Mentors: Adam Dupuy, PhD and Christopher Stipp, PhD

Comprehensive Exam: 

Validate Progesterone Receptor (PR) Repressors and Restore PR expression in Endometrial Cancer

My Research:

My thesis project focuses on understanding the mechanism of resistance to target therapies in Uveal Melanoma. Uveal Melanoma (UM) is the leading form of intraocular cancer in adults, second most common form of melanoma and has a median survival rate of ~1 year after metastasis occurs due to the refractory to treatment and lack of effective pharmacological therapies. In ~90% UM cases, the oncogenic initiator proteins are GNAQ and GNA11 which were found to be inhibited by FR900359 (FR) and YM-254890 (YM). Utilizing Sleeping Beauty Transposon Mutagenesis, we’ve identified several genes that are up-regulated in FR- resistant UM cell populations, the overexpression of these genes increases the probability of resistant emerging cells, and shortens the time until resistance emerges in FR-treated UM cells.

Fellowship:

2025  National Cancer Institute Postdoctoral Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program 

Presentations:

2024 Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center Annual Retreat. "Determine the Mechanism of Resistance to Target Therapies for Uveal Melanoma."

2023 Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center Annual Retreat. "Determine the Mechanism of Resistance to Target Therapies for Uveal Melanoma."

Publications:

1. Zhu EY, Schillo JL, Murray SD, Riordan JD, Dupuy AJ. Understanding cancer drug resistance with Sleeping Beauty functional genomic screens: Application to MAPK inhibition in cutaneous melanoma. iScience. 2023;26(10):107805.
2. Qi A, Lamont L, Liu E, Murray SD, Meng X, Yang S. Essential Protein PHB2 and Its Regulatory Mechanisms in Cancer. Cells. 2023;12(8).
3. Li Y, Zhou W, Meng X, Murray SD, Li L, Fronk A, et al. Utilizing an Endogenous Progesterone Receptor Reporter Gene for Drug Screening and Mechanistic Study in Endometrial Cancer. Cancers. 2022;14(19).

Awards:

NIH/National Medical Association R13 Travel Award for 2023 National Medical Association Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly. "ABCB1 Promotes Uveal Melanoma Cell Resistance to FR900359 and Identifies a Tumor Cell Subpopulation with a Distinct Gene Expression Signature."

2023 Finalist, 3 Minute Thesis, University of Iowa Graduate College.