Shaswati Athaiya is a PhD student in the lab of Dr Sophia Ran, Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, USA. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Anatomy from the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur, India. Her research focuses on cell fusion as a novel mechanism mediating expansion of lymphatic vasculature in breast tumors. A current project explores potential regulators that aid fusion of bone-marrow-derived myeloid lymphatic endothelial progenitors to lymphatic endothelial cells. As a graduate student she has won multiple awards at the university and department level. She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and a former member of the Anatomical Society of India. Keywords: breast cancer; lymphangiogenesis; bone-marrow-derived myeloid lymphatic progenitors; cell fusion.