Congratulations to our new PhD, Cole Martin!

Dr. Martin successfully defended his PhD thesis, “Changing The Guardian’s Playbook: Dissecting How Cancer Driver Rewire p53 Gene Regulatory Networks,” under the guidance of Dr. John Morris IV![\lead]

Publications

p53 and YAP/TAZ-TEAD activities determine metaplastic heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer. Cole P. Martin, Scott Bang, Joseph R. Gomes, William B. Sullivan, Yusha Liu, Matthew D. Smith, A. Cole Edwards, Channing J. Der, John P. Morris IV. bioRxiv 2025.12.11.693520; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.11.693520.

p53 activity licenses transcriptional regulation by YAP/TAZ-TEAD to shape expression landscapes during tumorigenesis. Cole Martin, William B. Sullivan, Scott Bang, Joseph R. Gomes, A. Cole Edwards, Channing J. Der, Cheng Fan, Yusha Liu, John P. Morris IV. bioRxiv 2025.09.29.679387; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.29.679387.

Mutant IDH uncouples p53 from target gene regulation to disable tumor suppression. Cole Martin, William B. Sullivan, Jacqueline Brinkman, Deena Scoville, Jossie J Yashinskie, Sha Tian, Riccardo E. Mezzadra, Yu-Jui Ho, Richard P. Koche, Timour Baslan, Jesse Raab, David Corcoran, Lydia W.S. Finley, Scott W. Lowe, John P. Morris IV. bioRxiv 2024.09.30.615916; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.30.615916.

Honors, Awards & Highlights

Best Oral Presentation at the Pharmacology, 2025 Retreat

Thomas Collum Butler Award from the Department of Pharmacology in 2024 for outstanding research by a pharmacology trainee.

UNC Pharmacology Laboratory Mentorship Shoutout 2024

Mechanistic and Interdisciplinary Program T32 Training Grant

We wish you all the best, Cole!