This picture shows cancer cells after being treated with a chemotherapy drug. Using these images, I am able to link how these cells are processing outside information during chemo treatment with what type of cancer cell they will eventually turn into days later.

My project focuses on how MAPK pathways help cells choose between senescence and proliferation after DNA damage.  I took time-lapse live-cell images with cells expressing fluorescent reporters for the Jnk (magenta channel) and Erk (green channel) kinase pathways. When either of these pathways is turned on, you can see the fluorescence localization change from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. After treating an osteosarcoma cell line (U2OS) with a low-dose of doxorubicin for 4 hours, I wanted to see how very early Jnk and Erk dynamics differentiated cells that became senescent with cells that continued to proliferate days under different inhibitor conditions.