Alexander Crane

Alexander Crane

MSTP Student

Case Western Reserve University

Medical Scientist Training Program

Systems Biology and Bioinformatics (SYBB)

As an Undergraduate, I studied Biology with a focus on human genetics and evolution. During this time, I became fascinated with how these principles can be utilized to better understand and treat disease. Prior to enrolling in graduate school, I spent two years at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the lab of Dr. Rameen Beroukhim investigating and characterizing sequelae of structural variants across tumors. At the intersection of my coursework and prior research, I have become curious about the implications of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transitions (EMT) for the evolution of long-term drug resistance in tumors. An EMT phenotype is a common resistance mechanism in cancer — conferring terrible patient outcomes, and yet we do not understand the evolutionary constraints on how or when it will evolves.

Education

  • B.A. in Biology, 2020

    University of Pennsylvania