▁Research ▁ ▁Hol ford ▁summar izes ▁her ▁research ▁interests ▁as ▁moving ▁" from ▁m oll us ks ▁to ▁medicine " ▁for ▁drug ▁discovery ▁and ▁delivery . ▁She ▁and ▁her ▁research ▁team ▁extract ▁pe pt ides ▁from ▁ven om ous ▁sn ails ▁to ▁identify ▁possible ▁treat ments ▁for ▁pain ▁and ▁cancer . ▁Her ▁work ▁takes ▁an ▁inter dis cipl inary ▁approach , ▁lever aging ▁bio chem istry , ▁genom ics , ▁prote om ics , ▁evolution , ▁and ▁cell ▁bi ology ▁to ▁isol ate , ▁identify , ▁and ▁character ize ▁novel ▁ven om ous ▁pe pt ides ▁and ▁dev ise ▁drug ▁delivery ▁strateg ies . ▁Research ▁projects ▁in ▁her ▁lab ▁takes ▁advantage ▁of ▁invent ive ▁tools ▁from ▁chem istry ▁and ▁bi ology ▁to : ▁( 1 ) ▁investigate ▁the ▁evolution ▁of ▁ven om ▁in ▁pre dat ory ▁marine ▁sn ails , ▁( 2 ) ▁discover ▁dis ulf ide - rich ▁pe pt ides ▁from ▁a ▁ven om ▁source , ▁( 3 ) ▁develop ▁high - through put ▁methods ▁for ▁character izing ▁structure - function ▁pe pt ide ▁interactions , ▁and ▁( 4 ) ▁deliver ▁novel ▁pe pt ides ▁to ▁their ▁site ▁of ▁action ▁for ▁th era pe ut ic ▁application . ▁ ▁Science ▁diplom acy ▁ ▁Hol ford ▁was ▁first ▁trained ▁in ▁science ▁diplom acy ▁as ▁an ▁AA AS ▁Science ▁& ▁Technology ▁Policy ▁fellow ▁at ▁the ▁National ▁Science ▁Foundation . ▁Since ▁that ▁time , ▁she ▁has ▁worked ▁on ▁several ▁projects ▁and ▁initi atives ▁to ▁encou rage ▁early ▁career ▁scient ists ▁to ▁think ▁glob ally