Title
Research Assistant Professor
Research Interests
My work focuses on mechanisms of growth and progression of hormone-responsive cancers of the prostate and breast. In particular, this involves studying the progression to a metastatic phenotype in prostate cancer, which is associated with a loss of androgen sensitivity and a shift in energy metabolism characteristics. I have been interested in the changing role of citrate as an energy source for prostate epithelial cells during transformation to malignancy, as well as the effects of phytoestrogens on prostate biological functions. For many years, I have been interested in bone tumors and cancers, such as prostate and osteosarcoma, that metastasize to and from bone. This has lead me to work with orthopedic and veterinary oncologists to characterize aggressive osteosarcoma in adolescents and dogs. Recently, my background in nutrition and exercise physiology has led to my involvement in a study of exercise in mouse models of mammary carcinoma. My interest in radiation oncology has led me to conduct studies of the mouse small intestine in response to mitigation agents after radiation exposure.
Current Projects
I am currently continuing my investigations of soy isoflavones on biological functions associated with metastasis in prostate cancer. I am involved in a study of aerobic exercise in mouse models of mammary carcinoma, which will help us to understand how exercise may affect tumor growth and progression, response to treatment and treatment toxicity. I am also helping to perform dose modification, PK/PD, and intestinal biomarker studies of an FGF biomimetic in irradiated mice and rats.