My role in this project is that of PD/PI. I am an Early State Investigator. I am highly motivated to pursue an academic, translational research career. The expertise needed to carry out my proposed research began to develop during my graduate work with Dr. Eric Peterson at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. I earned co-author status on the resultant peer-reviewed papers (see below). My research training continued under the guidance of Dr. Charles Cox at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston under a NIGMS T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship Appointment. During this time, I developed and characterized a novel in vitro platform representing the blood-brain barrier (see publication below) to model neurological disorders and diseases. During that same time, I conducted exploratory research projects into traumatic brain injury, intravehicular hemorrhage, and brain cancer. I opted to attend seminars and courses related to cancer progression and neuroscience. In my final year of my training, I collaborated with Dr. Brandon Miller in the Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery to explore mechanisms of innate neuroimmune activation and gliosis (see below). In addition to my research training and experience, I trained one undergraduate, one high school student, and three surgery residents during my tenure as a postdoctoral researcher. Together this will enhance my effectiveness as a PD/PI at Xavier University of Louisiana. With my research experiences, I am confident that I am well prepared to carry out my independent research program.
