We are an interdisciplinary team building live-cell tissue models, quantitative imaging platforms, and computational approaches to understand tumor ecosystems in motion.
Assistant Professor · Knight Cancer Institute, Division of Oncological Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, Knight Cancer Precision Biofabrication Hub, Oregon Health & Science University
Alex leads the Davies Cancer Lab’s work on tumor microenvironment dynamics: how cancer cells, host tissues, extracellular matrix, signaling networks, and therapy converge to shape cell state, fate, progression, and drug response.
Associate Scientist · Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University
Jeremy develops computational and statistical biophysics approaches for extracting predictive rules from live-cell data, linking single-cell trajectories, tissue context, signaling, and tumor–microenvironment dynamics. A lifelong Oregon resident, Jeremy received his PhD in Physics from the University of Oregon in 2016, and has been at the Oregon Health & Science University since 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher, as a Damon Runyon Quantitative Biology fellow, and now as a scientist with the Knight Cancer Institute.
Lab manager
Carol is a researcher in the Davies Lab, where her work centers on understanding how osteosarcoma cell lines respond to growth factors and small molecule inhibitors using kinase translocation reporters and fluorescence microscopy. This in vitro work contributes to the lab's broader effort to understand the mechanisms driving metastasis. While Carol finds generating broad swaths of data fun and interesting, she is also expanding her analysis skills with the guidance of her Davies Lab teammates — because in the Davies Lab, everyone becomes a computational biologist whether they planned to or not. Beyond the bench, Carol works closely with graduate students and other lab members on day-to-day research challenges, and keeps things running behind the scenes through procurement, lab coordination, and organizing the social gatherings that contribute to making the Davies Lab a great place to work. Outside the lab, she's an avid hiker who loves the trails of the Pacific Northwest — and once completed an impressive 41-mile trek on Mount Hood in a single day.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Austin Wright utilizes his microbiology and innate immunology background to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of neoplastic cell signaling and the tumor immune microenvironment. His primary research interests are the molecular signaling pathways that regulate immune cell interactions, apoptosis, and proliferation. Through the use of precision-cut tumor slices and organoids, he is investigating the spatial dynamics of ERK, AKT, CDK2, and CDK4/6 activity to identify novel and effective cancer treatments. He is also developing whole-tissue live-cell imaging platforms that can be utilized for diagnostic, prognostic, and experimental applications in human tissues. At home, he enjoys making music, rock climbing, and playing softball with his daughter.
Research Associate
Profile information to come.
Graduate Student
Profile information to come.
Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student
Emma's research is focused on understanding how pancreatic cancer develops by looking at the interactions between oncogenic mutations and microenvironmental stiffness. She uses pancreatic organoids cultured in PEG hydrogels to investigate what combinations of mutations and matrix stiffness result in a "cancer-like" phenotype. Using the Davies lab approach of live cell imaging combined with computational analysis, she hopes to identify the factors most important for driving benign to malignant transition and novel therapeutic strategies for treating pancreatic cancer. Emma is co-mentored by Dr. Ellen Langer, who has expertise in pancreatic cancer cell plasticity and tumor modeling. This co-mentorship has allowed Emma to harness the strengths of both labs to build her project. While Emma is not in lab, she is most likely running or cycling. This year, she hopes to run her first sub 3 hour marathon and improve her FTP by at least 10 watts.
Computational Biologist
Profile information to come.
Graduate Student
Colton is interested in understanding and modeling the dynamic relationship between metastatic osteosarcoma and its tumor microenvironment. Using novel ex-vivo model systems, in combination with live-cell imaging and computational analyses, Colton works to establish spatio-temporal contributions to drug resistance and inform targeted therapies. Outside of the lab you can find Colton playing pick-up soccer, eating at various pubs/restaurants, and enjoying many outdoor activities.
Graduate Student
Profile information to come. Current work is connected to tumor-host signaling, ex vivo tissue models, and therapy response dynamics.
Resident Physician
Profile information to come. Current work is connected to micronuclei propagation in pediatric neuroblastoma.
Graduate Student
Profile information to come. Current work is connected to SITE, live-cell imaging, and tumor–microenvironment modeling.