Kayla Cruz

Kayla grew up in Manila, Philippines and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology. After graduating, she worked in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee at Johns Hopkins where she studied cancer immunology. Her project specifically focused on mechanisms involved in reprogramming the tumor microenvironment of non-immunogenic tumors in favor of an anti-tumor response through epigenetic modulation. Now, as a Ph.D. student in Dr. Taru Muranen’s lab, Kayla is investigating the role of cytokines secreted by cancer associated fibroblasts on tumor growth and drug resistance in breast and pancreatic cancer.