Name: Jay Patel
Title: MD, PhD Candidate (Georgetown University)
Email: jap282@georgetown.edu
Research Topic: Tumor Biology
Mentors: Stephen Byers, PhD (Department of Oncology, Georgetown University) and Jacqueline Jonklaas (Department of Medicine, Georgetown University)

Bio: As an MD/PhD student at Georgetown University, my research interest is in understanding how mitochondrial metabolism influences cancer progression. My interest in mitochondrial biology began as an undergraduate at Brandeis University from which I received a BS in biochemistry. It has recently been discovered that mitochondrial metabolism contributes to therapy resistance in many cancers. My goal is to use basic science to discover novel signaling pathways that regulate mitochondrial function, and translate this work into the clinic by developing new drugs that target these pathways. Such mitochondrial targeted therapies will then help treat therapy resistant cancers.