Connor Kent
Mentor: Qiang Shen
Department of Genetics Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
New Orleans, LA 70112
Email: ckent1@lsuhsc.edu
Connor Kent is in his third year of graduate school at LSUHSC studying under Dr. Qiang Shen. He received a Bachelor’s degree in microbiology from LSU in Baton Rouge. During his time at LSU, he assisted in Dr. Johannson’s laboratory in the Department of Kineseology, and participated in an NSF-REM under Dr. Won Bo Shim at Texas A&M University in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology
Connor is interested in determining the role of NEET proteins in breast cancer growth and progression. NEET proteins are a family of three mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster proteins believed to promote cancer growth and survival through maintaining redox homeostasis, glucose metabolism, and suppression of apoptosis. His research is aimed at determining whether these proteins are viable targets against breast cancer.