Caroline Pitton

Woman smiling in the woods

Program: Biological and Biomedical Sciences 
Lab: Sarah Johnstone

Caroline is a PhD student in Harvard’s BBS program. Her scientific journey started in Dr. Joe Coolon’s lab at Wesleyan University where she investigated gene regulatory networks in Drosophila and identified differential transcriptional programs driving pesticide resistance. After undergrad, Caroline moved to Boston to join Dr. Zuzana Tothova’s lab as a research associate where she studied the biology and therapeutic targeting of the cohesin complex in hematologic malignancies. Caroline is now a PhD student in Dr. Sarah Johnstone’s lab at DFCI where she is investigating the role of the transcription factor BORIS in chromatin architecture and ovarian cancer development. She is broadly interested in how changes to the 3D genome drive oncogenic transcriptional programs. When she’s not in the lab, Caroline loves to hike, camp, cook, read a cozy mystery, and go to barre classes. 

Caroline became involved in the LCBC in her first year of graduate school because she loves how the community brings together students and faculty from different programs and institutes. She is excited to help organize events and programs that are engaging, fun, and contribute to students’ professional development

If you were a piece of lab equipment, which would you be? Probably a pipette, because as long as I’m calibrated annually and not dropped too much, I’m pretty low maintenance. 

If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be? I love to read and I really enjoy scientific writing, so I think in another life, I would be a novelist. 

What’s your go-to coffee/tea order? A hot latte (with either lavender or brown sugar syrup if I’m feeling fancy).

If you could eat only 3 foods for the rest of your life, what would they be? Hummus, Ice Cream, and Cheese.

What is your favorite season? Fall in New England or late spring in Seattle. 

If you could be on any game show, which would you choose? I’m not sure if this counts as a game show, but I would love to go on Dancing with the Stars! 

Fiction or nonfiction? Definitely fiction. I love mysteries, thrillers, and anything super character-driven. 

Would you go to space if you could never come back to earth? Absolutely not. In fact, I don’t want to go to space at all!