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Principal Scientist, Preclinical Technology and Optimization Team Leader
Center for Advanced Preclinical Research
Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Expertise
- Molecular mechanisms of bi- and mono-allelic gene expression and gene functioning in normal vs. diseased tissues
- Analysis of diverse developmental signaling pathways and their implication for pathogenic state of adult tissues
- Design and construction of genetically and biologically engineered murine models for variety of diseases, including tissue degenerative syndromes, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, ageing, and cancer
- Accelerated adoption and optimization of modern molecular technologies for genome editing and targeted mutagenesis, also for the purpose of constructing non-germline and non-murine genetically modified models
- Molecular and cellular mechanisms of pluripotency, derivation and application of pluripotent stem cell (ES and iPS) technologies to improve value and bandwidth of preclinical drug development
- Preparation of cell culture reagents from de novo animal models of carcinogenesis and their use as testing platforms for drug efficacy assessment
- Systems biology evaluation of diseased tissues to discover disease-specific mechanisms, molecular players driving the pathology, and drug targets.
Prior Experience
- Staff Scientist, Cancer and Developmental Biology Laboratory, National Cancer Institute at Frederick - Initiated and directed a large-scale effort to assess the role of nuclear-envelope associated proteins in multiple clinical diseases; constructed a broad portfolio of GEM models to study mechanistic implications of LINK complex proteins; identified several novel imprinted genes and provided first evidence connecting imprinted gene expression with circadian regulation.
- Research Fellow, Cancer and Developmental Biology Laboratory, National Cancer Institute at Frederick - Established innovative experimental platform for isolation of novel imprinted genes and molecular modifiers of mono-allelic gene expression
- Training Fellow, National Institute for Medical Research, Medical Research Council, London, England - Developed strategies for precision targeting of genetic elements governing cell-specific gene expression; engineered multiple accessory mouse lines instrumental in expression modifier search and molecular analyses of transcription enhancing and silencing elements.
- Graduate Student in Molecular Neurobiology, Institute of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Switzerland - Cloned via functional screening approach several novel components of brain-specific proteolytic system involved in memory formation and familial brain neuropathologies; examined the role of cell-adhesion molecules in astrocytomagenesis