About
I am an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University Institute of NanoBiotechnology, where my laboratory studies brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs) and their role in glioblastomas (GB) — the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults. Even with maximum surgical resection, radiation and chemotherapy, glioblastomas are considered largely incurable with a median patient survival of 14.6 months.
Our goal is to identify and ultimately target the molecular mechanisms responsible for the highly invasive nature of glioblastomas. Specifically, our research focuses on the effects of Slit proteins on the migration of BTICs. To more accurately depict and study the migration of human brain cancer cells on human tissue, our lab has developed novel research models using intra-operative tissue to study cell migration.
I received my M.D. and my Ph.D. from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. In 2007, I moved to Baltimore, MD with my family to join the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Brain Tumor Stem Cell Laboratory before being promoted to Assistant Professor in 2015.
Joined
January 2016