Carson D. Broeker

Hello! I’m Carson, a 5th year PhD candidate in the lab of Eran Andrechek at Michigan State University. I utilize eukaryotic in vitro models and murine in vivo models to study breast cancer development and progression. Frequent methods I use to interrogate these models include genomics, transcriptomics, molecular biology, data science, and machine learning.

My thesis project is concerned with investigating the mechanisms of metastasis of a conserved human and murine genomic amplification event that is present in 25% of HER2+ and 9% of all breast cancer patients. Patients that have this amplication event centered on chromosome 17q21.33 exhibit increased metastasis and worse overall survival. My project aims to:

1. Identify stages of metastasis altered
2. Elucidate signaling pathways involved in patients with increased metastasis
3. Find precision therapeutics to selectively target the amplification event

In addition to my academic experience, in the summer of 2023 I completed a PhD internship with AbbVie in their Non-Regulated Bioanalysis group. In my internship, I successfully created a centralized database for non-regulated small molecule mass spectrometry information and created a web application to view/download these data. Simultaneously, I incorporated machine learning and visualizations to inform method developers on best mass spectrometry methods to use based on a small molecule’s structure. For my successful delivery and impact, I have been retained as a part time Analyst Commodity to work on various department projects.

I will be graduating in 2025 and am currently open to employment opportunities in bioinformatics, data science, data engineering, and artificial intelligence. Don’t hesitate to reach out or connect on LinkedIn!