Research often benefits from perspectives shaped outside the lab. For Leah Escalante, a senior scientist in the Gasch lab, years spent training dogs and horses helped cultivate a problem-solving mindset grounded in adaptability, persistence, and creativity. Those early experiences influenced how she approaches scientific questions that rarely yield straightforward solutions.
Escalante’s path reflects a long-standing commitment to both research and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After contributing to stem cell research as an undergraduate, she expanded her expertise through genomic studies of cancer at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital. She later returned to UW–Madison for graduate training and now continues her work as a staff scientist, where she applies systems-level approaches to understand cellular stress, aging, and disease.
How did you end up at UW-Madison, and is your current work related to your past training/trajectory?
I actually grew up here in Madison; my father was a Professor of Art at UW-Madison. I received a BS in Biochemistry here, I then worked for 3 years as a research technician and lab manager at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. I later received my PhD in Genetics from UW-Madison.
My work as a senior scientist is related to my graduate work, but before graduate school I worked in research hospital settings in labs that focused on cancer research. The common theme throughout has been genomics, but the questions and systems have changed.
Please give us an overview of your research interests and program. What are the main goals of your research?
Our lab investigates how eukaryotic cells sense, respond, and adapt to environmental stresses using genomics, proteomics, and systems biology approaches. We are particularly interested in how defects in these stress responses contribute to cellular dysfunction and disease. To address these questions, we use budding yeast as a model organism.
During my graduate work, I became fascinated both by quiescence as a strategy for surviving chronic stress and by cellular aging. Recently, we published a study showing that chromosomal aneuploidy in wild yeast leads to premature aging, partly due to defects in the ribosomal quality control pathway. My current research focuses on understanding the heterogeneity of aging, with an emphasis on identifying the key drivers of premature aging in aneuploid cells.
What led you to stay in academic research as a staff scientist?
I strongly believe in the Wisconsin Idea and am committed to serving the state through rigorous research aimed at improving the health of Wisconsin citizens. Inspired by my grandparents’ military service, including my grandmother’s work as an Army nurse, I’ve wanted to contribute in the way I am best equipped: through scientific research.
I also deeply enjoy the breadth of my responsibilities. Not only do I get to conduct research, but I also have the privilege of training students and staff, mentoring undergraduates, and contributing to the efficient day-to-day operation of our lab.
What is the single person, event, or experience that most influenced your trajectory to where you are today?
I grew up training dogs and horses, and those experiences significantly shaped the way I approach problems. Working with animals requires finding alternative ways to communicate and developing multiple different approaches of teaching when your initial attempts don’t connect. Like research, training an animal requires years of patient, diligent, and creative effort, and some weeks feel as though no progress has been made at all. I think all those years working with animals were quite instrumental in preparing me for a career in research.
Escalante continues to hone her creative thinking through various activities. She enjoys making and repairing things as a way to understand how they work – a “monopoly board of complicated hobbies” as her stepdaughter calls it. Right now, she is exploring preservation carpentry, gardening, dry stone walling, and knitting to name a few.