Specializing in rodent behavior assays

The Beatty laboratory incorporates both basic science research and clinical investigation to define strategies for leveraging the immune system for the treatment of cancer. The team’s mission is to define mechanisms of resistance and response to immunotherapy in an effort to design effective strategies to condition tumors and patients for enhanced therapeutic responsiveness.

Supervisor, Tech Ops. Supervise members of the Technical Operations group including: management and training of personnel, participation in interdepartmental and intradepartmental projects and point of contact in matters pertaining to operation of the laboratory. Responsible for managing the technical staff in assigned area to ensure compliance with the protocol and applicable SOPs and maintain the raw data for non-clinical studies. Ensure compliance with all applicable regulations and with site and departmental policies, practices and procedures.

● Plan, optimize, and perform In-vivo assays● Specialize in small animal models for drug discovery in Immunology and Inflammation, Oncology, Metabolic, and Cardiovascular diseases.● Execute novel compound efficacy studies in various animal models of disease and PK/ PD Studies● Murine tumor imaging with IVIS● Utilize SAARP platform for murine whole-body x-ray radiation and targeted x-ray tumor radiation

Senior Research Associate ● CNS research, specializing in Electroencephalography and Electromyography experiments in rats and mice, including surgical implantation of electrodes, configuration of EEG recording equipment, dosing and running experiment and initial analysis of results. ● Measured electro-myocardial deficits in SOD mice, showed deficiencies in motor action potentials before behavioral deficits became noticeable. ● Performed 6-OHDA chemical lesioning of rat brains for testing in dopamine-related assays. ● Additionally performed a variety of behavioral studies, necropsy dissections, tissue preparation.

Worked in Oncology Research and Drug Discovery: Cultured various cancer cell lines for secondary cellular assays to detect phosphorylation of ALK, FAK or AXL cells, prepared xenograft implants into SCID and Nu/Nu mice, dosed with test compounds and measure tumor growth and regression for anti-tumor efficacy studies and PK/PD analysis. Ran Western Blots on lysates cultured cells and collected tumors to determine pharmacodynamic activity of test compounds.Projects included FAK, ALK (lymphoma and lung cancer) and AXL (breast and lung cancer) inhibitor discovery, resulting in one clinical development candidate.Neurobiology department. Characterized novel H3 antagonists using the rat dipsogenia and social recognition behavioral models, leading to the nomination of a novel H3 antagonist to preclinical development; possible clinical application treating Alzheimer’s Disease. Worked on discovering novel antinociceptive agents, utilizing the Hargreaves apparatus (thermal sensitivity), plethysmometer (paw edema), and von Frey filaments (tactile sensitivity). Tested standard reference compounds in the first two models using both carrageenan and CFA as pain and inflammation inducing agents, also measured tactile allodynia using von Frey filaments in L5 spinal nerve ligated rats. Designed and ran PTZ-induced seizure test to determine effectiveness of anti-convulsive activity of novel compounds.

Administered the nation's largest database of Type I Diabetes families (6500+ individuals). Queried database to answer researcher's questions, created reports, and produced targeted mailing lists. Worked on Pennsylvania Grant to study Diabetic Retinopathy, Examined Ophthalmologist medical records to divide subjects into groups based on rate of progression of the disease.

Implanted arterial catheters into rat femoral artery. Developed and ran 4x4 and 6x2 Latin Square studies. Determined post-treatment Ca++ plasma levels. Centrifuged and collected plasma for PTH and Drug Level analysis. Analyzed data.

Worked in Neuropharmacology, Cardiovascular, Gastroenterology, and New Lead Pharmacology departments,Characterized anti-hypertensive activities of the novel Angiotensin II receptor antagonist Losartan (Cozaar®).Gathered information on target medical conditions, modified existing techniques and created new protocols to suit the current research focus. Followed GLP guidelines, tested and modified protocol to verify the model's precision and accuracy. Screened novel compounds for effectiveness in treating human disease. Summerized data, performed statistical analysis, and created charts visually representing the analyzed data.Corporate-wide Information Technology Access: I applied my Information Technology skills and knowledge to increase productivity across all Merck divisions on several projects: * Chaired the Pharmacology department Y2K committee* Created corporate Policies and Guidelines for Intranet websites and organizations; * Developed websites on Merck's corporate Intranet; consolidated 35 worldwide groups. * Served on Merck Webmaster's Core Team, which was charged with strategic redesign of the Merck Intranet.