Sadie is a Ph.D. student in Nutrition for Metabolic Health, working with Dr. Meng Wang, and a Graduate School Dean's Scholar. She earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell, with a concentration in Genetics, Genomics, and Development. Sadie is broadly interested in the metabolic origins of DNA damage and in what happens when the pathways that protect against it fail. In Dr. Meng Wang's lab, she studies formaldehyde as an endogenous source of DNA damage, how this damage contributes to cancer development, and how nutritional status and metabolism shape this process. Looking ahead, she hopes her work will inform new therapeutic strategies for cancer.

Sadie's research in Dr. Meng Wang's lab focuses on formaldehyde, a reactive aldehyde produced by normal metabolism and a known human carcinogen, and on how nutritional status and metabolic state influence its production, clearance, and downstream DNA damage. Using cell lines, mouse models, and LC-MS-based methods, she works to identify sources of endogenous genotoxins and to characterize mechanisms of aldehyde toxicity that remain poorly understood.

Mellor, C., James, B. T., Azad, S., Kosmeder, E. P., Purello, C. T., Singh, M., Simon, V., Cheng, N. W., Niedermaier, J., Burgos-Barragan, G., Blenis, J. O., Mato, A. R., Field, M. S., & Wang, M. (2026). Excess folate elevates formaldehyde genotoxicity in cell lines but not in mice or humans. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 18(9), 3430–3447. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-026-00504-7

2025, B.S., Biological Sciences (concentration in Genetics, Genomics, and Development), Cornell University