Sohela Shah, PhD

Program Director Catalyst Program and InVent Fund

Catalyst Accelerator
Sohela Shah

Overview

Sohela serves as the program director for Catalyst Program and InVent Fund, within Innovation Ventures at UCSF. With a strong passion for advancing research projects and promoting technology patenting and commercialization, Sohela is dedicated to bridging the gap between groundbreaking innovations and real-world applications. Before joining Innovation Ventures, she held the position of founding product manager at The Production Board, a prominent technology incubator and investment holding company in San Francisco, where she made significant contributions to the TERA startup project.

Sohela started her career journey in academia, earning her Ph.D. in Genetics from Tufts University's School of Biomedical Sciences in Boston. Building upon her expertise, she pursued postdoctoral training in rare disease genetics at the University of California San Francisco, followed by a research fellowship in clinical genetics and genomics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a Niehaus Scholar. After her academic research and training, Sohela transitioned to the field of technology startups focused on developing software tools and solutions for curating, interpreting, and analyzing complex biological data. She played a pivotal role in the development of NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) data interpretation and reporting software for genetic test results at Ingenuity Systems (acquired by QIAGEN) and Invitae Corp.

Driven by her dedication to the field of genetics and genomics, Sohela aspires to continue making significant contributions. She aims to foster collaboration between academia and industry, working towards driving innovation and improving patient outcomes. With her diverse expertise in research, product management, and technology commercialization, Sohela is poised to make a lasting impact in the field.

Education and Training

  • BS — Biochemistry — Rutgers University — New Brunswick, NJ
    Ph.D — Genetics — Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences — Boston, MA

Publications

Working toward precision medicine: Predicting phenotypes from exomes in the Critical Assessment of Genome Interpretation (CAGI) challenges.

Daneshjou R, Wang Y, Bromberg Y, Bovo S, Martelli PL, Babbi G, Lena PD, Casadio R, Edwards M, Gifford D, Jones DT, Sundaram L, Bhat RR, Li X, Pal LR, Kundu K, Yin Y, Moult J, Jiang Y, Pejaver V, Pagel KA, Li B, Mooney SD, Radivojac P, Shah S, Carraro M, Gasparini A, Leonardi E, Giollo M, Ferrari C, Tosatto SCE, Bachar E, Azaria JR, Ofran Y, Unger R, Niroula A, Vihinen M, Chang B, Wang MH, Franke A, Petersen BS, Pirooznia M, Zandi P, McCombie R, Potash JB, Altman RB, Klein TE, Hoskins RA, Repo S, Brenner SE, Morgan AA

Human mutation, 2017

A recurrent germline PAX5 mutation confers susceptibility to pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Shah S, Schrader KA, Waanders E, Timms AE, Vijai J, Miething C, Wechsler J, Yang J, Hayes J, Klein RJ, Zhang J, Wei L, Wu G, Rusch M, Nagahawatte P, Ma J, Chen SC, Song G, Cheng J, Meyers P, Bhojwani D, Jhanwar S, Maslak P, Fleisher M, Littman J, Offit L, Rau-Murthy R, Fleischut MH, Corines M, Murali R, Gao X, Manschreck C, Kitzing T, Murty VV, Raimondi S, Kuiper RP, Simons A, Schiffman JD, Onel K, Plon SE, Wheeler D, Ritter D, Ziegler DS, Tucker K, Sutton R, Chenevix-Trench G, Li J, Huntsman DG, Hansford S, Senz J, Walsh T, Lee M, Hahn CN, Roberts K, King MC, Lo SM, Levine RL, Viale A, Socci ND, Nathanson KL, Scott HS, Daly M, Lipkin SM, Lowe SW, Downing JR, Altshuler D, Sandlund JT, Horwitz MS, Mullighan CG, Offit K

Nature genetics, 2013

Identification of a BRCA2-specific modifier locus at 6p24 related to breast cancer risk.

