T32 Integrative Cancer Scholars Program
From left, T32 scholar Jesse Altemus works in a lab under the guidance of Jacob Schwartz, associate director of the cancer center Cancer Research and Training Coordination Program.
Jesse Altemus
Mentors Jacob Schwartz, Phd, and Aaron Scott, MD
Jesse Altemus chose cancer as a field of research after several people in his life developed cancer––some of whom died from the disease. Altemus now studies molecular mechanisms in Ewing sarcoma, a rare aggressive bone cancer that primarily affects youth.
He works with his lead mentor, Jacob Schwartz, PhD, an associate research professor in the College of Medicine – Tucson, Department of Pharmacology and associate director of the cancer center’s Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination Program. In the clinic, Altemus works with his co-mentor, Aaron Scott, MD, an associate professor for the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson Department of Medicine, and co-program leader for the cancer center’s Clinical and Translational Oncology Program. Under Scott, Altemus gets the opportunity to see how clinical trials are run.
“As I understood more of the basic science and underlying mechanisms of cancer, I wanted to know how research is translated to the clinic. As a result, I’m working with my clinical co-mentor to see the applications of drugs in Phase I clinical trials on patient outcomes,” Altemus said.
Altemus came to the U of A Cancer Center because it offered him an opportunity to perform cutting-edge research and work with top scientists and clinicians in the field. The facilities at the center include a microscopy core with super-resolution and high throughput microscopes, a flow cytometry unit, and a genome editing facility for acquiring the data necessary to make discoveries.
“While at the U of A, I developed a further interest in the scientific aspects of cancer risk development, tumor microenvironments, and therapeutic targets,” Altemus said.