Joanna Burdette

Joanna Burdette (Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin)

Preventing ovarian cancer may one day be attainable, and if it is, Joanna Burdette may be at the forefront of the discovery.

Burdette is conducting research to discover if ovarian cancers originate in the Fallopian tube but grow inside the ovary. Before the cancer can be treated, researchers must first discover where the tumors begin.

Using three-dimensional cell cultures developed in her laboratory to monitor early cell-signaling pathways responsible for the disease, Burdette is investigating how cells become cancerous and whether molecules produced in the ovary are part of the process.

Burdette was named a Tilberis Scholar by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Her research is funded by the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and the National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute.

Subject areas:

• Ovarian cancer
• Health and medicine
• Medicinal chemistry
• Women’s issues