Mary L Cutler, PhD

1974 B.A., Biology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18017
1978 M.S. Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102
1980 Ph.D. Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102
1980 - 1983 Post-doctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, NCI, NIH, Bethesda
Mentor: George F. Vande Woude

Dr. Mary Lou Cutler is Professor in the Department of Pathology and the Director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Cutler serves as a representative of USUHS to the Murtha Cancer Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She received her PhD in Microbiology from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Cutler completed post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. George Vande Woude at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She worked in industry and as an investigator in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the NCI prior to joining USUHS.

Her research focuses on the role of cell adhesion molecules in signaling and migration of breast cancer. Dr. Cutler identified molecules that control adhesion and migration through integrins and determined the mechanisms by which they regulate cell stress and susceptibility to oncogenic transformation. Her laboratory identified novel cell adhesion contributions to lactogenesis as well. Dr. Cutler has investigated these basic research questions in the context of cancer development and progression with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the CDMRP Breast Cancer Program and through collaborative research with the Clinical Breast Care Program Center of Excellence at the Murtha Cancer.