Research
Drug resistance of tumor cells is the cause of treatment failure for most human cancers.  Acquired resistance was observed in the very first trial of a chemotherapeutic in 1942.  Since that time, vast improvements in chemotherapy- including novel drugs, combination therapies, reduced toxicity, and highly targeted treatments- have extended the lives of many cancer patients.  Yet drug resistance remains a major scientific and clinical challenge in the treatment of human cancer. 
     
​Tumor cell populations are characterized by enormous heterogeneity and plasticity. This variation contributes to disease progression and response to therapy, although the mechanisms are not yet well understood.  To address these challenges, we are developing novel technologies and experimental systems rooted in the tools of systems and synthetic biology and bioengineering. 
Lab News 
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10/2019 Eric's paper with the UT Waggonner Center reports on the first single cell analysis of gene expression changes in the brains of individuals with alcoholism. This has been a great collaborative team! 
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09/2019 We're excited to share a preprint of our collaborative study with DFCI using COLBERT barcodes to track CLL cells responding to chemotherapy. 
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08/2019 Amy gave an invited presentation on "Functionalized barcodes to reveal evolutionary clonal dynamics" at the Next-Generation Genomics meeting organized by Nature Conferences at NYU.  

08/2019 Congratulations to Dr. Aziz Al'Khafaji for passing his thesis defense!  We wish him well as he heads to the Broad Institute for a postdoc position. 
 
08/2019  Congrats to Daylin for passing his BME qualifying exam! 
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06/2019 We welcome PhD student Andrea (Didi) to the lab!

06/2019 Kaitlyn presented at the Integrated Math Oncology seminar series at Moffitt Cancer Center.   

06/2019 Best wishes to Edward as he begins a postdoctoral position in the DeGregori lab at UC Denver!

04/2019  Amy gave an invited seminar at the Quantitative Systems Biology Center at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Thank you to wonderful hosts in the Quaranta lab and the whole department!
 
03/2019  Can the growth dynamics of species in ecosystems give us new insights into the early growth of tumors? Our latest preprint tackles this question.
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02/2019  Our COLBERT barcoding platform is a Top 10 Finalist for the SLAS Innovation Award at the SLAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.  

01/2019  Amy was the "Student's Choice" speaker in the BME department at the U of Maryland, College Park. Thank you to the grad student organizers!

12/2018 Congratulations to Aziz on receiving the UT Graduate School Dissertation Writing Fellowship!
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11/2018 Amy presented a talk at the Systems Approaches to Cancer Biology in Wood's Hole, MA and Kaitlyn was awarded a Best Poster award at the meeting.