Joanna Burdette

Joanna Burdette (Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin/University of Illinois Chicago)

Joanna Burdette is conducting research to discover if ovarian cancers originate in the fallopian tube but grow inside the ovary. Before the cancer can be treated, researchers must first discover where the tumors begin.

Using 3D cell cultures developed in her laboratory to monitor early cell-signaling pathways responsible for the disease, Burdette is investigating how cells become cancerous and whether molecules produced in the ovary are part of the process.