Senior Research Scientist
Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
My background is in molecular genetics with much of my 15+ years of research experience in clinical oncology. I started out in wet lab work testing bacteriophage polymerase mutants, doing proteasome inhibitor drug screens in yeast, and then in vitro drug testing of glioblastoma cell lines. Later, I characterized the oncogenic effects of splicing factor, PTBP1, on glioblastoma cell behavior using various cellular assays, while also identifying its splicing targets in those cells. In more recent years, I gained bioinformatics skills for manipulating and analyzing sequencing data in high performance computing clusters, scientific editing experience, as well as a Project Management Professional certificate. I now study the genetic bases and contributions to the initiation, development, evolution, and response to treatment for sarcomas, rare leukemias, and familial cancers through multiomic profiling methods that include various platforms of DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, immunostaining and cancer models including cells and mice. My long-term goal is to conduct ultrarare cancer research and to train others to use genomics in ways that will improve cancer detection, treatment, and prevention.
