Meet the newest research scientist to join our faculty: Jonathan Coulter, Ph.D., M.H.S., who joins The Brady research faculty after completing his postdoctoral fellowship in Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences at Johns Hopkins, and serving as Chief Research Fellow of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Coulter earned his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health prior to starting his research fellowship, which was supported in part by an award from the Department of Defense. He credits his interest in prostate cancer to “the work of pioneers like Donald Coffey, who helped us understand the organization of massive amounts of DNA inside the tiny nucleus of a cell.”

Could timing make a difference with drugs that target the androgen receptor (AR), combined with radiation and other treatments? Coulter and colleagues including Ted DeWeese, M.D., Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian, M.D., Ph.D., Angelo De Marzo, M.D., Ph.D., and Daniel Song, M.D., believe that it might. “It might even lead to higher cure rates and less toxicity in patients with early or late-stage prostate cancer,” says Coulter. The team published a report showing that AR activity damages DNA in prostate cancer cells as it attempts to navigate the complex 3D-structure of DNA, and that this activity could be exploited.