William LaRochelle

William LaRochelle, clinical sciences director at Roche Sequencing Solutions, focuses on NGS and dPCR applications and workflow solutions that maximize medical value for precision medicine. He was formerly the scientific director, a member of the Roche 454 Sequencing International Business Team, and the head of key opinion leader relationships. He has over 30 years of experience in translational research, drug development and next-generation sequencing healthcare applications, beginning with 13 years at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, and almost 19 years at CuraGen/Roche 454 Life Sciences/Roche Sequencing Solutions.

Dr. LaRochelle joined Roche 454 Life Sciences from its parent company, CuraGen Corporation, where he directed the Translational Oncology Program. His group was responsible for using CuraGen’s high-throughput DNA sequencing and genomic mining technologies to identify and validate drug targets/biomarkers within a fully human monoclonal antibody drug conjugate alliance with Amgen Fremont/Seattle Genetics. The Oncology Program contributed to the development of Beleodaq (Spectrum Pharmaceuticals), recently approved for the treatment of relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). Prior to joining CuraGen, Dr. LaRochelle was a principal investigator at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology. His research focused on oncogene/growth factor signal transduction and neutralizing antibodies in cancer and inflammation. Dr. LaRochelle earned his degrees from Manhattan College (BS, biochemistry) and Dartmouth Medical School (PhD, biochemistry) prior to receiving an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship to study oncogene signal transduction at the National Cancer Institute. He is an author of over 80 peer-reviewed publications and numerous patents, the editor of the Oncogenomics Handbook, and the recipient of multiple Federal Technology Transfer Awards.