Omaha, Nebraska, United States
I am a driven, adaptable scientist trained in a multicultural lab who possesses a diverse skill set encompassing Immunology, oncology, training, project management, and leadership.
My postdoctoral training involved the study of an HDAC inhibitor’s effects on amyloid precursor-like protein 2 (APLP2) proteolytic cleavage in pancreatic cancer using both in vitro and in vivo models. This work showed that the HDAC inhibitor decreased APLP2 processing and led to a decrease in pancreatic cancer cell viability, proliferation, and migration. An orthotopic pancreatic cancer mouse model was used and showed that treatment increased mouse survival and decreased tumor volume.
My dissertation project involved a novel genetic mouse model for the conditional knockout of CBL-family E3 ubiquitin ligases to study their essential negative regulatory role in T cell activation and functions. CD4-Cre mediated deletion was chosen for in-vivo deletion in T cells. This research identified that CD4-Cre- mediated deletion of CBL and CBL-B led to multi-organ immune cell infiltration and death in mice, as well as a leakiness of the Cre promoter and deletion in the hematopoietic stem cell population.
This work involved the optimization of protein expression and purification protocols, utilizing E. coli expression vectors and HPLC purification systems, to isolate proteins for protein crystallization and X-ray crystallography. Proteins studied were RNA triphosphatase from Trypanosoma brucei and the transcription elongation factors NusA and NusG from Bacillus subitlis.