Jaye Gardiner, PhD

For as long as she can remember, Dr. Jaye Gardiner (she/her) has been interested in both science and art. First wowed by science after placing celery in colored water in her Chicago classroom, she’d also spend her spare time learning to draw her favorite cartoon characters. She originally assumed she’d have to choose between passions, but graduating from Macalester College with her Bachelor of Arts degree showed her the value of interdisciplinary thinking. Moving on to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Gardiner found ways to combine these two passions while obtaining her Ph.D. in cancer biology: through teaching undergraduates and co-founding the science comics initiative JKX Comics. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she continues to pursue her multifaceted interests. At the bench, her research focuses on the fibrotic tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer and how the cells responsible (fibroblasts) are epigenetically regulated. When not pipetting, Dr. Gardiner continues to increase access and exposure to STEM by illustrating scientist trading cards and comic books, conducting STEM education research, and speaking publicly. She is excited to continue these passions while training the next generation of scientists as she begins her own research group at Tufts University in September 2025.