Dr. Thomas-Jardin studies how stressed cancer cells selectively produce proteins that help them survive and evade immune attack. Her focus is on upstream open reading frames (uORFs), small regulatory elements in RNA that control whether certain proteins are translated during cellular stress. She has already shown that this pathway can increase immune checkpoint proteins such as PD-L1 and CD155, allowing tumors to suppress immune cells. Her project aims to block this mechanism and improve immunotherapy responses. These studies may yield new therapeutic targets for the treatment of lung, breast, and prostate cancers.
Dr. Thomas-Jardin has built her career around understanding how inflammation and stress signaling drive cancer progression. She has trained at the University of Texas at Dallas, and is currently pursuing her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Mentor
Kathryn O’Donnell, PhD
Projects and Grants
The regulation and function of uORFs during integrated stress response activation in cancer
