Victoria Feist

Program: Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Lab: Sarah Johnstone

Victoria (“Tori”) grew up in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York before heading south to the University of Virginia, where she majored in Biology and minored in Data Science. As an undergraduate in Dr. Amanda Gibson’s lab, she studied how C. elegans evolve resistance to fungal parasites. Driven by an interest in genetics and epigenetics, Tori switched from infectious disease evolution to cancer biology after graduating in 2023. She joined Dr. Vikram Paralkar’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania as a research specialist, where she became well acquainted with mouse models, ribosomal RNA, and the hematopoietic tree to better understand AML development. As a G2 student in Dr. Sarah Johnstone’s lab at DFCI, Tori aims to elucidate the mechanisms of neochromosome inheritance and MDM2 (a negative regulator of p53) amplification in liposarcoma. Broadly, she hopes to define how amplified oncogenes are epigenetically packaged and regulated. Outside of the lab, Tori loves to run, take Pilates classes, go to concerts, travel the country to visit all of her friends, and read (outside, if possible).

Tori became involved in LCBC early in her first year because she was inspired by the strong sense of community and comfortability formulated at LCBC events. Finding this smaller neighborhood of researchers within such a large institution was crucial for her transition to graduate school, and she is excited to encourage fun and collaboration amongst members of the consortium by planning engaging activities.

If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be? I love to host parties, picnics, soirees, etc. so I think I’d make a great wedding planner.

What’s your go-to coffee/tea order? Iced honey almond maple latte with almond milk (wherever I can find one!)

What is on your bucket list? I want to go to a Philadelphia Eagles game SO bad (on the condition that they win while I’m there).

If you could eat only 3 foods for the rest of your life, what would they be? Popcorn, watermelon, Greek yogurt

What is your favorite season? Spring! The blooming flowers are beautiful, it’s good running weather, and it’s such an optimistic time of year with summer on the horizon.

If you could be on any game show, which would you choose? Pop Culture Jeopardy. I know so much lore about so many celebrities; I might as well try to get paid for it.

Fiction or nonfiction? I usually reach for fiction, but I’ve been trying to incorporate more non-fiction because I like walking away feeling like I’ve learned something totally new. I’m about to start reading Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (typical for a cancer biologist, I know).

Who inspires you? My lab mates inspire me every day! I feel so lucky to be training in this amazing environment.