Grant Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Patrick Grant, PhD
Dr. Grant received his Ph.D. in Medicine from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, where he studied the regulation of immunoglobulin genes. His current research interests involve the epigenomics of cellular proliferation, genomic modifications that mediate resistance to genotoxic cancer chemotherapeutics, and his lab collaborates in the study of molecular mechanisms underlying interventions for cocaine and opioid addiction.
Google Scholar Pubmed FeedResearch Faculty
Marilyn Pray-Grant, MS
Marilyn received her MS in Human Physiology from Stockholm University, Sweden. Her current projects include epigenetic mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in cancer and transcriptional and epigenetic pathways associated with cocaine and fentanyl addiction.
Current Students
Sajeewani Wijetunga, MD, MS
Sajee received her MBBS from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She earned her MS degree in Integrative Biology-Biomedical Science from FAU and is currently a PhD student in Biomedical Science. Her thesis project involves investigating the role of histone modification in treatment resistant lung cancer. Sajee was awarded a competitive summer research assistantship from FAU College of Medicine.
Kayleigh Biegler, BS
Kayleigh received her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology with a minor in Marine Biology from Eckerd College. She is a PhD student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Her PhD thesis project involves investigating the epigenetic mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy in glioblastomas. Kayleigh was chosen for a coveted spot at the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course on Chromatin, Epigenetics & Gene Expression.
Alina Dreps, BS
Alina received her undergraduate degree in Biology/Spanish from Eckerd College. She is a PhD student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Her PhD thesis project involves investigating the epigenetic mechanisms that underly sex differences in addiction with the goal of providing knowledge that could create new therapeutic outlets for people struggling with addiction.
Jayden Hume, BS
Jayden received his undergraduate degree in Biology from FAU. He is a Master of Science student in the Biomedical Science program. Jayden’s project involves identifying epigenetic modifications to combat resistance to the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin.
FAU Alumni
Tyla Azan, MS
Tyla received her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Miami. Her MS research project involved investigating chemotherapy resistance in acute myeloid leukemia. Tyla is currently a medical student at St. George’s University.
Cachae Alford, MD
Cachae received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Florida and her MD degree from the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. Her project involved characterizing cyclophosphamide’s effect on histone modification. Cachae was class president and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She was also a recipient of the Robert A. Wood FAU Medical Scholars Fund. She is currently a resident in General Surgery at FAU.
Mohamed-Tamar Toussaint, MS
Mohamed received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Miami. His MS thesis involved the characterization of target proteins of chemotherapeutic resistance in cancer. His thesis earned the 2024 Outstanding Master Thesis award at FAU. Mohamed is currently employed at ZEO ScientifiX in Ft Lauderdale.
Anna Kingham, MS
Anna received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Delaware. Her MS thesis involved identifying epigenetic modifications to combat resistance to the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin. Anna’s thesis earned the 2025 Outstanding Master Thesis award at FAU. She is currently a PhD student in Biomedical Science at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.