Studying tumorigenesis and therapeutic responses in living animals is essential for extending our knowledge of biological and cellular processes. Since the middle of the 20th century the “go-to” animal model has been the inbred laboratory mouse. The Beverly lab uses a multitude of mouse models (such as transgenic, immunocompromised, chimeric, etc.) to study genetic drivers of cancer, therapeutic response and mechanisms of drug resistance. In this talk, Beverly will give an overview of the history of using mouse models in cancer biology and give a series of examples as to how his lab uses these models to answer biological questions.

Levi Beverly obtained his Ph. D. degree from University of Cincinnati in 2007. During his graduate work he spent three years at the Wistar Institute on the campus of UPENN in Philadelphia. Beverly then did his post-doctoral training in the lab of Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer in New York City and the NIH intramural program in Bethesda, MD. He began his independent scientific career at the University of Louisville in July 2011. Since joining the faculty at UofL he has published nearly 20 articles and has acquired NIH R01 funding to study the role of Ubiquilin proteins in lung cancer.