As a scientific storyteller, Mendy’s role in lab is to help communicate the Getz Lab’s exciting breakthroughs to the global cancer research community. She specializes in scientist-to-scientist communication and primarily helps Getz lab members edit and write journal article manuscripts and grant proposals. She also aids in creating or refining other written material related to lab function, and disseminating the lab’s science to wider audiences, such as this website or through social media (e.g., @getz_lab on Twitter). She also acts as the “Lab Librarian,” making order out of chaos in organizing the lab’s many documents.

As part of the lab leadership team, Mendy also helps in post-award management of funded projects to keep them on track. She is also a skilled “nudger” and “wheel greaser,” helping lab members solve logistical problems or get tasks accomplished. As a lifelong learner, she very much enjoys the immersion of knowledge into the new-to-her fields of computational biology, genetics, and many types of ‘omics. She is most excited by the many ways the lab makes meaningful impact in addressing important, biologically relevant questions in cancer research through interrogating data from patient-derived cancer genomes.

Mendy’s professional background: Mendy graduated with a BS in Biochemistry and minor in English Literature from Hartwick College and earned a PhD in Immunology at The University of Chicago working in the lab of Dr. Yang-Xin Fu, working on the role of inhibitory receptors in regulating innate immune responses. She then transitioned into the professional scientific writing/editing field –– first owning her own Scientific Editing business as a freelancer for 3 years, and then working as an integral part of the Bryce and Singh labs at Northwestern University as a Research Associate focused on scientific writing and editing before coming to her new lab “home” in the Getz Lab at the Broad Institute.