Gaudet MM, Kuchenbaecker KB, Vijai J, Klein RJ, Kirchhoff T, McGuffog L, Barrowdale D, Dunning AM, Lee A, Dennis J, Healey S, Dicks E, Soucy P, Sinilnikova OM, Pankratz VS, Wang X, Eldridge RC, Tessier DC, Vincent D, Bacot F, Hogervorst FB, Peock S, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, KConFab Investigators, Peterlongo P, Schmutzler RK, Nathanson KL, Piedmonte M, Singer CF, Thomassen M, Ontario Cancer Genetics Network, Hansen Tv, Neuhausen SL, Blanco I, Greene MH, Garber J, Weitzel JN, Andrulis IL, Goldgar DE, D'Andrea E, Caldes T, Nevanlinna H, Osorio A, van Rensburg EJ, Arason A, Rennert G, van den Ouweland AM, van der Hout AH, Kets CM, Aalfs CM, Wijnen JT, Ausems MG, HEBON, EMBRACE, Frost D, Ellis S, Fineberg E, Platte R, Evans DG, Jacobs C, Adlard J, Tischkowitz M, Porteous ME, Damiola F, GEMO Study Collaborators, Golmard L, Barjhoux L, Longy M, Belotti M, Ferrer SF, Mazoyer S, Spurdle AB, Manoukian S, Barile M, Genuardi M, Arnold N, Meindl A, Sutter C, Wappenschmidt B, Domchek SM, Pfeiler G, Friedman E, Jensen UB, Robson M, Shah S, Lazaro C, Mai PL, Benitez J, Southey MC, Schmidt MK, Fasching PA, Peto J, Humphreys MK, Wang Q, Michailidou K, Sawyer EJ, Burwinkel B, Guénel P, Bojesen SE, Milne RL, Brenner H, Lochmann M, GENICA Network, Aittomäki K, Dörk T, Margolin S, Mannermaa A, Lambrechts D, Chang-Claude J, Radice P, Giles GG, Haiman CA, Winqvist R, Devillee P, García-Closas M, Schoof N, Hooning MJ, Cox A, Pharoah PD, Jakubowska A, Orr N, González-Neira A, Pita G, Alonso MR, Hall P, Couch FJ, Simard J, Altshuler D, Easton DF, Chenevix-Trench G, Antoniou AC, Offit K

PLoS genetics, 2013

Common variants at the 19p13.1 and ZNF365 loci are associated with ER subtypes of breast cancer and ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.

Couch FJ, Gaudet MM, Antoniou AC, Ramus SJ, Kuchenbaecker KB, Soucy P, Beesley J, Chen X, Wang X, Kirchhoff T, McGuffog L, Barrowdale D, Lee A, Healey S, Sinilnikova OM, Andrulis IL, OCGN, Ozcelik H, Mulligan AM, Thomassen M, Gerdes AM, Jensen UB, Skytte AB, Kruse TA, Caligo MA, von Wachenfeldt A, Barbany-Bustinza G, Loman N, Soller M, Ehrencrona H, Karlsson P, SWE-BRCA, Nathanson KL, Rebbeck TR, Domchek SM, Jakubowska A, Lubinski J, Jaworska K, Durda K, Zlowocka E, Huzarski T, Byrski T, Gronwald J, Cybulski C, Górski B, Osorio A, Durán M, Tejada MI, Benitez J, Hamann U, Hogervorst FB, HEBON, van Os TA, van Leeuwen FE, Meijers-Heijboer HE, Wijnen J, Blok MJ, Kets M, Hooning MJ, Oldenburg RA, Ausems MG, Peock S, Frost D, Ellis SD, Platte R, Fineberg E, Evans DG, Jacobs C, Eeles RA, Adlard J, Davidson R, Eccles DM, Cole T, Cook J, Paterson J, Brewer C, Douglas F, Hodgson SV, Morrison PJ, Walker L, Porteous ME, Kennedy MJ, Side LE, EMBRACE, Bove B, Godwin AK, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, GEMO Study Collaborators, Fassy-Colcombet M, Castera L, Cornelis F, Mazoyer S, Léoné M, Boutry-Kryza N, Bressac-de Paillerets B, Caron O, Pujol P, Coupier I, Delnatte C, Akloul L, Lynch HT, Snyder CL, Buys SS, Daly MB, Terry M, Chung WK, John EM, Miron A, Southey MC, Hopper JL, Goldgar DE, Singer CF, Rappaport C, Tea MK, Fink-Retter A, Hansen TV, Nielsen FC, Arason A, Vijai J, Shah S, Sarrel K, Robson ME, Piedmonte M, Phillips K, Basil J, Rubinstein WS, Boggess J, Wakeley K, Ewart-Toland A, Montagna M, Agata S, Imyanitov EN, Isaacs C, Janavicius R, Lazaro C, Blanco I, Feliubadalo L, Brunet J, Gayther SA, Pharoah PP, Odunsi KO, Karlan BY, Walsh CS, Olah E, Teo SH, Ganz PA, Beattie MS, van Rensburg EJ, Dorfling CM, Diez O, Kwong A, Schmutzler RK, Wappenschmidt B, Engel C, Meindl A, Ditsch N, Arnold N, Heidemann S, Niederacher D, Preisler-Adams S, Gadzicki D, Varon-Mateeva R, Deissler H, Gehrig A, Sutter C, Kast K, Fiebig B, Heinritz W, Caldes T, de la Hoya M, Muranen TA, Nevanlinna H, Tischkowitz MD, Spurdle AB, Neuhausen SL, Ding YC, Lindor NM, Fredericksen Z, Pankratz VS, Peterlongo P, Manoukian S, Peissel B, Zaffaroni D, Barile M, Bernard L, Viel A, Giannini G, Varesco L, Radice P, Greene MH, Mai PL, Easton DF, Chenevix-Trench G, kConFab investigators, Offit K, Simard J, Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2

Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 2012