1. Mechanisms of tumor dormancy and recurrence in breast cancer using in vivo models. 2. Cytokine signaling pathways in breast cancer. 3. Development of high-throughput CRISPR/Cas9 technologies to interrogate gene function.

I have extensive teaching experience in the laboratory and the classroom. I taught Genetics and Cell Biology at the undergraduate level in the University of Pennsylvania, top 15 higher-education institution in the world, to students seeking careers in medicine and research in the life sciences. In addition, I have over 7 years of experience teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in the laboratory. A fundamental part of my proposal is to incorporate students that wish to gain experience in research. I will use the framework of my postdoctoral work to derive a feasible undergraduate thesis project that allows me to teach students how to develop a research question into a well-rounded project with a defined hypothesis and research plan. My teaching approach is to stimulate critical thinking and scientific rigorosity; I combined an intensive training in how to read scientific literature pertaining to cancer biology, while teaching basic lab procedures (laboratory attire, biosafety, lab citizenship, and keeping an organized lab notebook), along with fundamental techniques such as cell culture, PCR, microscopy, and cloning. Equally important is my attention to the student background and skill level, I personalized my mentoring according to their needs and offer additional support if necessary to make the student experience fulfilling. My goal is to provide students with the skills and tools that enables them to take intellectual ownership of their research projects and contribute significantly to the overarching research goal of the laboratory.

While I have given multiple talks at specialized conferences during my academic trajectory, I prefer to focus this section in my experience in disseminating scientific knowledge to non-specialized audiences. My experience in activities for the dissemination of scientific information is demonstrated in my active participation in the nonprofit Nexos Chile-USA. I was executive director of Nexos Chile-USA between 2015-2016, and organizer of two conferences in the United States for the Chilean community. In addition, I worked in developing multiple conference programs focused in topics of science policy and science outreach. For instance, I organized a symposium on the topic of “Retribución de Becas Chile” along with researchers in the social sciences, and gave a community engagement talk to nonscientific audience in the importance of the “Genomes”. I believe that activities connecting the public and the research community are a tangible product of scientific research