Carrie Ann Franzen, PhD
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Hi and welcome to my website! I received my PhD in Molecular Genetics in 2006 from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and I currently work at the University of Chicago as a research scientist. My expertise is in signal transduction models in oncology and immuno-oncology, cell-cell interactions, and model development for cancer biomarker detection from biological fluids.
My current research investigates the effect of FDA-approved drugs (e.g., ibrutinib and venetoclax -
monotherapy as well as combination therapy) on the tumor-stroma interaction using an ex vivo co-culture
model (CLL/bone marrow stroma) and time lapse microscopy. Additionally, I am studying discrete sub-populations of CLL cells that are selectively responsive to
individual FDA-approved drugs and assessing the efficacy of combinatorial therapy on resistant cells
I am also a private tutor with 20 years experience, specializing in college test prep. My goal as a tutor is not only to help prepare students for college, but also to share my enthusiasm and passion for learning.
Feel free to explore the site and learn more about me and what I've been up to professionally.
Available for:
Senior Scientist positions in oncology/immuno-oncology research
Online or in person tutoring
Awards and Professional Honors
Research Awards:
American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2010-2012
Award for best oral presentation at the Northwestern University Department of Pathology retreat, 2010
Institutional Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA), 2006-2007
First place winner of the UIC College of Medicine student research forum, 2006
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Tutoring Awards:
My work was featured in the Thumbtack Spotlight
I am proud to be a recipient of both the Thumbtack "Best of 2015" and "Best of 2016" awards.
Five star rating, based on 108 reviews, on WyzAnt
MY LATEST RESEARCH
My current research focuses on isolating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells from CLL patient blood samples, characterizing the CLL cells through flow cytometry, helping to refine a co-culture model for CLL that mimics the lymph node microenvironment, evaluating FDA-approved drugs (e.g., ibrutinib and venetoclax – monotherapy as well as combination therapy) and compounds in clinical trials for CLL/MCL patients using our co-culture model. We discovered that ibrutinib and venetoclax target different sub-populations of cells and that combination therapy is highly effective and the interaction between CLL cells and bone marrow stromal cells in our co-culture model is disrupted upon drug treatment using fixed and time lapse confocal microscopy. We are able to validate our findings in our co-culture model with actual patient response to drugs, in terms of sensitivity or resistance to a particular therapy. We are also able to correlate our findings with patient clinical data.
