Dennis Simpson Email & Phone Number

Chapel Hill, Nc, Us

I have been working with Dr. Gaorav Gupta at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since RTP Genomics went out of business. RTP Genomics was an exciting time and even though we could not make it work, Lab Corp now has an AML test that is equivalent to what we were developing so the medical need has been met. With Dr. Gupta, I am working to understand how Mre11 signalling and Polymerase Theta (PolQ) function during cell cycle dependent DNA repair. As part of this research, we have worked out additional roles for Mre11 in genomic stability and its link to the innate immune response. Many tumors are dependent upon PolQ function and thus is a potentially important clinical target for treatment of many cancers. Through collaborations, we have been studying potential small molecule inhibitors of PolQ and are homing in on the first identified in vivo substrate that is dependent on PolQ for repair. As part of these studies I have developed several pipelines starting from the cell biology through the computational/bioinformatic processing to measure repair of specific lesions. My role in our group is to oversee the daily operations of the lab. I mentor our junior staff and assist in experimental design as well as data interpretation. The more complex the project the more I enjoy it. The most complex high risk / high reward projects are the ones I reserve for myself.We have an incredible group of people in our lab whose talents range of animal modeling, biomarker development, cell biology, molecular biology, programming, and bioinformatics. We are always open to adding additional people. If you are interested reach out to me or Dr. Gupta.

Chapel Hill, Nc

Conduct bench research in cell and molecular biology. Supervise, train, and mentor research staff. Lead efforts to expand the scope of research activities and capabilities by nurturing collaborative relationships with other research laboratories locally, nationally and internationally. Monitor and enforce compliance with key regulations and guidelines, including managing computer systems security compliance with Federal guidelines. Administer and allocate a $275,000 research budget. Direct scientific research projects from initial concept through final results. Provide critical insight and management for research activities. Increase project funding and laboratory budgets by identifying and pursuing grant opportunities.

Provided oversight, training, and mentorship to laboratory personnel, centered on experimental design, experimental execution, results analysis, GLP, cGMP, and SOP. Coordinated research involving normal and cancer cell biology, cancer genomics, mammalian cell cultures, vector design, cell engineering, and bioinformatics, partnering with other research institutes, biostatisticians, mathematicians, and experts to achieve project goals as needed. Author protocols for animal use in research. Assured that mouse colonies were maintained according to approved protcols. Utilize mice engineered with targeted expression systems in and conditional knock-out / knock-in technologies.

Reasearch Triangle Park, Nc

Asystbio Laboratories has become RTP Genomics. New title for the company, new role for me.

Reasearch Triangle Park, Nc

AsystBio is developing the Symple Cell virtual laboratory service using computational models of metabolic pathways. By modeling cellular subsystems of interest in oncology, the Symple Cell service will facilitate the development of drugs for the treatment of cancer that have a mechanism of action that has a desired therapeutic effect on the modeled networks.Member of the management team. Provide guidance in the development of predictive in-silico models of cell signaling pathways. Responsibilities include grant writing, pathway selection, model design and validation, integration of the programmers, mathematicians, and bench researchers.

B.S., Microbiology And Public Health

Phd, Virology

Studied neurovirulance and latency of alphaviruses. Awarded 5 patents.