Postdoctoral Research Associate
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Bartlett, Tennessee, United States
From a young age I have always been fascinated by the biological sciences and inspired by pioneers who seek to deepen our understanding of complex mechanisms underlying human health and disease. A passion for scientific research was instilled in me during my childhood, being the progeny of two successful primary investigators in the field of alcoholic liver disease. Over the course of my high school and undergraduate careers, where I was lucky enough to work in the lab of Dr. Craig McClain, I became deeply interested in studying novel therapeutic paradigms targeting metabolic dysregulation in hematologic malignancies. It was during this time I truly realized the impact of basic science research discoveries on shaping and guiding clinical therapy to improve patient outcomes. I was able to contribute to work published in a high impact journal and which won me 3rd place overall globally at the renowned Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Following completion of my B.S. in Biology, I joined the cancer biology laboratory of Dr. Levi Beverly at the University of Louisville, where I was fortunate enough to be able to translate some of the conceptual findings from my high school and undergraduate work to a new hematological malignancy, acute myeloid leukemia driven by MLL gene rearrangements. This work provided me with a range of new expertise the use of highly advanced transgenic xenograft model systems of patient specific disease. Throughout my doctoral research I became uniquely aware of the exquisite genetic and molecular mechanisms required for maintenance of normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), with dysregulation of these very processes driving malignancy. Thus, I became fascinated with understanding the regulatory mechanisms governing normal HSC biology, and as such joined the laboratory of Dr. Shannon McKinney-Freeman at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to continue my postdoctoral training.
Disclosure information not submitted.
Targeting senescence restores function to the hematopoietic stem cell pool in sickle cell disease
Saturday, June 8, 2024
11:35 AM – 12:00 PM ET