albers, AE 2020, , HNO, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 94-99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00106-020-00819-y

Pre-existing H4K16ac levels in euchromatin drive DNA repair by homologous recombination in S-phase
Horikoshi, N, Sharma, D, Leonard, F, Pandita, RK, Charaka, VK, Hambarde, S, Horikoshi, NT, Khaitan, PG, Chakraborty, S, Cote, J, Godin, B, Hunt, CR & Pandita, TK 2019, , Communications Biology, vol. 2, no. 1, 253. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0498-z

Thioaptamer targeted discoidal microparticles increase self immunity and reduce Mycobacterium tuberculosis burden in mice
Leonard, F, Ha, NP, Sule, P, Alexander, JF, Volk, DE, Lokesh, GLR, Liu, X, Cirillo, JD, Gorenstein, DG, Yuan, J, Chatterjee, S, Graviss, EA & Godin, B 2017, , Journal of Controlled Release, vol. 266, pp. 238-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.09.038

Gemcitabine enhances the transport of nanovector-albumin-bound paclitaxel in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Borsoi, C, Leonard, F, Lee, Y, Zaid, M, Elganainy, D, Alexander, JF, Kai, M, Liu, YT, Kang, Y, Liu, X, Koay, EJ, Ferrari, M, Godin, B & Yokoi, K 2017, , Cancer Letters, vol. 403, pp. 296-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2017.06.026

Unraveling bio-social hierarchy in cancer collective invasion: Symbiosis between leaders and followers
Leonard, F & Godin, B 2017, , Translational Cancer Research, vol. 6, pp. S1084-S1087. https://doi.org/10.21037/tcr.2017.08.09

Macrophage polarization contributes to the anti-tumoral efficacy of mesoporous nanovectors loaded with albumin-bound paclitaxel
Leonard, F, Curtis, LT, Ware, MJ, Nosrat, T, Liu, X, Yokoi, K, Frieboes, HB & Godin, B 2017, , Frontiers in immunology, vol. 8, no. JUN, 693. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00693

Magnetically bioprinted human myometrial 3D cell rings as a model for uterine contractility
Souza, GR, Tseng, H, Gage, JA, Mani, A, Desai, P, Leonard, F, Liao, A, Longo, M, Refuerzo, JS & Godin, B 2017, , International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 18, no. 4, 683. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18040683

Uterus-targeted liposomes for preterm labor management: Studies in pregnant mice
Refuerzo, JS, Leonard, F, Bulayeva, N, Gorenstein, D, Chiossi, G, Ontiveros, A, Longo, M & Godin, B 2016, , Scientific Reports, vol. 6, 34710. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34710

Enhanced performance of macrophage-encapsulated nanoparticle albumin-bound-paclitaxel in hypo-perfused cancer lesions
Leonard, F, Curtis, LT, Yesantharao, P, Tanei, T, Alexander, JF, Wu, M, Lowengrub, J, Liu, X, Ferrari, M, Yokoi, K, Frieboes, HB & Godin, B 2016, , Nanoscale, vol. 8, no. 25, pp. 12544-12552. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5nr07796f

Chapter 4: Nanocarrier-Based Anticancer Therapies with the Focus on Strategies for Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment
Leonard, F 2016, . in Intracellular Delivery III:Market Entry Barriers of Nanomedicines. Springer, pp. 67-122.

3D In Vitro Model for Breast Cancer Research Using Magnetic Levitation and Bioprinting Method
Leonard, F & Godin, B 2016, . in J Cao (ed.), Breast Cancer: Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 1406, Springer, pp. 239-251. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3444-7_21

Systemic Gene Silencing in Primary T Lymphocytes Using Targeted Lipid Nanoparticles
Ramishetti, S, Kedmi, R, Goldsmith, M, Leonard, F, Sprague, AG, Godin, B, Gozin, M, Cullis, PR, Dykxhoorn, DM & Peer, D 2015, , ACS Nano, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 6706-6716. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5b02796

Liposomes: A nanoscale drug carrying system to prevent indomethacin passage to the fetus in a pregnant mouse model
Refuerzo, JS, Alexander, JF, Leonard, F, Leon, M, Longo, M & Godin, B 2015, , American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 212, no. 4, pp. 508.e1-508.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2015.02.006

In vivo imaging assessment of porous silicon
Srinivasan, S, Leonard, F, Kuncewicz, TM & Godin, B 2014, . in Porous Silicon for Biomedical Applications. Elsevier, pp. 223-252. https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857097156.2.223

Three-dimensional in vitro co-culture model of breast tumor using magnetic levitation
Jaganathan, H, Gage, J, Leonard, F, Srinivasan, S, Souza, GR, Dave, B & Godin, B 2014, , Scientific Reports, vol. 4, 6468. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep06468

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