University: Catholic University of America
Hometown: Newark, NJ
NIH Research Project:
The Catalytic Cycle of ATP Hydrolysis by P-glycoprotein (ABCB1): Role of Conserved D-loop Domain
Mentor: Suresh V. Ambudkar, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Cell Biology
National Cancer Institute
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As a five-year-old, I wondered, "If I cut a grain of table salt into tiny pieces, would it disappear into invisible particles?" Without realizing it, I was thinking of Dalton's atomic theory of matter! During high school, I became interested in pursuing a biomedical research career after taking biology and chemistry courses. As the biology and chemistry courses made me curious about the function of organisms at the molecular level, the idea of merging these two fields to design drugs for disease treatment fascinated me!
At The Catholic University of America, where I recently graduated with a B.S. in biochemistry, I worked on the synthesis of iron and manganese coordination complexes under the mentorship of Dr. Greg Brewer. In the summer of 2004, I joined the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Rutgers University where I worked on the synthesis of a natural product known as telomestatin, a potential anticancer drug.
Last summer as a UGSP Scholar, I joined the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the guidance of Dr. Curtis Harris. We focused on the identification of cancer stem cells in small cell lung cancer. Currently, I am training in NCI's Laboratory of Cell Biology with Dr. Suresh Ambudkar. Our goal is to understand the biochemical mechanisms by which P-glycoprotein (Pgp), a transporter responsible for multiple drug resistance in cancer treatment, functions. An understanding of the biochemistry of Pgp might lead to the development of novel treatments to eradicate cancer cells.
Over the next two years, I will be training in Dr. Ambudkar's laboratory and then plan to pursue a Ph.D. I am very grateful of the UGSP for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to be trained at the NIH.
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