Brittany Allen-Petersen

Title:

Assistant Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus

Contact:

Email Address: ballenpe@purdue.edu
Office Phone: 765-496-1896
Lab Website Link: https://www.bio.purdue.edu/lab/bap/

Primary Training Group:

Cancer Biology

Research Areas:

Cancer, phosphatases, cellular plasticity, therapeutic efficacy

Current Projects:

Protein phosphatases predominantly function as gatekeepers to kinase signaling, providing the necessary “off-switch” to prevent uncontrolled growth. Cancer cells, however, can develop mechanisms that suppress phosphatase function. My research program focuses on understanding the phosphatase-dependent signaling events that contribute to cellular plasticity and the impact of these signals on pancreatic and lung cancer initiation and progression. Currently, there are two main areas of research in my lab: 1) Determining the consequence of phosphatase deregulation on cancer cell fate and therapeutic resistance and 2) Exploring the therapeutic potential of phosphatase activators in complex tumor models. These studies utilize a variety of cellular- and molecular- biology techniques, including 3D culture and in vivo cancer models.