Research Background

I first caught the research bug in 2010 when I joined the Protein Structure and Immunology Laboratory at the University of the Philippines Diliman. I joined the effort in defining the altering landscape of integrins during cancer progression as my undergraduate thesis. After I spent a year working with the Dengue Research Group at St Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, Philippines, I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. At the University of Utah, my dissertation was on the impact of isocitrate dehydrogenase mutations on gliomas. In 2019, I was welcomed as the Chen Lab’s first postdoctoral research fellow. My primary focus has been on actinomycin resistance in Wilms tumors. I am also deeply entrenched in expanding in vivo and in vitro models of this cancer. At the end of the day, my goal is to be able to take our findings from bench to bedside and improve current treatment protocols for patients.

When I’m not in the lab

Born and raised in the Philippines, I am an island girl at heart. Having to adjust to the landlocked lifestyle, I’ve learned to love hiking and alpine skiing. I enjoy walking my (rotund) dog, swimming, playing the piano or ukulele, drawing caricatures, writing, listening to podcasts, (extreme) karaoke, and experimenting in the kitchen.