Welcome!
Hello, my name is Kristin and I am will be conducting research in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke as a part of the Howard Hughes Research Fellows Program. More specifically, I will be working with a graduate student who is studying transforming growth factor beta (TGFB) and its effect on cancer cells. In normal cells, the TGFB signaling pathway acts as a tumor suppressor by inducing growth inhibition and/or apoptosis. Interestingly, TGFB has also been found to act as a tumor promoter in cancer cells by initiating angiogenesis, metastasis, and immunosuppression. As a part of my fellowship, I will be working with my mentor to study how the various Smad proteins, proteins that are activated by TGFB and exert its effects by acting as transcription factors, encourage cellular migration and metastasis in 4T1 cells, an especially invasive breast cancer cell line derived from mice. I am very excited about participating in this fellowship, as I am interested in pursuing a career in cancer research. I see this program as a wonderful opportunity to better understand what such a career would be like as well as to prepare for future research opportunities by gaining significant laboratory experience.
