Author

Sawyer McKenna

University of California, Santa Cruz

Listed by name: these papers carry no ORCID for this author, so different people with the same name may be mixed together.

Biology Disciplines

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Bioengineering· 1 Cancer Biology· 1 Neuroscience· 1

Signature Assays, Organisms & Methods

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Approach:experimental assay· 3 Organism:human· 3 Research Focus:cancer & tumor microenvironment· 1 Research Focus:cell signaling & trafficking· 1 Research Focus:cell type annotation· 1 Research Focus:drug response / drug discovery· 1 Assay:electronic health records· 1 Assay:electrophysiology· 1

Frequent Co-Authors

Gregory A. KauralaiD· 2 shared Mircea TeodorescuiD· 2 shared Tal SharfiD· 2 shared Aditya DendukuriiD· 1 shared Ahmed HasaniD· 1 shared Aidan L. Morson· 1 shared Aleksandra OlowiD· 1 shared Alex SpaethiD· 1 shared

Activity by Year

2025-2026 · peak 2/yr

Co-Author Collaboration Network

10 top collaborators · 25 mutual co-author links

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2 shared papersBioengineering

Gregory A. KauralaORCID

Mutual co-authors in cluster

Author profile →

3 papers

Recent·Most cited

Spatially defined axonal guidance in neural organoids with micropatterned microfluidic channels

Ariana C Cisneros, Maryam Moarefian, Jens Duru, Katherine Karinicolas, Talia Goodman, Zaira Gonzalez, Anton Zatserklyaniy, Sawyer McKenna, Asia Anderson, Noah Williams, Gregory A. Kaurala, Estefania Sanchez, S. Ali Shariati, Mircea Teodorescu, Tal Sharf

This paper introduces a microfluidic platform called directoids to study directional axonal growth between neural organoids, showing robust directional bias in axon outgrowth.

bioRxiv · May 5, 2026 · PreprintBioengineering

Protosequences in brain organoids model intrinsic brain states

Tjitse van der Molen, Alex Spaeth, Mattia Chini, Sebastian Hernandez, Gregory A. Kaurala, Hunter E. Schweiger, Cole Duncan, Sawyer McKenna, Jinghui Geng, Max Lim, Julian Bartram, Tobias Gänswein, Aditya Dendukuri, Zongren Zhang, Jesus Gonzalez-Ferrer, , Tal Sharf

This study shows that structured firing sequences emerge in human and murine brain organoids and neonatal brain slices, suggesting innate rather than experience-dependent neural coding.

Nature Neuroscience · Nov 24, 2025Peer-reviewedNeuroscience

YAP/TEAD4-regulated placental alkaline phosphatases ALPP and ALPPL2 are immunosuppressive ectonucleotidases modulated by MAPK inhibitors

J MARTIN, Bruce Huang, Tobias Ehrenberger, Ahmed Hasan, Michelle T. Dow, Weng Hua Khoo, Romain Pacaud, Essam Metwally, Katherine Porth, Gukhan Kim, Sawyer McKenna, Cindy Li, Nicholas Ho, Khoa Nguyen, Spencer Hahn, , David Bauché

This study identifies YAP/TEAD4 as a regulator of ALPP/L2 expression and shows that MAPK inhibitors enhance their expression, improving ADC efficacy through immunomodulation.

bioRxiv · Oct 15, 2025 · PreprintCancer Biology