Biography
I received my Bachelors of Science, Masters of Science, and Doctorate all from the University of Louisville. Throughout the course of my formal training, I have worked in several model systems, including bacterial, fungal, plant, viral, murine, and human. The focus of my work, generally, has been genetic analysis, engineering and manipulation to understand complex phenotypes in a range of different organisms. As a result of my diverse background, I have many research interests and since joining Indiana University Southeast as a fully time faculty member, I have created two major lines of research that provide students opportunities to learn basic molecular genetics techniques in multiple model systems.
Academic Background
-
Doctorate
- University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
- Doctorate of Philosophy, Major in Molecular Genetics
Professional Interests
Research
My two major lines of research involve remarkably diverse projects that share common molecular genetic techniques. Inspired by my brother, a chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, the first project involves the identification and characterization of fermenting microbes in sourdough starter cultures. The field of food microbiology has burgeoned in the past few years, and what chefs have recognized for decades in the kitchen can now be explained more scientifically by discoveries in the lab. In addition to the contribution this project makes to both food science and microbiology, this project provides an entry point for students early in their college education to work in a research lab and learn standard molecular genetic techniques, such as PCR, gel electrophoresis, preparation of samples for sequencing, cloning, and culturing and quantifying populations of microbes, in a comparatively safe model system, as the origin of the biological material is food products.
My second line of research involves the genetic engineering of isogenic human lung cancer cell lines to explore resistance to standard-of-care therapeutics and develop new gene-based therapeutics. A rate limiting step in the world of cancer treatment development has been the lack of similarity between cells available for in vitro testing of investigational drugs and tumors isolated from patients being diagnosed with various stages of lung cancer. The overall goal of this project is to create cell lines that overexpress key oncogenes individually and in combination to more closely resemble the genotype of patient-derived tumor cells. In additional to standard molecular genetic techniques, students have the opportunity to work with human-derived cells, following more rigid biosafety containment, and monitor the effects of genetic manipulation from the DNA level, the RNA level, the protein level, and ultimately the phenotype in the form of alterations in proliferation and survival of cancer cells.
