Trainee Spotlight

Dr. Ayoub earned his B.S. in Biology from Long Island University (Brooklyn, NY). He later earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. (2019) - both in Pharmacology,  from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. His thesis work, supervised by Dr. Archibald Perkins, was titled "The role of EVI1 in hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and leukemia." In 2018, he was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) F31 fellowship from the NIH/NHLBI for his work on EVI1 in hematopoiesis. Dr. Ayoub joined the TRIUMPH Program in Fall 2019. 

Dr. Ayoub's Research:
My research focuses on investigating the correlation between minimal residual disease and the chemotherapy resistance in high risk AML.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Ayoub is currently supported by the NIH through his F32 award.

Matthew earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He then earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology under the guidance of Dr. Brandon Dixon. His graduate thesis was titled “Functional lymphatic changes and the immune response during lymphedema development” and was supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) F31 fellowship from the NIH/NHLBI. Matthew joined the TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in February 2022.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Cribb is currently supported by the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (RP210028).

Dr. Fuentes earned his B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Texas A&M Corpus Christi and his Ph.D. in Toxicology from Texas A&M University, where his work under Dr. Robert S. Chapkin. His graduate research on "Plasma membrane lipid therapy: Disruption of oncogenic RAS driven phenotypes by membrane targeted dietary bioactives (MTDBS)" provided the foundation for his T32-funded postdoctoral fellowship in the Chapkin Lab. Robert joined the TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Houston in January 2020.

Dr. Fuentes's Research Interests:
My current research focuses on identfying novel mitochondrial- and plasma membrane-based therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer. The ultimate goal is to develop membrane-based intervention strategies that improve clinical outcomes in patients.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Fuentes is funded by an National Cancer Institute awarded Diversity Supplement to R01CA227517 (PI: Dr. Cullen Taniguchi).

Dr. Gant earned her B.S. in Biology with a Chemistry minor from Elizabeth City State University. She later completed the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)-funded Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at the University of Missouri to prepare for graduate school. She earned her Ph.D. in Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2022. Her dissertation title was “Understanding Extracellular Matrix Alterations in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer” under the guidance of Dr. Manish S. Patankar and Dr. Paul J. Campagnola. There, Dr. Gant investigated collagen remodeling patterns in human fallopian tubes and ovaries to understand their implication in metastatic behaviors, and how these data may be useful in developing ECM-specific clinical imaging modalities for early-stage detection of ovarian cancer. Dr. Gant joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a TRIUMPH postdoctoral research fellow in July 2022.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Gant is currently supported by the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (RP210028).

Haijing received her Ph.D. degree in the Quantitative & Computational Biosciences Graduate Program from Baylor College of Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Zhandong Liu. Haijing’s Ph.D. projects are focused on the systematic biases caused by different biological and technical factors on transcriptomics deconvolution analysis. Dr. Jin joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellow in 2021.

Dr. Jin's Research Interests:
Haijing’s research projects are focused on unraveling tumor heterogeneity utilizing multi-omics data. She also develops tools for phylogenetic analysis and multi-modal data integration.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Jin is funded by the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (RP210028).

Dr. Mastoraki earned her B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Her master's research focused on the study and clinical evaluation of SOX17 and BRMS1 promoters methylation in breast cancer patients using methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting analysis. She received her Ph.D. in 2018 from the University of Athens in Greece, where her Ph.D. thesis work sought to develop and clinically evaluate blood-based biomarkers in liquid biopsy samples of cancer patients. Dr. Mastoraki joined MD Anderson and the CPRIT TRIUMPH Program in 2019.

Dr. Mastoraki's Research:
NBC has the worst outcome compared to other breast cancer subtypes because of lack of targeted therapy. 70% of all TNBCs overexpress low molecular weight cyclin E (LMW-E) isoforms and these patients have a poor prognosis, whereas high tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) levels predict better overall survival in TNBC. Especially in the TNBC group, TILs are more abundant in LMWE positive patients than in LMW-E negative patients and among the high TIL group (>10%), patients who have LMW-E negative tumors, have higher probability of pCR than patients with LMW-E positive tumors. This makes us interrogate what is the role of LMW-E in TIL infiltration that turns them from good to bad predictors. I hypothesize that LMW-E induces immune and inflammatory responses that alter tumor microenvironment (TME) in the mammary gland, thus promoting tumor initiation and growth. To address this question and open novel therapeutic avenues for TNBC, I will use our inducible LMW-E transgenic mouse model, which is a valuable TNBC proxy. Our main goals are to assess the effects of mammary epithelial expression of LMW-E in regulating of different TIL subpopulations and inflammatory responses prior and during tumorigenesis, and to clinically translate our results using human TNBC tumors. Lastly, I will use this model to identify effective treatments combining targets of LMW-E mediated pathways and distinct immunotherapies.

Current Funding Source: 
Dr. Mastoraki is currently mentor funded.

Dr. Merting earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of South Carolina Aiken. She then earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with a focus on Biochemistry and Cancer Biology under the guidance of Dr. Kebin Liu at the Medical College of Georgia. Her graduate thesis was titled "Enhancing Immune Therapy by Modulating Cell Death" and was supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) F31 fellowship from the NCI. Dr. Merting joined the TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in August 2022.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Merting is funded by the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (RP210028).

