My diverse experience in the cancer field, including research on kinase signaling pathways in my graduate and post-doctoral training, combined with my involvement in pre-IND (Investigational New Drug Application) and clinical projects, has provided a unique perspective on development strategies for novel therapies. During my doctoral training, I merged my chemical engineering background with biological research to test compounds targeting members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in tumorigenesis and metastatic progression. The novel inhibitors from this project catalyzed our collaboration with researchers evaluating MAPK involvement in osteogenic processes mediated by melatonin, expanding my interest in kinase functions beyond the context of cancer. From my post-doctoral work on the understudied kinase MAP3K19, I became adept at generating and optimizing tools for biological evaluation, as reagents were not commercially available. The long-term goal of my research is centered around delineating MAPK cascades in physiologically relevant cancer models to advance the understanding of disease pathology and personalized therapy.
