![](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/medschool-wpcontent/sites/24/2019/07/03125330/McNamara-Kara_photo1920-e1562164158321.jpg)
Kara McNamara
University of Massachusetts
Keith Wilson Lab
I will be exploring the SMOX-driven dysregulation of polyamine metabolism and the associated generation of spermidine and hypusination and its connection to risk factors associated with gastric disease progression to carcinogenesis. Specifically, I will aim to analyze the role of SMOX in hypusination during H. pylori infection and determine the effect of hypusination in GECs on inflammation and carcinogenesis.