In 1994, to further develop and strengthen her research skills, Dr. Daniel accepted a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with Dr. Albert Reynolds at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee to study the role of the Src kinase substrate, p120ctn, in cancer.

In the summer of 1996, Dr. Daniel assisted Dr. Reynolds in relocating the laboratory to the Cell Biology Department at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to her scientific research contributions, Dr. Daniel also found the time to initiate and co-found the Vanderbilt Association of Postdoctoral Fellows.

Throughout her career, Dr. Daniel has published in several top scientific journals (Oncogene, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Journal of Cell Biology).

Academic awards:

• The James H. Rattray Memorial Scholarship (Queen's University)
• The Canadian NSERC Predoctoral Fellowship (UBC)
• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital).

In November 1999, Dr. Daniel joined the Department of Biology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Daniel's cancer research interests focus on understanding the fundamentals of cell growth and cell adhesion, and elucidating how malfunction of these processes promotes tumor development.

As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Daniel was part of the research team who first reported that the Src kinase substrate p120ctn was a novel component of the E-cadherin-catenin cell adhesion complex. This was an exciting discovery since in 50% of metastatic and invasive tumors, the primary epithelial cell-cell adhesion system is perturbed and the defect is attributed to malfunction of the E-cadherin-catenin complex.

Dr. Daniel's most significant discovery to date however, and one that sparked great interest in the cadherin-catenin cell adhesion field, has been her cloning and identification of a novel transcription factor, Kaiso (named after the Caribbean calypso music!), which binds specifically to p120ctn.

As an independent researcher, Dr. Daniel's research goal is to elucidate the mechanism of action of Kaiso and determine its role in signal transduction and cancer. The identification of Kaiso target genes whose deregulation correlates with cell adhesion defects and tumor malignancy will further our understanding of cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion and tumor metastasis, and provide insights for future therapeutics.