Department of Biology

Grace Anderson

Posted on July 31, 2017

Originally from San Diego, CA, Grace moved to North Carolina for college and graduated from University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2013 (summa cum laude, 4.0) with a B.S. in Biology (biotechnology concentration) with chemistry and anthropology minors. In 2018, they completed their PhD in Kris Wood’s lab at Duke University in the Molecular Cancer Biology program. Their work focused on utilizing functional genomics approaches to uncover novel vulnerabilities in cancers with intrinsic or acquired resistance to anti-cancer therapies. Their work to date has led to the publication of twelve peer-reviewed primary research articles (three of which are first author publications) in top-tier journals including Science Translational Medicine, Science Signaling, Cell Reports, Nature, Nature Genetics, Cancer Research, Science Advances, and Nature Communications.  They were fortunate enough in graduate school to secure many fellowships and awards, most notably, The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, The NCI Pre- to Postdoctoral Transition Award (F99/K00), The BWF Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program, The Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence, and others. Following graduate school, Grace was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in the Genetics Department where they worked closely with another postdoc to understand the genetic liabilities associated with 3D growth in cancer spheroid models. Currently, they are the Cell Engineering Team Lead at an early stage drug development start-up that pairs multiplexed reporter assays and high-throughput chemistry to map chemical/biological interactions. Grace attributes much of their success to the training they received in UNCG’s biology department. They are grateful for the intellectual challenges and support that were given to them by Dr. Steimle, Dr. Kalcounis-Ruppell, Dr. Faeth, and Dr. Cannon.