The Spencer Lab has an opening for a postdoc in the area of cell biology, cancer biology, or systems biology! Click HERE to apply.
![Spencer Lab Logo and Motto: Where outliers become discoveries](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/lab_logo_and_motto.jpg?itok=gdEJFrfe)
![Celebrating the publication of our collaboration with Pfizer on adaptation to CDK2 inhibition! Arora et al. Cell 2023](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/20230626_pfizer_aacr_celebration_cropped.jpg?itok=mm2UXLGT)
![Celebrating the publication of our collaboration with Pfizer on adaptation to CDK2 inhibition! Arora et al. Cell 2023](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/20230626_pfizer_aacr_celebration_3.jpg?itok=IJL6NG7k)
![Spencer Lab Retreat August 2022. Left to right: (Top) Yao Rong, Scott Lin, Varuna Nangia, Claire Armstrong, Victor Passanisi, Tim Hoffman; (Bottom) Riley Ill, Bri Fernandez, Sabrina Spencer, Lotte Watts](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/2022_keystone_lab_retreat_1.jpg?itok=_1j-zxR5)
![Spencer Lab on a walk during 2022 Lab Retreat in Keystone Colorado. Left to right: (Top) Tim Hoffman, Claire Armstrong, Forrest Shirley, Riley Ill, Varuna Nangia, Victor Passanisi, Yao Rong, (Bottom) Sabrina Spencer, Bri Fernandez, Lotte Watts](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/2022_keystone_lab_retreat_2.jpg?itok=h22LARbO)
![Spencer Lab lab members as of June 2018](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/mtns.jpeg?itok=_nETJHIS)
![MCF10A cells expressing a CDK2 sensor (green) and mCherry-tagged Histone 2B (red); cells have been immunostained for phosphorylated Rb at Serine 807/811 (blue).](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/spencer_cellcoverimage_prb.jpg?itok=D5RL-3_L)
![Spencer Lab members on our 2019 Lab Retreat to Keystone](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/2019_lab_retreat_stairs.jpg?itok=9xDraThP)
![Spencer Lab Members: Justin (left), Mansi, Mingwei, Claire, Sabrina, Chen, Chengzhe, Yao](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/kralj_spencer4ga_1.jpg?itok=SEV7WFey)
![Spencer lab members on a hike near Dillon, Colorado. Left to right: Mingwei, Tim, Sabrina, Claire, Justin, Humza, Yao, Iain, and Jordan.](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/2019_lab_retreat_hike_1_removed_powerline.jpg?itok=xPzHOrwg)
![The Spencer Lab making dinner during the 2019 Lab Retreat in Keystone, Colorado.](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/2019_lab_retreat_making_dinner.jpg?itok=n156TTuK)
![2021 Lab Picnic](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/spencerlab/sites/default/files/styles/widescreen/public/slider/2021_lab_picnic.jpg?itok=3I2h3ofg)
Welcome to the Spencer Lab!
Research in the lab is focused on understanding how signaling events control cell fate. Studying these processes in single cells reveals remarkable cell-to-cell variability in response to stimuli, even among genetically identical cells in a uniform environment. We seek to understand the sources and consequences of this heterogeneity in the cellular response to stimuli. The stimuli we study include growth factors, cell stress, and targeted cancer therapeutics. To do this, we develop genetically encoded fluorescent sensors for signaling events of interest. We then use long-term live-cell microscopy and cell tracking to quantify the dynamics of upstream signals and link them to cell fate (proliferation, quiescence, apoptosis, differentiation). Our long-term goal is to understand the normal mechanistic functioning of signaling pathways that control proliferation, to understand how these signals go awry in cancer, and eventually to alter the fate of individual cells.