Clare Murray
M.D./Ph.D. Student
Clare is a graduate student in the South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD Program) studying cancer immunology under the mentorship of Tyler Curiel, MD, MPH. For her research, Clare is studying the novel biology of tumor-intrinsic PDL1 signals that promote therapy resistance and developing pharmacologic tumor PDL1 depleting drugs as a translational method to inhibit these signals and sensitize tumors to therapies. Dr. Curiel and Clare are working to move these drugs into clinical trials. For her clinical specialty, Clare is considering pursuing pediatric oncology or dermatology.
About Me
I was born in Cleveland, OH and grew up both there and in Houston, TX. I went to the University of Texas at Austin and received my bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. During undergrad, I worked in Dr. Hal Alper's lab and did a research internship at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. I have two spoiled shih tzus, an aquarium with a fat goldfish named Betty, and several houseplants (the collection continues to expand).
Hobbies/Interests
Hiking, kayaking, piano, houseplants, crocheting, traveling, going to concerts, anything involving dogs or Disney
Research Topic
Cancer immunology
Why I chose MD/PhD
I was really interested in the unique experience of an MD/PhD program because it allows for an experience in both treating the patient in the clinic while simultaneously working to understand the mechanism of disease to develop improved therapeutics. The MD/PhD dual degree program provides the opportunity to explore both passions for basic science research and clinical practice.
Education
B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2018
Awards
2022-2023 T32 Graduate Research in Immunology Program (GRIP) Scholar - T32 AI138944
2021-2022 CTSA Translational Science (TL-1) Fellowship Award
Publications
Murray, C., Galvan, E., Ontiveros, C., Deng, Y., Bai, H., Souto Padron, A., Hinchee-Rodriguez, K., Garcia, M. G., Kornepati, A., Conejo-Garcia, J., Curiel, T. J. (2022). Pharmacologic Tumor PDL1 Depletion with Cefepime or Ceftazidime Promotes DNA Damage and Sensitivity to DNA-Damaging Agents. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23(9), 5129. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23095129.
Kornepati, A. V. R., Boyd, J. T., Murray, C., Saifetiarova, J., de la Pena Avalos, B., Rogers, C. M., Bai, H., Padron, A. S., Liao, Y., Ontiveros, C., Svatek, R. S., Hromas, R., Li, R., Hu, Y., Conejo-Garcia, J. R., Vadlamudi, R. K., Zhao, W., Dray, E., Sung, P., Curiel, T. J. (2022). Tumor Intrinsic PD-L1 Promotes DNA Repair in Distinct Cancers and Suppresses PARP Inhibitor-Induced Synthetic Lethality. Cancer Research. 82(11), 2156-2170. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-2076.
Garcia, M. G., Deng, Y., Murray, C., Reyes, R. M., Padron, A., Bai, H., Kancharla, A., Gupta, H., Shen-Orr, S., Curiel, T. J. (2022). Immune checkpoint expression and relationships to anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy efficacy in aged versus young mice. Aging and Cancer. 3(1), 68-83. https://doi.org/10.1002/aac2.12045.
Markham, K. A., Palmer, C. M., Chwatko, M., Wagner, J. M., Murray, C., Vasquez, S., Swaminathan, A., Chakravarty, I., Lynd, N. A., Alper, H. S. (2018). Rewiring Yarrowia lipolytica toward triacetic acid lactone for materials generation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115(9), 2096-2101. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721203115.