Jay Lockhart, PhD

My academic training in molecular biology, bioinformatics, and ecology provides a unique perspective for my studies of lung cancer.  Being able to “speak both languages” of biology and data science is a valuable skill given the increasing frequency with which biological studies generate data sets that are too large for manual analysis. In my ongoing research, I utilize biological and data-driven approaches to uncover the molecular drivers of tumor progression and how we can exploit the heterogeneous nature of tumors to improve cancer outcomes. I employ machine learning to accurately and rapidly analyze histological specimens at the level of the whole organ and the individual tumor. I then target specific tumor regions for spatial multi-omics assays to investigate tumor heterogeneity at a high resolution. By interrogating distinct areas of tumors, we can identify localized changes associated with tumor progression and therapeutic resistance to develop more targeted interventions.