Previous Members

My research experience began as a high school student at the University of Pittsburgh where I identified a new mycobacteriophage. This experience spurred an interest in research and my undergraduate major in biochemistry at Allegheny College. After receiving my Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, where I studied cell death signaling in treatment resistant luminal breast cancer in the lab of Dr. Rebecca Cook, I began my Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Richer Lab. The goal of my project was to identify additional pathways used by metastatic breast cancer to limit an anti-tumor immune attack. I was interested in understanding the impact of tumor cell secreted cytokines and metabolites on pro-tumor immune cells. Work published in npj Breast Cancer demonstrated that aggressive mesenchymal-like breast tumors secrete a different milieu of cytokines than less aggressive epithelial-like tumors and these cytokines in turn increases the number of pro-tumor macrophages (PMID: 34045467). In a separate project, I've been exploring the impact of tumor cell heme metabolism on tumor progression via immune modulation. Heme, a molecule most known for its role in blood cells, is broken down in all cells by the enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) into the metabolite bilirubin. Other groups showed that bilirubin suppresses normal macrophage function in autoimmune disease; however, bilirubin has never been studied as an immune cell modulator in cancers. I demonstrated that tumor cell production and secretion of bilirubin limits tumor associated-macrophage function, including their capacity to suppress T cell killing of tumor cells. This data suggests that T cells may re-gain their ability to kill tumor cells when heme metabolism and bilirubin secretion are blocked. In support of this idea, tumor cell-depletion of HO-1 decreased primary tumor growth and lung metastasis. I am currently expanding this work to test the impact of tumor cell heme metabolism on immune cells in liver metastasis in my independent research lab at the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. 

Lyndsey grew up in northwest Georgia before attending the University of Georgia as an undergraduate. During this time, her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, solidifying Lyndsey’s dedication as a cancer biologist. Lyndsey then attended graduate school, receiving a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD from CU Anschutz. After graduating, she did her post-doc in the Richer Lab studying the impact of tryptophan catabolism on myeloid cells in ovarian cancer. She now works on the development of T cell immunotherapies at TrAMPoline Pharma. In her free time, she enjoys reading, skiing, and spending time with her husband and their animals. 

Katie grew up in Denver, and returned to her hometown for her PhD after 10 years on the east coast. In college at Northeastern University, Katie became interested in cell biology and cancer research. After several years working in biotech in NYC, Katie decided to return to academia and pursue a PhD in the Cancer Biology at Anschutz. She joined the Richer lab in 2017 with an interest in breast cancer metastasis and metabolism. Her thesis work focused on the role of EMT and cholesterol metabolism in TNBC, and identified a lysosomal cholesterol transporter as a key metabolic pathway in this type of breast cancer.

Now as a post-doctoral fellow at University of California - San Francisco, Katie studies lipid and organelle metabolism with Dr. Rushika Perera. In her free time, she enjoys live music, walks around SF neighborhoods, restaurant-hopping, and snowboarding.