Project Title: Identifying Determinants of ADAR-Dependency in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Position: Assistant Professor
Institution: Purdue University
Funding NIH Institute/Center: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Grant ID: R00MD016946
Kyle A. Cottrell grew up in a small town in southwest Missouri. He began his undergraduate studies at Ozarks Technical Community College before transferring to Missouri State University. It was there while volunteering in a laboratory that he became interested in biomedical research. He earned his BS and MS at Missouri State and his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). His doctoral studies focused on posttranscriptional regulation by miRNAs and RNA-binding proteins. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship at WUSTL, Dr. Cottrell joined Purdue University as an assistant professor, where he studies the RNA editing enzyme ADAR and its role in breast cancer. As a first-generation student from a low-socioeconomic background, he is keenly aware of the challenges those from disadvantaged backgrounds face in academia. Dr. Cottrell has taken an active role in improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in biomedical research, both at the individual level through his mentorship of trainees from underrepresented backgrounds and at a larger scale through his work outside of the laboratory. As a member of the Washington University Postdoc Society, he organized several events focused on career development. Dr. Cottrell founded First-Gen Scholars to provide mentorship, community, and other resources for trainees who are first-generation students or who are from low-socioeconomic backgrounds so that they will be better equipped to navigate careers in academia.