Biography

Isaacs, LeLeng To
Department: Biology
Professor of Biological Sciences (1982)
B.S., University of Santo Tomas; M.A., Ph.D., Boston University
Email: leto@goucher.edu
Website: http://faculty.goucher.edu/leto

Professor Isaacs has written articles which have been published in sources such as the Journal of Immunoassay, Journal of Cell Biology, Endocytobiology, Science, and International Review of Cytology. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in oral microbiology at Forsyth Dental Center in Boston and a National Research Council Research Associate at the Wright-Patterson Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories. Her additional postdoctoral education includes courses at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and the Center for Advanced Training in Cell and Molecular Biology. In 1986, she received one of 5 summer research fellowships from the American Society of Biological Chemistry to conduct research at Johns Hopkins University. Professor Isaacs’ knowledge of languages includes fluency in English, Chinese, Tagalog, and Visaya, and a reading knowledge of Spanish. She has received the Florence Seibert Grant for Research in the Biological Sciences. Her courses include an honors seminar in Biological Diversity; Human Sexuality and Reproduction; Frontiers course in Microbiology, a major’s course in Microbiology; and Seminar in Immunology. In 1989, Goucher College awarded her for outstanding teaching in the natural sciences. In addition, Professor Isaacs has also served as chair of the Biology department. Her current research focuses on elucidating the mechanism of bacterial inhibition by a plant compound, the biological basis of triclosan resistance in Staphylococcus epidermidis, and bacteria that utilize hydrocarbons as carbon and energy sources. In addition to earlier grants from DOD and Research Corp, Professor Isaacs has an NIH Bridges grant for over $550,000 and is part of the team that successfully obtained a $220,000 CSEMS grant from NSF. She has also received a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Trust.