Research Background

As a child, I wanted to study dinosaurs when I grew up. Their might and their majesty left me in awe: these monsters once ruled the earth, yet ultimately they could not survive the progress of time and became relics of biological history.

Today, I study a different kind of monster: childhood cancer. While we’ve made great progress, more children still die of cancer than any other disease in the US. I trained in the Amatruda lab at UT Southwestern, where I studied how loss of one regulatory pathway – microRNAs – allows development of certain pediatric cancers. In my own laboratory, we’re continuing to study why these molecules are so important in cancer formation, with the ultimate goal of developing new strategies to cure these patients.

Here’s to making childhood cancer another victim of extinction!

When I’m not at work

When I’m not visiting dinosaur museums, or cheering on Ohio State football games, or playing my acoustic guitar, or watching a British crime drama (with captions, obviously! How else can you understand what they’re saying?), or babysitting my nieces, or listening to tech podcasts while jogging, or trying new coffee (V60 pourover, of course), or going grocery shopping (I really enjoy walking through produce aisles, okay?), or volunteering at a homeless ministry with church friends, or watching upcoming movie trailers (just the trailers. I don’t need to see the movies.), or trying new (and old!) restaurants, I’m probably scrolling through Twitter.