Dr. Morris earned his B.S. in Nanomedicine Engineering and B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia. He later earned his M.S. in Biological and Physical Sciences from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. In 2022, Dr. Morris earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His graduate work was entitled “Towards Personalized Medicine: Identifying, Characterizing, and Targeting Drivers of Aggressive Cancers.” Under the direction of Dr. Marty Mayo, his research focused on using genomic datasets and molecular biology tools to investigate novel mechanisms potentiating aggressive cancers. Results from this work are helping redefine how cryptic cancer genetic events heighten replication stress and subsequently impact several hallmarks of cancer. Dr. Morris joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a TRIUMPH postdoctoral research fellow in 2022.

Dr. Morris' Research Interests:
My research project is focused on identifying and targeting novel vulnerabilities in small cell lung cancer to overcome therapeutic resistance.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Morris is currently mentor funded.

Dr. Park earned her BS in Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology from John Hopkins University. Her Ph.D. project, under the mentorship of  Dr. Andrew Holland, focused on understanding the role of splicing factors in centriole duplication. As a native Houstonian, Liz moved home to join the TRIUMPH program for her postdoctoral fellowship training in 2020.

Dr. Park's Research Interests:
My research project focuses on identifying how the gut microbiome affects response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB)therapy and ICB-induced toxicity.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Park is currently supported by institutional funds which supplement the CPRIT Training Award (RP210028).

Dr. Pham earned her B.A. in Biology and Chemistry at Wesleyan College and her Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Grzegorz Ira. Her Ph.D. project demonstrates how cells prevent the usage of very mutagenic pathway of the DNA Double Strand Breaks (DSBs) repair called Break Induced Replication (BIR). This pathway is responsible for many genomic instabilities in human, it is activated in cancer cells and it is normally suppressed during repair of so called two-ended DSBs. She also contributed to the identification of the new function of Dna2, a well-conserved nuclease and helicase, in preventing large and complex DNA insertions at chromosomal breaks. 

Dr. Pham's Research Interests:
Medium-chain Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) is one of the enzymes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid b-oxdation. The depletion of MCAD in primary glioblastoma triggered lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, irreversible mitochondrial damage, and apoptosis. As inherited MCAD deficiency is a condition compatible with normal quality of life, the dependency of glioblastoma cancer cells of MCAD suggests a therapeutic window for GBM. My research project focuses on understanding the protective role of MCAD in tumorigenesis and/on progression of GBM.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Pham is currently supported by institutional funds which supplement the CPRIT Training Award (RP210028).                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Dr. Sans earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of New Orleans and her Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. Her undergraduate research focused on synthesis and evaluation of nanoparticles for drug delivery and photothermal therapies in cancer. Her graduate work under the mentorship of Dr. Livia S. Eberlin focused on the development and applications of mass spectrometry technology to address relevant challenges in human health. She contributed to the development and application of the MasSpec Pen for in vivo use during human surgery and applied ambient ionization methods to investigate ovarian cancer aggressiveness and to generate molecular classifiers for improved diagnosis from frozen tissue secitons. Marta joined the TRIUMPH Program for her postdoctoral fellowship training at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Spring 2020.

Dr. Sans Escofet's Research Interests:
My research projects focus on the spatial investigation of the microenvironment in pancreatic cancer utilizing metabolomic and proteomic imaging with mass spectrometry and spatial transcriptomics. I am also currently working on applying mass spectrometry to investigate COVID-19 and develop new diagnostic and prognostic assays.

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Sans is currently supported by institutional funds which supplement the CPRIT Training Award (RP210028).

Rance attained a Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical Engineering) (Honors) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT, Melbourne Australia) in 2017. Rance continued the academic pathway at RMIT and have recently earned his Ph.D. in January 2022, under the guidance of Prof. Martin Leary (RMIT) and Prof. Tomas Kron (Peter MacCallum Cancer Center). His Ph.D. research focuses on developing custom radiotherapy phantoms using 3D printing for the end-to-end testing of personalized lung treatment plans, funded through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Additive Biomanufacturing (ARC ABM).Rance joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellow in September 2022.

Dr. Tino's Research Interests:
My research explores the clinical translation of 3D printing and digital-twin technologies in Radiation Oncology.  

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Tino is funded by the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (RP210028).

Dr. Zhao earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from Henan University in Kaifeng, China and his M.S. in Microbiology from China Agricultural University in Beijing, China. During this period, his research focused on DNA replication and cell cycle checkpoint in budding yeast under the mentorship of Dr. Huiqiang Lou. Dr. Zhao completed his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Georgia Institute of Technology, where his dissertation project under the mentorship of Dr. Patrick McGrath focused on Identification of the genetic and phenotypic basis of adaptation to new food sources in two laboratory domesticated Caenorhabditis elegansstrains. He also earned a M.S. in Statistics while at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Zhao joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in Fall 2019 as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Nicholas Navin and later joined the TRIUMPH program in 2020. 

Dr. Zhao’s Research Interests:
My research focuses on delineating the evolution of therapeutic resistance and metastasis and identifying clinical markers in prostate cancer by utilizing single-cell sequencing and liquid biopsy genomics.  

Current Funding Source:
Dr. Zhao is funded by the MD Anderson Odyssey Fellowship (9/1/20 - Present), where he is an Odyssey Fellow. He was previously funded by the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (CPRIT RP170067) from 5/1/20 - 8/31/20.

The current CPRIT TRIUMPH application cycle closes on December 31, 2022. Apply today.