I am a 5th-year Ph.D. candidate in the Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology program at UTMB. I began my Ph.D. training in Dr. Michael Sheetz’s lab. My research focuses on understanding how dysregulation of physical and mechanical factors in cells contributes to cancer metastasis. Specifically, I study how the loss of Tropomyosin 2.1, a key matrix rigidity-sensing protein, promotes anoikis resistance in cancer cells—an essential step in metastasis.
Before starting my Ph.D. at UTMB, I worked as a Junior Research Fellow at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, where my interest in mechanobiology began. My research focused on understanding how the viscoelastic properties of tissues and the extracellular matrix influence stem cell behavior, as well as how tissue inhomogeneity affects cell patterning.
Outside the lab, I enjoy staying active through workouts or unwinding with walks.