My research focuses on commonalities between cancer biology and the basic biology of aging. In particular, I study how active mutagenesis and accumulated mutation burdens produced by known drivers of cancer diminish cellular lifespan.

For two summers, I participated in the Molecular Biology of Aging course as a TA/lab instructor. In my first summer, I led labs focused on yeast culturing and chronological lifespan analysis. During the following summer, I helped conduct EMS mutagenesis screening using C. elegans to isolate mutants resistant to various drugs/treatments.

As a master's student, I studied molecular neurodevelopment using the roundworm C. elegans. My work focused on conducting an RNAi screen for genetic knockdowns that suppressed an axonal branching defect.

The Baymont Inn was my last non-academic job. I had worked in hotels in positions ranging from desk clerk to maintenance since I was 17. Before that, I had worked from the ages of 10-17 as a stock/cleanup boy at a convenience store in rural Oklahoma.