Research Assistant IV
I received my B.S. in biology at The Ohio State University and completed my MBA at Xavier University. I have studied the role of CDC42, a small GTPase, in the pathogenesis and maintenance of AML. We found that CDC42 regulates AML cell polarity and division symmetry, and inhibiting CDC42 promotes differentiation and blocks leukemia progression.
My work as a researcher in the Perentesis Lab is focused on understanding the molecular etiology and pharmacogenetics of pediatric cancers. We use robotics to conduct high-throughput screening (HTS), screening thousands of drugs against cancerous cells with genetic mutations, to find the needle in the haystack. Our approach is not solely focused on new drug discovery, but also on drug repositioning. Drug repositioning finds a new use for an existing drug. This can take years off the drug approval process, speeding new therapies to patients in need. I’m also working on developing in vitro drug response models to help bridge the bench and the bedside and assisting in the development of the Pediatric Cancer Avatar Program.
Publications
The cell polarity determinant CDC42 controls division symmetry to block leukemia cell differentiation.
Mizukawa B, O'Brien E, Moreira DC, Wunderlich M, Hochstetler CL, Duan X, Liu W, Orr E, Grimes HL, Mulloy JC, Zheng Y. Blood. 2017 Sep 14;130(11):1336-1346. doi: 10.1182/blood-2016-12-758458. Epub 2017 Aug 4. PMID:28778865
Protease-activated receptor-1 inhibits proliferation but enhances leukemia stem cell activity in acute myeloid leukemia. Goyama S, Shrestha M, Schibler J, Rosenfeldt L, Miller W, O'Brien E, Mizukawa B, Kitamura T, Palumbo JS, Mulloy JC. Oncogene. 2017 May 4;36(18):2589-2598. doi: 10.1038/onc.2016.416. Epub 2016 Nov 7. PMID:27819671
MLL-Rearranged Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemias Activate BCL-2 through H3K79 Methylation and Are Sensitive to the BCL-2-Specific Antagonist ABT-199. Benito JM, Godfrey L, Kojima K, Hogdal L, Wunderlich M, Geng H, Marzo I, Harutyunyan KG, Golfman L, North P, Kerry J, Ballabio E, Chonghaile TN, Gonzalo O, Qiu Y, Jeremias I, Debose L, O'Brien E, Ma H, Zhou P, Jacamo R, Park E, Coombes KR, Zhang N, Thomas DA, O'Brien S, Kantarjian HM, Leverson JD, Kornblau SM, Andreeff M, Müschen M, Zweidler-McKay PA, Mulloy JC, Letai A, Milne TA, Konopleva M. Cell Rep. 2015 Dec 29;13(12):2715-27. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.12.003. Epub 2015 Dec 17. PMID: 26711339