Ronald Chandler Photo


Ronald Chandler, Ph.D. received his B.S. in Biology at Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

He was awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society to pursue postdoctoral research in the Laboratory of Dr. Terry Magnuson and Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on the tumor suppressor roles of the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex using molecular genetics and biochemical approaches in mice. He was also awarded an Ann Schreiber Mentored Investigator Award from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund to support his new research endeavors in the area of chromatin structure, epigenetics and gynecologic cancer.

The long-term goals of Dr. Chandler’s research are to elucidate the molecular and cellular events required to maintain cellular homeostasis in the female reproductive tract and to determine how these processes go awry in inflammation-associated gynecologic diseases and associated cancers. Dr. Chandler’s current research focus involves a SWI/SNF subunit called ARID1A and a newly discovered finding linking ARID1A and PI3-kinase signaling pathway mutations to ovarian tumorigenesis and pro-tumorigenic inflammatory cytokine signaling. Dr. Chandler aims to provide a broader mechanistic understanding of how cells and tissues within the human female reproductive tract cope with repeated cell turnover, stress and inflammation.


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