Concentration: Translational Medicine
Faculty Mentor:  Anushka Dongre

Brief Biography
Kimaya is originally from a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. During high school, she worked at a small animal clinic, which sparked her interest in veterinary medicine. She pursued this interest through a pre-veterinary biochemistry program at Purdue University. At Purdue, she also got involved in research, leading her to the Cornell Combined DVM/PhD Program. She is now completing her PhD in the lab of Dr. Anushka Dongre, where she studies mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance in heterogeneous breast tumors through murine and canine models. In the future, Kimaya hopes to use her background in veterinary medicine and cancer immunology research to improve outcomes for animals and humans with cancer. In her free time, Kimaya enjoys working out, trying new recipes, and exploring the outdoors with her dogs.

Education
B.S. in Biochemistry with a minor in Spanish, Purdue University, 2021

Research Interest Statement
Kimaya has had the opportunity to work with a variety of model organisms to investigate disease mechanisms. She first worked in a biochemistry laboratory at Purdue University, studying genetic factors involved in age-related eye disease in Drosophila melanogaster. After graduating, Kimaya spent a year conducting research in the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. During this time, she studied changes that occur to the blood-brain barrier during tumorigenesis, the immune microenvironment of canine oral melanoma, and the role of drug-metabolizing enzymes in the breed-specific predisposition of canine urothelial carcinoma. At Cornell, Kimaya has joined the Dongre Lab to study how epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity promotes immunotherapy resistance in heterogeneous breast tumors, with a focus on immune-suppressive paracrine signaling within the tumor microenvironment.

Publications

• Vanhaezebrouck, I.F., Bakhle, K.M., Mendez-Valenzuela, C.R., Lyle, L.T., Konradt, K., Scarpelli, M.L., 2024. Single institution study of the immune landscape for canine oral melanoma based on transcriptome analysis of the primary tumor. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyab079
• Jauregui-Lozano, J., McGovern, S.E., Bakhle, K.M., Hagins, A.C., Weake, V.M., 2023. Establishing the contribution of active histone methylation marks to the aging transcriptional landscape of Drosophila photoreceptors. Sci Rep 13, 5105. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32273-5
• Miller, J.L., Kanke, M., Rauner, G., Bakhle, K.M., Sethupathy, P., Van de Walle, G.R., 2022. Comparative Analysis of microRNAs that Stratify in vitro Mammary stem and Progenitor Activity Reveals Functionality of Human miR-92b-3p. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10911-022-09525-7
• Jauregui-Lozano, J., Hall, H., Stanhope, S.C., Bakhle, K., Marlin, M.M., Weake, V.M., 2022. The Clock:Cycle complex is a major transcriptional regulator of Drosophila photoreceptors that protects the eye from retinal degeneration and oxidative stress. PLOS Genetics 18, e1010021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010021
• Jauregui-Lozano, J., Bakhle, K., Weake, V.M., 2021. In vivo tissue-specific chromatin profiling in Drosophila melanogaster using GFP-tagged nuclei. Genetics

Presentations

• “The epithelial-mesenchymal transition protects heterogeneous breast tumors against immune attack in multiple species”. Poster Presentation, Translational Science, Washington DC, April 2025.
• “The epithelial-mesenchymal transition drives CD73-mediated cross-protection in heterogeneous breast tumors”. Poster Presentation, National Association of Veterinary Scientists Combined Degree Colloquium, St. Paul, Minnesota, August 2024.
• “The epithelial-mesenchymal transition drives CD73-mediated cross-protection in heterogeneous breast tumors”. Poster Presentation, Veterinary Scholars Symposium, St. Paul, Minnesota, August 2024.
• “Targeting mesenchymal tumor cell-intrinsic factors sensitizes refractory tumors to immune checkpoint blockade therapy”. Oral Presentation, Cornell Intercampus Immunology Symposium, June 2024.
• “Targeting mesenchymal tumor cell-intrinsic factors sensitizes refractory tumors to immune checkpoint blockade therapy”. Oral Presentation, American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting Immuno-oncology Minisymposium, San Diego, California, April 2024.
• “Determining the Role of Non-Coding RNAs in Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumors”. Poster, Veterinary Scholars Symposium, San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 2023.
• “Comparative Analysis of MicroRNAs as Biomarkers of Breast Cancer Risk”. Oral Presentation, Veterinary Scholars Symposium, San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 2023.
• “Sensitizing Mesenchymal Mammary Carcinomas to Anti-CTLA4 Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy by Targeting Cell-Intrinsic Immune-Modulatory Factors”. Poster, National Association of Veterinary Scientists Combined Degree Colloquium, San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 2023.
• “Sensitizing Mesenchymal Mammary Carcinomas to Anti-CTLA4 Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy by Targeting Cell-Intrinsic Immune-Modulatory Factors”. Poster, Stem Cell Symposium, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, May 2023.
• “A MicroRNA-based Breast Cancer Screening Approach”. Poster, National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, St. Paul, Minnesota, August 2022.
• “Aminoisoquinolines Penetrate the Blood-Tumor Barrier and May Inhibit Metastasis of Lung Cancer to the Brain”. Minisymposium, Experimental Biology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2022.
• “Set1, Set2, and the Clock-cycle complex are necessary to prevent age-related retinal degeneration in Drosophila melanogaster”. Poster, Experimental Biology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2022.
• “A Histologic Evaluation of the Therapeutic Efficacy of Aminoisoquinolines for Brain Metastases of Lung Cancer”. Poster, American College of Veterinary Pathologists Annual Meeting, October 2021.
• “Genetic Factors Involved in Photoreceptor Survival”. Poster, Office of Undergraduate Research Spring Expo, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, April 2021.
• “Effects of Aging on Genes Involved in Photoreceptor Survival”. Poster, Office of Undergraduate Research Spring Expo, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, April 2020.
• “Effects of Aging on Genes Involved in Photoreceptor Survival”. Oral Presentation, Office of Undergraduate Research Fall Expo, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, November 2019.