Laura Z. Rassenti, PHD

Director of the CRC Tissue Core
Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center

Dr. Rassenti, born in Florence, Italy initially earned her Masters Degree in Genetics from the University of California at Davis in 1977. She then continued her studies to receive her Ph.D in Molecular Genetics from the University of Arizona, Tucson AZ in 1981. She proceeded to study the molecular aspects of Multiple Sclerosis as a Postdoctoral student at Stanford University under the guidance of Dr. L. Steinman. In 1986 she joined the laboratory of Dr. T. J. Kipps in San Diego where she was instrumental in the research on the structure and function of the Immunoglobulin Genes in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. She is the author and co-author of over 30 papers on CLL and is continuing research on this leukemia.

Dr. Rassenti became the Director of the CRC Tissue Core in 1999 and has since been managing a team of four technicians and scientists who process and perform assays on all the CLL samples received by the CRC.

She is also responsible for the coordination of the Familial Studies on CLL. She is active in this CRC initiative in collecting samples from family members with CLL and performing some of the scientific studies.