Thomas Jefferson UniversitySenior Research Investigator
Jan. 2023Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesLed group of biologists and clinicians in identifying ways to overcome drug resistance in diffuse large B cell lymphomas (Adams et al, Cancers 2024). - Generated and maintained multiple drug-resistant cell lines - Coordinated with multiple facilities to preform drug screens and RNA-sequencing - Collaborated with a biorepository to obtain fresh patient samples - Worked with bioinformaticians to identify top drug hits and changes in gene expression - Designed experiments for and managed graduate students, technicians, a Clinical Fellow, and a Research Associate - Performed multiple cell-based assays to monitor cell growth/survival and cell death - Data analysis using Microsoft Office, GraphPad Prism, and FlowJo - Manuscript preparation including writing, editing, and figure preparation Led cross-disciplinary team in a high-impact study (Adams et al, Cancer Discovery 2023) using innovative Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTAC) technology to degrade MDM2 in triple negative breast cancer. - Collaborated with medicinal chemists to design and make a new MDM2 PROTAC - Established new methods/protocols in our lab to evaluate treatment responses in cell lines, patient-derived 3D/spheroid cultures, and patient-derived explant cultures from fresh tumor biopsies - Worked with a board-certified breast cancer pathologist to evaluate treatment responses - Completed multiple in vivo (mouse) studies, starting from initial toxicity testing and subsequent xenograft tumor models - Performed many cell-based assays to measure cell growth/survival and cell death - Worked side-by-side with bioinformaticians to determine changes in gene expression through RNA-seq - Obtained mechanistic insights using methods to evaluate changes in RNA, DNA, and protein - Data analysis using Microsoft Office, GraphPad Prism, ImageJ, and FlowJo - Manuscript preparation, including writing, editing, and figure preparation