Research Areas
- Cancer Disparities: Explaining how cell receptors are linked to patient long-term survival using public genomic datasets
- Cancer Biology: Understanding how tumor-associated genes are expressed and function, which could make a difference for personalized cancer treatments
Scientific Achievements
- With a master's student, proposed a stratification strategy to improve glioma treatment based on tumor methylation patterns
- With undergraduate students, identified differences in receptor levels associated with breast cancer patient outcomes
- Developed approaches to train students in 3D bioprinting strategies to improve models for the study of cancer biology
Funding
RCMI Funding
- U54MD012392, NIH/NIMHD: Pilot Project “Breast tumor microenvironment chemokine receptor profiles”
Other Funding
- UG3EB037531-01, NIH/NIBIB: “Enhancing Biomedical Engineering, Imaging, and Technology Acceleration (BEITA) at North Carolina Central University”
Scientific Advance
Scientific Reports. 2022 Jun 26;12(1):10825. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-14734-5.
Life (Basel). 2021 Jul 26;11(8):746. doi: 10.3390/life11080746.
Genes (Basel). 2022 Feb 21;13(2):387. doi: 10.3390/genes13020387.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 20;22(3):1020. doi: 10.3390/ijms22031020.
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2026 Jan 22;215(2):61. doi: 10.1007/s10549-025-07884-3.
Using the publicly available cancer genomic dataset, The Cancer Genome Atlas, we highlight receptor patterns that can help researchers uncover underlying mechanisms, such as genetic ancestry, immune context, or microenvironmental differences that affect cancer survival.
Collaborating to visualize the distribution of receptors in patient tissues from inflammatory breast cancer cases in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study.
Analyzing receptor profiles in human breast tumor tissue using single-cell genomics techniques.
