Twins team up on cancer research

Ryan and Brandon Mouery are used to the surprised looks. Nearly everyone they meet is shocked to learn these twins aren’t identical.

“No one actually believes us when we say that,” says Ryan. “But according to the doctor, we’re not.”

“One of our genetics professors in grad school still doesn’t believe it,” Brandon adds.

While the Mouerys may not share the exact same DNA, the twins have followed identical paths to Carolina where they have a single purpose in their research: Find solutions to cancer.

This mission is personal for Ryan and Brandon, who earned doctoral degrees in genetics and molecular biology in August and will be recognized at Winter Commencement along with other summer graduates.

Ryan was diagnosed with leukemia as a 3-year-old and underwent treatment before entering remission when he was 8. In 2016, their mother, Sherry, died of cancer during their senior year at Penn State.

Since earning their doctorates, the Mouerys have begun working as postdocs in the lab of Channing Der at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, studying ways to improve pancreatic cancer treatments.

“I think we got so much more of the real-world human element of what people going through cancer look like,” Brandon says. “Once we realized our aptitude and passion for science in high school, it just became a pretty obvious way to merge those two things.”

Meet our winter graduates.

Always together

Growing up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Ryan and Brandon did everything together — from playing the same sports to studying and performing in marching band. Today, the two are distance running partners and enjoy cheering on their undergraduate alma mater and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ryan’s cancer treatments as a child were about the only thing that ever separated them.

“I think somehow that made us even closer in the end,” says Brandon.

The bond has been a constant in their lives. When it was time for college, they both initially attended Mansfield University to play in the band. The twins later decided being at a larger research university was best, and off they went to Penn State.

“It’s pretty hard to get us apart from each other,” Ryan says.

But when it came to graduate school, they were prepared to head in separate directions. Per the advice of a mentor, the twins each applied to eight schools but only one together: Carolina.

The line of thinking was that applying to too many of the same schools could hurt each other’s chances of getting in.

UNC-Chapel Hill was a school they weren’t willing to compromise on, however.

“UNC is one of the top schools for biomedical research,” Ryan says, noting the deciding factor.

Lab work

As scientists, Ryan and Brandon know the importance of specificity in cancer treatment. Sadly, they learned that lesson when doctors couldn’t identify a primary site for their mother’s cancer.

“If you can identify exactly what cancer type it is and maybe know some genetic profiles, you can really target the therapy,” Ryan says.

In the Der lab, the two are working on ways to fortify treatments that target a gene called KRAS, which Brandon says is mutated in about 95% of people with pancreatic cancer. Much of their work involves finding ways to account for pancreatic cancer’s ability to become resistant to otherwise effective treatments targeting KRAS.

The work excites them as scientists. As brothers and sons impacted by cancer, they see it as their vocation.

“Maybe someday, 30 years from now, we can look back at what we did and maybe see a therapy in the clinic that we had a small part in,” Brandon says. “I think it keeps getting you out of the bed in the morning.”