Shannon M. Mumenthaler, PhD
Chief Translational Research Officer, Ellison Medical Institute
Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, USC
310 228 6400
Shannon Mumenthaler, PhD, is the Chief Translational Research Officer for the Ellison Medical Institute, where she has significant experience overseeing and developing interdisciplinary translational research programs. She helps shape the Institute’s scientific direction, ensures research teams have the resources they need to advance their work, and contributes to strategic planning for partnerships and long-term goals. She also holds faculty appointments at the University of Southern California as an Associate Professor in Medicine and Biomedical Engineering.
Dr. Mumenthaler applies a unique multidisciplinary approach toward her research program, partnering with mathematicians, clinicians, and engineers to explore critical areas in cancer. She uses quantitative cell biology and systems biology approaches to understand cancer progression and treatment response. By developing and leveraging advanced tumor models, including organoids and organ-on-chip systems, she investigates how the physical and cellular microenvironment shapes cancer behavior and therapeutic outcomes.
Dr. Mumenthaler received her BS in Genetics at UC Davis and then went on to earn a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Pathology at UCLA.
Research Focus
Cancer Cell Biology
Tumor Microenvironment
Drug Resistance
Education
BS
2003 Genetics – University of California, Davis, CA
PhD
2008 Cellular and Molecular Pathology – University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Fellowship
2008-2009 Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Louis Warschaw Prostate Cancer Center, Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, CA
2009-2012 Postdoctoral Research Associate – Department of Medicine, University of Southern California
Awards
Life Sciences Catalyst Award, 2019
Outstanding Investigator Award, Western American Federation for Medical Research, 2019
USC: Undergraduate Research Associates Program (URAP), 2017
USC: Rose Hills Fellowship Fund for Undergraduate Research, 2015, 2016, 2018
National Cancer Institute: Junior Investigator Award, 2013
USC: Medical Faculty Women’s Association Award, 2013
UCLA: Hortenese Fishbaugh Memorial Scholarship, 2006-2007
UCLA: Life Sciences Core Curriculum Teaching Assistant Honorarium Award, 2005-2006
Funding Sources
2020-2023, Translational Team Accelerator Award, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (Co-Investigator)
2019-2022, NIH/NCI R01 (Co-Investigator)
2019-2021, Henry Jackson Foundation (Co-Investigator)
2019-2020, NCI Cancer Center Development Funds, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (Principal Investigator)
2018-2023, NIH/NCI Cancer Systems Biology Consortium U01 (Multi-Principal Investigator)
2018-2019, Stop Cancer Member Seed Grant (Principal Investigator)
2017-2021 American Cancer Society (Co-Investigator)
2015-2019, Stephenson Family Personalized Medicine Center, Philanthropic Donation (Co-Director)
Selected Publications
Tavakoli N, Fong EJ, Coleman A, Huang YK, Bigger M, Doche ME, Kim S, Lenz HJ, Graham NA, Macklin P, Finley SD, Mumenthaler SM. Merging metabolic modeling and imaging for screening therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer. NPJ Syst Biol Appl. 2025 Jan 28;11(1):12. doi: 10.1038/s41540-025-00494-1. View in: PubMed
E.R. Spiller, N. Ung, S. Kim, K. Patsch, R. Lau, C. Strelez, C. Doshi, S.J. Choung, B. Choi, E.F.J. Rosales, H.J. Lenz, N. Matasci†, S.M. Mumenthaler†. Imaging-based machine learning analysis of patient-derived tumor organoid drug response. Frontiers in Oncology. 2021 December 21;11:771173. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.771173. View in: Frontiers on Oncology
Strelez C, Chilakala S, Ghaffarian K, Lau R, Spiller E, Ung N, Hixon D, Yoon AY, Sun RX, Lenz HJ, Katz JE, Mumenthaler SM. Human colorectal cancer-on-chip model to study the microenvironmental influence on early metastatic spread. iScience. 2021 May 2;24(5):102509. View in: PubMed
Chiang CT, Lau R, Ghaffarizadeh A, Brovold M, Vyas D, Juárez EF, Atala A, Agus DB, Soker S, Macklin P, Ruderman D, Mumenthaler SM. High-throughput microscopy reveals the impact of multifactorial environmental perturbations on colorectal cancer cell growth. Gigascience. 2021 Apr 19;10(4):giab026. View in: PubMed
Garvey CM, Lau R, Sanchez A, Sun RX, Fong EJ, Doche ME, Chen O, Jusuf A, Lenz HJ, Larson B, Mumenthaler SM. Anti-EGFR Therapy Induces EGF Secretion by Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts to Confer Colorectal Cancer Chemoresistance. Cancers (Basel). 2020 May 28;12(6):1393. View in: PubMed
Liu X, Lukowski JK, Flinders C, Kim S, Georgiadis RA, Mumenthaler SM, Hummon AB. MALDI-MSI of Immunotherapy: Mapping the EGFR-Targeting Antibody Cetuximab in 3D Colon-Cancer Cell Cultures. Anal Chem. 2018 Dec 18;90(24):14156-14164. View in: PubMed
Chiang CT, Demetriou AN, Ung N, Choudhury N, Ghaffarian K, Ruderman DL, Mumenthaler SM. mTORC2 contributes to the metabolic reprogramming in EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitor resistant cells in non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Lett. 2018 Oct 10;434:152-159. View in: PubMed
Ghaffarizadeh A, Heiland R, Friedman SH, Mumenthaler SM, Macklin P. PhysiCell: An open source physics-based cell simulator for 3-D multicellular systems. PLoS Comput Biol. 2018 Feb 23;14(2):e1005991. View in: PubMed
Garvey CM, Spiller E, Lindsay D, Chiang CT, Choi NC, Agus DB, Mallick P, Foo J, Mumenthaler SM. A high-content image-based method for quantitatively studying context-dependent cell population dynamics. Sci Rep. 2016 Jul 25; 6:29752. View in: PubMed
Lindsay D, Garvey CM, Mumenthaler SM, Foo J. Leveraging Hypoxia-Activated Prodrugs to Prevent Drug Resistance in Solid Tumors. PLoS Comput Biol. 2016 Aug 25;12(8):e1005077. View in: PubMed
Mumenthaler SM, Foo J, Choi NC, Heise N, Leder K, Agus DB, Pao W, Michor F, Mallick P. The Impact of Microenvironmental Heterogeneity on the Evolution of Drug Resistance in Cancer Cells. Cancer Inform. 2015; 14(Suppl 4):19-31. View in: PubMed
Foo J, Leder K, Mumenthaler SM. Cancer as a moving target: understanding the composition and rebound growth kinetics of recurrent tumors. Evol Appl. 2013 Jan; 6(1):54-69. View in: PubMed
Mumenthaler SM, Foo J, Leder K, Choi NC, Agus DB, Pao W, Mallick P, Michor F. Evolutionary modeling of combination treatment strategies to overcome resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer. Mol Pharm. 2011 Dec 5; 8(6):2069-79. View in: PubMed
Mumenthaler SM, Ng PY, Hodge A, Bearss D, Berk G, Kanekal S, Redkar S, Taverna P, Agus DB, Jain A. Pharmacologic inhibition of Pim kinases alters prostate cancer cell growth and resensitizes chemoresistant cells to taxanes. Mol Cancer Ther. 2009 Oct; 8(10):2882-93. View in: PubMed
Mumenthaler SM, Rozengurt N, Livesay JC, Sabaghian A, Cederbaum SD, Grody WW. Disruption of arginase II alters prostate tumor formation in TRAMP mice. Prostate. 2008 Oct 1;68(14):1561-9. View in: PubMed