After over five years of research, I’m excited to announce that I defended my PhD dissertation in Genetics and Molecular Biology at Emory University.

My work focused on understanding how mutations in a gene called SMARCB1 can drive pediatric cancer. Specifically, I was focused on how single amino acid changes can disrupt the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex and alter gene expression in ways that promote tumor development.

Integrating deep mutational scanning with multi-omics profiling, I found that certain missense mutations can be just as disruptive to SMARCB1 function as complete protein loss, which has important implications for how we diagnose and treat these cancers. Alongside that work, I contributed to a study identifying XPO1 as a therapeutic target in Wilms tumor, which has since advanced to Phase II clinical trials. These projects are a reminder of why this work matters beyond the bench.

This marks the end of an incredible journey of discovery, growth, and learning. I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. Andrew Hong, for his mentorship and support throughout this process. He is truly a fearless leader who after all these years has created an exceptional lab that I’m so excited to see how it continues to grow and evolve. I also want to thank my committee members, Dr. David Katz, Dr. Roger Deal, Dr. Karen Conneely, and Dr. Carlos Moreno.

I also want to thank my labmates and collaborators who helped me throughout the years and who have made this experience so rewarding. I look forward to sharing my next adventure soon!

I traveled to Chicago to attend AACR 2025, the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. It was an incredible experience to connect with researchers from around the world and learn about the latest advances in cancer research. I attended sessions on a wide range of topics, including cancer genomics, immunotherapy, and with a special focus on cfDNA studies.

I also presented our poster: “SMARCB1 missense mutants destabilize SWI/SNF complex stability and remodeling activity”, available here: https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.AM2025-986

It was a great opportunity to share our findings and get feedback from other researchers in the field. As much as I was there for the science, some of the best moments were catching up with old colleagues and meeting new ones.

I traveled to Toronto for the 2024 AACR Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research Conference. This was my first time in Canada and my first time attending a conference dedicated entirely to pediatric cancer.

The difference in atmosphere compared to a large meeting like AACR annual was immediately noticeable. Smaller room, more focused conversations, and a palpable sense of shared purpose that is harder to find in a crowd of 20,000 people. Everyone there had chosen to dedicate their careers specifically to improving outcomes for children with cancer, and that collective commitment was genuinely energizing.

I presented our poster ‘Deep mutational scanning of SMARCB1 identifies missense mutants that destabilize SWI/SNF complex stability and diminish remodeling activity,’ available here: https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.PEDIATRIC24-B028. It was a great opportunity to share our findings with an audience that understands exactly why variant interpretation in pediatric tumors matters clinically.

I left Toronto reminded of why work is important and to keep pushing the work forward. Also was fun to stumble across the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) while we were there!

The work establishes patient-derived Wilms tumor cell lines as faithful preclinical models, identifies XPO1 as a therapeutic vulnerability through loss-of-function screening, and demonstrates that combining the FDA-approved XPO1 inhibitor KPT-330 with doxorubicin produces durable remissions in vivo — findings that have contributed to an active Phase II clinical trial NCT05985161.

The manuscript can be found online.