About
I received a B.S. in Biotechnology from the Rochester Institute of Technology, my Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Cell Biology, and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship as a Cancer Research Training Associate at the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health. Combining my time at NCI and Clemson University I have 20 years of breast cancer research experience. In those 20 years I have published research from collaborations with scientists from not only NCI and Clemson University but also scientists from Prisma Health, the University of Freiburg, OTH Regensburg, the University of Basel, and Northwestern University. Past and current collaborations include researchers from Clemson University, Prisma Health, NCI, University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina, Midwestern University, and the University of Buenos Aires. My current research focuses on breast cancer stem cells, and photodynamic therapy and tumor-treating field therapy both to treat triple negative breast cancer.
How their research is transforming health care
My primary research project involves redirecting breast cancer stem cells to adopt normal phenotypes and genetic expression patterns. Cancer stem cells are the cells responsible for initial tumor formation and cancer recurrence. These cells are resistant to most current anti-cancer therapies. I envision enhancing signals from a patient’s surrounding normal cells to redirect the cancer stem cells. This will increase sensitivity to current treatment modalities. The other ongoing projects in my laboratory are focused on new treatments for triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive and hardest to treat breast cancer subtype. In collaboration with scientists at both Clemson University and Prisma Health, we are investigating innovative, new, non-invasive, localized cancer targeting treatments, photodynamic therapy and tumor- treating field therapy, that have reduced impact on surrounding normal tissue. We are investigating each treatment type alone and in combination with current cancer treatments. Early data suggests that both photodynamic therapy and tumor-treating field therapy synergize with current chemotherapies increasing the anticancer effects while minimizing future toxic side effects associated with current anticancer therapies.
Health research keywords
Breast cancer, cancer stem cells, photodynamic therapy, tissue regeneration, tumor treating field therapy
