Laura was an undergraduate at Chapman University in Orange, Ca, where she majored in exercise physiology before earning a MS degree from Cal State University, East Bay, in Kinesiology. She then completed her PhD at West Virginia University in the laboratory of Scott Weed where she studied the role of kinases in cancer cell invasion. Before coming to Duke, Laura worked as a postdoctoral scholar for Dr. Elena Pugacheva at WVU studying cancer cell plasticity in 2-D and 3-D migration. She is currently examining the potential role of proteolysis and type IV collagen cross-linking during AC invasion & examining the shared pathways between AC invasion and cancer. She is currently a Hargitt postdoctoral fellow. When not in the lab, Laura can usually be found pedaling a road or mountain bike. Other interests include wine and dessert.
