Colin grew up in Minnesota, USA, where a family history of generations of dentists, veterinarians, physicians and clinical researchers influenced a desire to study human health. After completing his BSc in Biology in Duluth, Minnesota, he spent three years researching phytoplankton metabolism at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine. In this formative research experience, Colin spent over eight total months on the open ocean in four different continents. During these excursions Colin was exposed to interdisciplinary work with sea urchins as model organisms for cancer research. 

Before following this newfound interest, the pandemic forced Colin to adapt, working on the front lines conducting patient testing. Once vaccines became available, he completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Center in Bethesda, Maryland, before earning a MSc in Cancer at University College London. These collective experiences focused his curiosity to molecular biology and cellular therapies, which he further pursued at the University of Minnesota in the lab of Jeff Miller by developing novel stem cell-based NK cell therapies. 

As part of the Adaptmet program, Colin is now taking on a more mechanistic approach, investigating the complex intersections of cell death, survival and inflammatory signaling which often dictate the success of therapies against primary and metastatic tumors alike. By better understanding these processes, Colin aims to gain insight into which cell death contexts result in long term immune responses that can be effective in treating metastatic disease. Colin will be spending his PhD days in the labs of Sebastian Carotta at Boehringer Ingelheim and Anna Obenauf at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna. He is extremely excited to be a part of such a dedicated and capable collection of doctoral candidates, mentors, and administrators.