Jason Cantor could describe himself as an engineer, biologist and biochemist, but don’t try to put his expertise into one box.
Cantor, a scientist exploring the environmental influences on cancer cell metabolism, is launching a new lab in the Metabolism Theme at the Morgridge Institute for Research and joining the University of Wisconsin-Madison departments of biochemistry and biomedical engineering this August 2018. By joining Biochemistry, he will be a faculty member in the Integrated Program in Biochemistry.
“I have this half engineering, half fundamental biology background, and it’s a bit difficult to fit cookie-cutter style into one traditional department or one theme,” Cantor says. “Morgridge and UW-Madison embrace my hybrid training and accept that I’m trying to mix and match and merge these disciplines together in my work.”
Cantor earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Cornell University, and it was about halfway through his undergraduate career that he realized the engineering mindset could also be applied to biological questions. He went on to do doctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin where he came up with new strategies to engineer enzymes for cancer treatment.
Read more about Cantor and his research at the link below.