Alison St. John
Graduate Student - Tomoo Iwakuma Lab
Professional Background
My interest and expertise in science began at a young age. I was accepted into and completed a rigorous academic program in high school: the Medical Professions 21st Century Academy. Following high school, I attended the University of Kansas, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in microbiology in three years. I grew a devout love for understanding how proteins and molecules interact and function in disease contexts, and furthermore, how we can target proteins or exploit their properties to generate therapeutics and hopefully cures for devastating diseases.
Fueled by the desire to make an impact and discover the unknown, I applied for graduate school and am currently working towards earning my PhD in Cancer Biology at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
I took advantage of the Medical Center’s collaboration with the Children’s Mercy Research Institute and proudly joined Dr. Tomoo Iwakuma’s laboratory to continue my education and research for my PhD. My research focuses on the tumor suppressor p53, which is mutated in many cancers, and specifically, how we can improve drugs that target mutant p53 for better clinical outcomes. In addition, I am devoted to generating therapeutic strategies that target mutant KRAS, an oncogene that drives the progression of many pancreatic cancers.