Levin Lab
R&D for Cancer Reintegration Therapy
At the Levin Lab, I have been developing a theory of tumorigenesis as a trauma response: a stress-induced dissociation of neoplastic cells from the homeostatic maintenance of a larger tissue context. Over the past year, I have been elaborating this model through the lens of somatic bioelectricity—the network of ion channels and gap junctions which facilitates intercellular communication and morphogenetic coordination toward macroscopic structures.
Project 1: Working with Dr. Juanita Mathews, we tested 15 voltage-modifying drugs (electroceuticals)—which target aberrantly expressed ion channels—on colon cancer cells in 2D monolayer and 3D spheroid cultures. To analyze the results, I developed computational pipelines to screen for live/dead ratios, FUCCI cell cycle periodicity and migratory invasiveness. Publication in progress and expected by June 2025.
Project 2: Over the past year, I have been co-authoring a paper with Dr. Levin to propose a new model of carcinogenesis which unifies conflicting theories under the umbrella of homeostatic stress-minimization and Metazoan self-assembly. This paper is rooted in recent developments of trauma psychiatry and applies the notion of “Self-fragmentation” to tissue-level cognition in navigating anatomical “morphospace.” The model has additional implications for socio-ecological evolution and sustainability across generational timescales. Publication in progress and expected June 2025.
Project 3: if tumorigenesis is a trauma response, then therapies for the body should mimic therapies for the mind and be designed to facilitate the ‘reintegration’ of cancer cells, as opposed to their destruction. Within this framing, I have been seeking methods to scale therapeutic modalities from trauma therapy to the microscopic level of cells and tissue organization. To begin, I am currently working with Dr. Patrick McMillen to apply psychedelic compounds to tumor spheroids. We suspect that the subjective feeling of ‘cognitive expansion’ at the psychological level may have pre-neural correlates in the bioelectric organization of cellular behavior. This is a work in progress with results expected by June 2025.