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A leading researcher in quantitative biology and a recent mother of identical twins, Sabrina Spencer has made a name for herself in her field through hard work and a dynamic view on cellular research.

Spencer鈥檚 lab studies the cycle of cell growth and proliferation. Currently, she is focused on why damaged cells re-enter the cellular cycle, a phenomenon that can lead to the unrestricted cellular division that spawns cancer.

Spencer, now in her third year as an assistant professor in 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 , says that her lifelong sense of curiosity is what has inspired her career path.

鈥淭here are so many puzzling things out there and to be able to be a person who has the tools to figure them out feels powerful,鈥� said Spencer.

From a young age, Spencer always had a mind for experiments and analytical thought. She would dig up earthworms and race them down a dirt track. Then, she would take the fastest ones and try to mate them together. Her analytical mind also spread to how she watched movies. As a child, she would see flaws in logic and character motivation that didn鈥檛 seem to bother anyone else, so she thought she just didn鈥檛 understand the movie.

鈥淚 got the impression that I was dense. Everyone would tell me to just watch the movie and stop asking questions,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t really wasn鈥檛 until the end of grad school where I felt like, okay I made it, I completed a successful PhD at M.I.T, I must not be as dense as I thought. Maybe movies are not always that logical, and nobody else cares.鈥�

Spencer is interested in how genetically identical cells can behave differently. For example, there are differences in her twin sons. Every day, she sees two identical genetic codes and two identical upbringings, but also two individuals who express their genes differently.

鈥淭hey look very similar, but I can still tell them apart. One has a freckle that the other doesn鈥檛 have, and the second has a little dimple-smirk that first doesn鈥檛 have,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淭hey live in the same environment, sleep in the same bedroom, they came from me, they鈥檙e genetically identical, and yet they鈥檙e still not the same.鈥�

This personal curiosity pertains directly to Spencer鈥檚 lab. She and her trainees are currently trying to understand how cells can become outliers in a genetically uniform population, work which may be relevant for cancer, because some cancerous cells do not respond to a treatment the way other cells do.

The lab takes the long view in studying the variance between cells or in one cell鈥檚 behavior over time. Filming cells over long periods of time can help identify what makes a particular cell an outlier.

鈥淕eneticists think in terms of 鈥榳ild type鈥� versus 鈥榤utant鈥� at one time point, whereas we are more interested in how cellular signals change over time,鈥� said Spencer.

Pursuing research on genetically identical cells behaving differently is costly, which is why Spencer is grateful to have received grant awards from a number of prestigious organizations. 听She stresses how important it is to indicate how the research will be used in the long run and what the implications of the expected results are.

鈥淭hese private foundations are not interested in funding the next step鈥攖hey want you to think 10 years out,鈥� Spencer said, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e interested in 鈥榦ut there鈥� bold ideas.鈥�

Spencer has a strong work ethic, but two newborn twins have helped her strike a balance as of late.听 Before having her twins, Spencer would work at her lab during the day and then after dinner would continue to work until 12 a.m. or 1 a.m. Now she鈥檚 wiped out by 10:30 p.m.听 Working from home is usually where she gets through her emails and writes grants, while her time on site is for teaching, brainstorming ideas, troubleshooting problems, and interacting with her lab.

Spencer鈥檚 colleagues in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry were very supportive and understanding about the twins.

鈥淲hile I was on maternity leave this past spring, they arranged a whole schedule to have different colleagues bring me homemade dinners every couple of nights,鈥� said Spencer.

Looking ahead, Spencer hopes to continue the momentum that her lab has gained over the past few years at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder.

鈥淚 think we can make a big impact in understanding quiescence, this non-dividing state where a cell still has the potential to divide again, but for various reasons is not currently dividing,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really not well understood. 听Cell proliferation is much better understood than cellular quiescence.鈥�

As her children grow up and begin to ask questions, Spencer hopes to create an environment where they can seek the answers as she once did herself.