Led by Dr. Jacob Cawley, the mission of the Cancer Plasticity and Phenotypic Modeling Lab is to revolutionize cancer precision medicine through the development of biomarkers and therapies targeting cancer gene regulation.
This team focuses on developing new model systems to understand how cancer cells collectively form tissue for the rapid development of novel cancer treatments. Cancer is a disease of aberrant tissue development. For years, cancer has often been looked at as chaotic. Dr. Cawley’s research seeks to define cancer and find ways to weed through the chaos, giving a new way to fight this disease with precision and purpose. With this mission, he aims to break the purposeful mechanisms that enable cancer cells to grow and spread – turning the chaos into order. In doing so, he hopes to deliver new diagnostic tools and treatments for all species suffering from cancer.
Dr. Cawley’s current research is focused on hemangiosarcoma, used as a model for building this new pathway to treat this disease in a systematic way. The goal is to broadly apply this method to all cancers in all species in the future.
Leaning into Developmental Biology
Cancer research is often centrally focused on the genome, yet many other biological principles contribute to how cells interact within a tissue. Cells are capable of immense plasticity—adaptive mechanisms that enable cells to change which genes are active in response to stimuli. Cellular plasticity is essential for the normal development of tissue, wound healing, and everyday life! Dr. Cawley believes that by understanding cancer plasticity, he will be able to shed light on more precise methods for treating aggressive cancers.
Delivering Curative Outcomes for Hemangiosarcoma
Hemangiosarcoma is one of the most aggressive cancers of dogs, and a rare but equally lethal cancer in people (termed angiosarcoma). Dr. Cawley is leveraging the robust knowledge surrounding angiogenesis and blood vessel development to inform his investigation of hemangiosarcoma-specific plasticity. Through this new knowledge, he seeks to reroute the way hemangiosarcoma grows and prevent catastrophic bleeding events.
About the Lab Members
Dr. Jacob Cawley
Assistant Professor Cawley Lab PI
Dr. Cawley attended veterinary school at Virginia-Maryland College of
Veterinary Medicine after majoring in Biology at Marist College.
While training as a veterinarian, he spent a year studying cancer
biology as part of the Medical Research Scholars Program at the
National Institutes of Health. He completed a small animal rotating
internship at Cornell University, followed by a residency in medical
oncology at Colorado State University. He then took a fellowship
position with Ethos Discovery, where he designed and helped launch
the Ethos PUSH clinical trial for dogs with splenic hemangiosarcoma.
During this time, he was jointly trained in cancer epigenetics as a
postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University.
Kelly Garvin
Lab Manager
Kelly Garvin graduated from Colorado State University in 2025 with a
PSM in Zoo, Aquarium, and Animal Shelter Management. As a graduate
student, her capstone research consisted of testing different forms
of environmental enrichment for laboratory zebrafish and measuring
stress through cortisol levels. With her background and interest in
biology and animals, she’s motivated to better understand cancer and
work towards a cure.
In her free time, Kelly enjoys reading, traveling, watching sports,
and spending time with her family.
Eric Palmer, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Maritza Morales
Bioinformatics Specialist
Maritza Morales is a two-time graduate of Colorado State University,
earning her BS in Zoology in 2023 and her PSM in Biological Data
Analytics in 2025. During her graduate studies, her capstone project
explored correlations of drug response data with gene expression
values. Specifically, she utilized bioinformatics workflows to
identify potential biomarkers for predicting drug response in canine
osteosarcoma cell lines, contributing to a deeper understanding of
comparative oncology.
As a bioinformatician early in her career, she’s eager to expand her
computational analysis skill set and contribute to advancement within
the field of cancer biology. In her free time, Maritza enjoys
reading, crafting, spending time with her horse, and playing
Dungeons & Dragons.