Postdoctoral Fellow
Vanderbilt University
Dr. Katie Young is an NIH F32 postdoctoral scholar working in the lab of Dr. Cynthia Reinhart-King at Vanderbilt University. She is primarily interested in understanding the role that a cell’s mechanotype plays in vivo at each step of the metastatic cascade, a study that will be critical for developing new diagnostics and therapeutic targets for metastatic disease, the cause of a majority of cancer-related deaths. The result of her work will show, for the first time, the causal relationship between cell mechanical properties and their ability to successfully traverse each step in the metastatic cascade in vivo. Dr. Young’s long-term career goal is to become a leading researcher, academic faculty member, and expert in the field of metastatic cancer biology. She has authored 15 peer-reviewed publications, presented her work at several local and national conferences, and has received a number of awards and scholarships, such as the ARCS Foundation Scholarship, Neal Kocurek St. David's Scholarship, and the NIH F31 and F32 NRSAs.