Katherine Chiappinelli received her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis and pursued postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University with Stephen Baylin where she and her colleagues discovered that inhibiting DNA methylation causes an immune response in cancer through transcription of transposable element RNA. Her independent laboratory studies the epigenetic changes in cancer and how epigenetic drugs can reverse these, specifically focusing on noncoding regions of the genome and the anti-tumour immune response. A major focus of her research is epigenetic regulation of transposable elements in cancer and how they contribute to innate immunity. A translational goal of this work is learning how to optimally combine epigenetic and immune therapies to fight cancer, with a focus on ovarian cancer.