Supervisor:
Co-Supervisor:
Dr. Shashi Gujar, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University
Program of Study:
PhD, Pathology
Project Title:
Studying the kynurenine pathway and metabolism of immune cell populations
Research Summary:
Cancer cells can survive extremely well despite treatment because of their ability to make specific compounds that are harmful to immune cells. One of these compounds is kynurenine, a metabolite capable of shutting off your body’s natural immune defenses. Cancer cells increase the amounts of kynurenine that they produce, and some immune cells may not be able to survive and continue killing the cancer cells. In this research, we use liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to study how immune cells can break down the metabolite into safer materials. By seeing how different immune cells like T-cells or B-cells manage the increased levels of kynurenine, we can focus on making new immunotherapies for cancer treatment, such as immune cells that can remove the harmful metabolite and continue to kill the cancer.
Career Aspirations:
Following the completion of my graduate degree, I hope to continue doing cancer related research in Atlantic Canada. I hope to become a prominent name in the field, opening my own research lab and inspiring new generations of researchers to look at cancer research from an analytical standpoint.
Location:
Dalhousie University
Publications:
McMillen, T.S.; Leslie, A.; Chisholm, K.; Penny, S.; Gallant, J.; Cohen, A.; Drucker, A.; Fawcett, J.P.; Pinto, D.M. Anal Chim Acta. 2023, October. 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341791
Nickerson, J. L.; Baghalabadi, V.; Rajendran, S. R. C. K.; Jakubec, P. J.; Said, H.; McMillen, T. S.Mass Spectrom. Rev. 2021, No. April. https://doi.org/10.1002/mas.21706