Pancreatic Cancer
Research Lab

Katherine Ankenbauer was born and raised in Nashville, TN and did her bachelor’s and master’s degree at Lipscomb University in molecular biology. As an undergraduate, she had the opportunity to participate in research programs at both Vanderbilt and UAB. After graduating, she went on to do her Ph.D. work in cell biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the lab of Dr. Susan Bellis. While there, her work broadly focused on characterizing how a glycosyltransferase, ST6GAL1, impacted cell signaling pathways and cell behavior in both cancer and inflammation. Katherine’s dissertation work focused specifically on ST6GAL1-mediated glycosylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cancer cell models. During her graduate career, Katherine became increasingly interested in the process of acinar to ductal metaplasia, leading her to the join the DelGiorno lab for her postdoc. Katherine is currently investigating epithelial cell plasticity during acinar to ductal metaplasia and is working to develop pancreatic organoid models for the lab. In her free time, Katherine enjoys gardening, reading, volunteering, and spending time with her family and her cats Gracie and Charlie.