Biography
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology. I am a cancer pharmacologist who uses molecular characterization methods to determine personalized approaches to treat rare bone and muscle cancers in adolescents and young adults.
I am from Tennessee and married a cowgirl from Wyoming. The common denominator is that her family raised Tennessee Walking horses, hence everything from Tennessee was amazing! We have one girl and four boys.
I obtained an undergraduate degree and masters degree from BYU-Idaho and BYU, before going back east to Duke University to earn my PhD in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. Our family are die hard Blue Devils every basketball season after experiencing Duke basketball at Cameron Indoor, but we love to support our BYU cougars in all sports.
Research Interests
Personalized medicine in oncology relies on extracting molecular information from the tumor to understand the vulnerabilities that attacked with targeted therapies. Sarcomas are a rare classification of cancer that is understudied and has limited targeted therapy options. In the Barrott lab, we create models of bone and muscle cancers to test novel therapies. We use traditional cancer cell lines as well as innovative patient-derived 3D tumor organoid models to test anti-cancer therapies. Once therapies have shown promise in these models, we advance the most promising candidates to test in genetically engineered mouse models where we can assess safety and efficacy before going into people. One class of anti-cancer therapy that we are particularly interested in is antibody-drug conjugates. Using antibodies as a homing beacon, we can deliver precise therapies that target unique antigens expressed on the cancers.Teaching Interests
I teach introductory cell biology courses and provide experiential opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in the lab. I look forward to teaching more advanced cancer biology classes in the future. In my previous academic appointment, I taught genetics and pharmacogenomics in a pharmacy program to help students better understand how genetics influence how patients respond to drugs.Memberships
- Association of Molecular Pathology (2023 - Present)
- Biohive (2023 - Present)
- Society for Functional Precision Medicine (2019 - Present)
- Connective Tissue Oncology Society (2015 - Present)
- American Association for Cancer Research (2014 - Present)
