Mentorship in Action: Cancer Researchers Unlock Secrets of Tumor Growth

When Jennifer Waters was looking for a graduate school, at the top of her wishlist was a faculty mentor who would fully invest in her research career. As she considered San Diego State University’s joint doctoral program in cell and molecular biology, cancer researcher Carrie House stood out as just the kind of mentor who would offer Waters the guidance and mentorship she needed to become a successful research scientist. Waters’ work focuses on how fat cells affect metastasis by secreting proteins that allow cancer cells to anchor and attach to healthy cells and form tumors. Her work complements House’s other projects that consider how obesity can sustain drug resistant cancer cells and cause relapse in breast and ovarian cancers.