Student Profiles

Jenny first entered the world of scientific research as a freshman at Caltech in 2014. She joined the lab of Professor Marianne Bronner, where she learned the importance of the neural crest, a unique population of stem cells in developing vertebrate embryos. She continued to work in the Bronner lab throughout the rest of her undergraduate career, researching oncogenes involved in the initiation of neuroblastoma, a neural crest-derived cancer. During the summer of 2017, Jenny traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland through a summer exchange program between Caltech and the University of Iceland. She worked in the lab of Dr. Gudrun Valdimarsdottir, studying the role of TGF-beta signaling in breast cancer cells. Her work in Iceland not only expanded her research interests but also sparked a desire to study abroad which would eventually lead her to find the NIH OxCam program.

After graduating from Caltech in 2018 with a BS in Biology, Jenny joined the lab of Dr. Laura Kerosuo in the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) at the NIH, where she focused on studying the stem cell properties of the neural crest as a post-baccalaureate research fellow. While at the NIH, Jenny made the decision to take the long path of becoming a physician-scientist so that she could combine her lifelong desire to become a physician with her ever growing passion for science. Subsequently, she matriculated to the UAB Heersink School of Medicine in 2020 through the UAB Medical Scientist Training Program and has since completed 2 years of medical training.

Currently, Jenny has returned to studying the neural crest and neuroblastoma. She is working to identify novel genes that initiate aggressive neuroblastoma and create neuroblastoma models using human embryonic stem cell-derived neural crest cells. Ultimately, she hopes to set up 3D tumor models where the in vitro environment mimics the biological microenvironment to better understand ways in which neuroblastoma can be treated.