My lab investigates immune response control as cancer progresses through tracking the movement of immune-modulating proteins within cells. We use microscopy and other molecular biology techniques to study the dynamic behavior of RNA phosphatase DUSP11 in a tumor microenvironment. DUSP11's role in the cell is to dephosphorylate tri-phosphorylated RNAs. This causes a dampening of the immune response and an evasion of tumor cell detection. A better understanding of this regulation will potentially make way for future therapeutics.

• PhD in Biochemistry, 2020, Howard University, Washington D.C.
• MS in Biophysical Chemistry, 2016, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
• BS in Chemical Biology, 2014, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN

• Stephens, D. C., Osunsanmi, N., Sochacki, K. A., Powell, T. W., Taraska, J. W., & Harris, D. A. (2019). Spatiotemporal organization and protein dynamics involved in regulated exocytosis of MMP-9 in breast cancer cells. The Journal of General Physiology, 151(12), 1386–1403.
• Stephens, D. C., Powell, T. W., Taraska, J. W., & Harris, D. A. (2020). Imaging the rapid yet transient accumulation of regulatory lipids, lipid kinases, and protein kinases during membrane fusion, at sites of exocytosis of MMP-9 in MCF-7 cells. Lipids in health and disease, 19(1), 195.