Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2018

Profile in Biophysics

Officers President Lukas Tamm President-Elect Angela Gronenborn Past-President Suzanne Scarlata Secretary Frances Separovic Treasurer Kalina Hristova Council

McCarter earned his PhD from UNC in bioin- formatics and computational biology with a certificate in molecular and cellular biophysics and immediately began his current position and a postdoc in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at UNC-Chapel Hill. “The goals of my current research are to identify mechanisms of resistance to anti-cancer therapies, and to develop strategies to overcome these mecha- nisms,” he shares. “To accomplish these goals, I am using quantitative systems pharmacology to investigate intracellular, intercellular, and in vivo mechanisms of therapy resistance.” “Our lab specializes in using mathematical models to understand targeted therapies, such as Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor inhibitors (anti-EGFR), and the impact of these targeted therapies on the body— a field called pharmacodynamics (PD). Our research is typically even more specialized in that we use a physiology-based pharmacokinetics/phar- macodynamics (PBPK/PD) modeling approach to explicitly consider the impact of physiology on the efficacy of the targeted therapies,” McCarter explains. “My interest in this type of research stems from a desire to make therapy more efficacious. Some patients respond well to anti-EGFR therapies, however the major- ity of patients either do not respond at all or quickly acquire resistance to the therapies. My research couples PBPK/PD models of anti-EG- FR therapies with in vitro and in vivo exper- iments to identify intracellular mechanisms that lead to discrepancies in responses to these therapies. The ultimate goal is to develop strategies that enhance therapeutic efficacy for as many patients as possible.” Communicating with people outside of the scientific community about his research is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of McCarter’s work as a biophysicist. “I think we all have a responsibility to share what we have learned with everyone. How do we who study disease bring comfort to those who are suffering from the disease?” he asks. “To me it is without a doubt the most challenging part of cancer research. No matter where you are or with whom you are speaking, there is almost always a person currently being impacted by a cancer with a personal follow-up story. And given that you may be the only scientist who

they know or have a some- what personal relationship with outside of the clinic, what you say will often either encourage or devastate them.” He plans to continue down his current path of health-re- lated research

Zev Bryant Jane Clarke Bertrand Garcia-Moreno Teresa Giraldez Ruben Gonzalez, Jr. Ruth Heidelberger Robert Nakamoto Arthur Palmer Gabriela Popescu Marina Ramirez-Alvarado Erin Sheets Joanna Swain Biophysical Journal Jane Dyson Editor-in-Chief Society Office Ro Kampman Executive Officer Newsletter Executive Editor Rosalba Kampman Managing Editor Beth Staehle Contributing Writers and Proofreaders Dorothy Chaconas Laura Phelan

McCarter with his wife Jocelyn at a wedding.

as he moves forward in his career. “I think at this point I have a responsibility to keep going as far as I can. My family through their relent- less encouragement, and the country through the external fellowships I received as a PhD student, have invested a lot in my training. My goal is to do everything possible to give them a generous return on their investments,” he says. “For biophysics, I hope that people will look at my experience and give more people a chance to be successful. I don’t have a scien- tific pedigree, but I do have a desire to help people through science. I think that that should be enough to be given a fighting chance.” “ When you’ve reached your goal, extend a hand to help someone reaching out to you. ” McCarter and his wife recently welcomed their first child, so he is quite busy these days between work and family. “I spend as much time around my family as possible…I will be trying to enjoy every minute of being a parent for next lifetime,” he says. As he continues to move forward in his career, he encourages those young biophysicists coming up behind him, “Be committed toward pursuing your goals. When it gets hard, don’t quit: just keep going. Find the people who will help you, and hold on to them. And when you’ve reached your goal, extend a hand to help someone reaching out to you.”

Caitlin Simpson Elizabeth Vuong Ellen Weiss Production

Ray Wolfe Catie Curry

The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published eleven times per year, January-December, by the Biophysical Society, 5515 Security Lane, Suite 1110, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Canadian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 5515 Security Lane, Suite 1110, Rockville, MD 20852. Copyright © 2018 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

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