Mentor: Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf, Ph.D.

Research Focus: The role of arsenite methyltransferase (AS3MT) and metabolic dysregulation in arsenic-induced lung carcinogenesis

Experience: Richard began his research career at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Eppley Institute for Cancer Research, where he contributed to projects ranging from mechanisms of mutagenesis to PKCa signaling in colon cells. He was then awarded a NASA-Nebraska Grant to investigate evolutionary influences of spindle pole body formation in basal eukaryotes. After graduating magna cum laude from the Honors Program at Creighton University in 2019, he was recruited to the National Institutes of Health as a Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow. There, he studied mechanisms of DNA repair and the endoplasmic reticulum stress response. In 2021, Richard started his Ph.D. at Van Andel Institute Graduate School and joined the Fondufe-Mittendorf Lab. His thesis work focuses on understanding how inorganic arsenic and its detoxifying enzyme (arsenite methyltransferase) dysregulates cell pathways, leading to lung cancer. In 2023, Richard applied for and was selected as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. His contributions to the VAI community include serving as chair of the Graduate Student Association, representing student voices on various institute committees including the Dean Search Committee and the Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship Committee, and designing and directing a Hallmarks of Cancer course for undergraduate summer students.

Undergraduate Institution: Creighton University

Hometown: Kansas City, Kansas

Publications

*Completed during time as a VAI graduate student

*George S, Cassidy R, Saintilnord W, Fondufe Mittendorf Y. 2022. Epigenomic reprogramming in iAs-mediated carcinogenesis. Adv Pharmacol 95:187–216.