PhD candidate in the Molecular & Translational Biology program, Rachel Shoemaker, says the fellowship she recently received will support her research on the tumor suppressor gene p53. Shoemaker was selected for a Pre-Doctoral Graduate Research Assistant Fellowship with the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston, Genomics and Translational Cancer Research Training Program (BIG-TCR), funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). 

A passion for research 

Before coming to the Graduate School, Shoemaker attended Rice University, where she had the opportunity to work in the lab of her current advisor, Dung-Fang Lee, PhD. During her time as an undergraduate research assistant, Shoemaker investigated the impact of secondary mutations in the initiation of mutant p53-driven osteosarcoma. Her experience in the Lee lab sparked her passion for research, and she set her sights on pursuing her PhD. Meeting Graduate School students and seeing their love for their work, and how they welcomed and helped her as an undergraduate, made her feel confident that the Graduate School was the right choice for her research education.  

Understanding alternative splicing  

Shoemaker’s current research project aims to understand how the tumor suppressor p53 gene, the most commonly mutated gene in all human cancers, impacts the process of alternative splicing to promote cellular dysregulation and enhance osteosarcoma tumor initiation and progression, with the goal of identifying mutant p53-induced alternative mRNA transcripts that can be targeted by compounds that are currently FDA-approved. She was inspired to take on the project because she wanted to expand her knowledge of bioinformatics analysis to complement her experience in osteosarcoma research. RNA biology, and alternative splicing in particular, appealed to her because changes in alternative splicing have been shown to contribute to tumorigenesis and metastasis, but the exact mechanisms and changes that occur are not well understood. 

Building a community

As a seasoned graduate student, Shoemaker understands the importance of support. She advises first-year students to ask faculty, postdocs, and other graduate students for help, whether their questions are research-related or otherwise. “The Graduate School is a strong community, and you will find support from everyone around you,” she says. 

Making science accessible 

After graduation, Shoemaker hopes to continue building on and applying her scientific knowledge in a science communication or policy role. She is passionate about improving the dissemination of cutting-edge research to make it more understandable to everyday audiences and aims to build her career on making science more accessible. “I want to help continue to advance and support scientific research, medicine, exploration, and curiosity,” she says.