CPRIT Graduate Scholars

I received my bachelor’s degree in Microbiology with a dual honors in microbiology and chemistry from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India in 2012 and my masters in microbiology from M.S. University, Vadodara, India in 2014. I received the gold medal for ranking first in university during both my undergraduate and post graduate studies. From 2014-2016, I worked as a junior research fellow at the Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, India under Dr. John Mercer where I studied the effect of point mutations in tropomyosin leading to clinical cardiomyopathy. In 2016, I joined the MD Anderson UTHealth GSBS Immunology Ph.D. Program under the mentorship of Dr. Padmanee Sharma. During my Ph.D. training, I have received multiple fellowships and awards, including George M. Stancel, Ph.D. Fellowship in the Biomedical Sciences (2018), Schissler Foundation Fellowship (2020), Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Scholarship in Cancer Research (2020) and Ergon Foundation Graduate Student Trainee Award (2021-2023). 

Swetha's Research Interests:
Swetha is looking at the role of tumor and stromal- immune crosstalk leading to immunosuppression and resistance to checkpoint blockade. Using in vivo murine models, clinical datasets and high-throughput techniques such as single cell RNA sequencing and CyTOF, I have identified novel regulators that induce immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment and that can be targeted to improve response to immune checkpoint therapy in non-responsive tumor types such as pancreatic cancer. 

Mary earned her B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). As an undergraduate, Mary participated as a teaching and research assistant for the Work With A Scientist Program where she mentored high school students and conducted a research project evaluating the antioxidant activity and in vitro cytotoxicity of novel compounds for neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, Mary was accepted in the 2016 cohort of the UTEP Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT) Program. In this program, Mary performed research at the Health Research Institute in the University of Costa Rica. With the mentorship of Dr. Kenia Barrantes-Jiménez, Mary focused on evaluating the antimicrobial, antiviral, and in vitro cytotoxicity of synthetic surfactants to assess their potential therapeutic implications. Since joining the Cancer Biology Ph.D. program at MD Anderson UTHealth GSBS, Mary has earned several awards for her research and community outreach efforts including the Sylvan Rodriguez Foundation honoring George M. Stancel, PhD (2019), the American Legion Auxiliary Fellowship in Cancer Research (2019), the Fadine Jackson Roquemore Scholarship in Cancer Research (2020), and the Student InterCouncil (SIC) Positive Impact Scholarship (2021). Mary looks forward to expanding her training and research expertise in cancer as a CPRIT Scholar. 

Mary's Research Interests:                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
My research focus involves identifying and targeting epigenetic vulnerabilities in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) using patient-derived (PDX) samples, novel in vivo models, and cutting-edge research technologies.

Laura earned her B.S. in Biology from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) in Lima, Peru. In UPCH, she started her research career in Dr. José Luis Aguilar’s laboratory investigating the effect of different natural products on the immune system. Here, Laura performed a thesis project where she investigated the effects of Cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa), a Peruvian plant, on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of mice with melanoma. In 2017, Laura performed a 6-month research internship in the Melanoma Medical Oncology Department in Dr. Willem Overwijk’s laboratory. In the Overwijk Lab, Laura participated in a project that aimed to elucidate how a novel bio-engineered immunotherapeutic affected the immune compartment of tumor-bearing mice. She immediately transitioned into her graduate studies after this experience.                                                                 

Laura’s Research Interests:                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
My research seeks to delineate the role for Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in intestinal immunity and inflammation. Other research interests revolve around a) myeloid subsets and their differentiation and function in the gut; b) the relationship between the immune system and the gut microbiome, and c) the role of the immune system in cancer. 

Kyle graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in biology from UMASS Boston in 2016, where he studied limb bud patterning in Ambystoma mexicanum. He went on to complete research at Harvard Medical School where he utilized confocal microscopy and transgenic zebrafish models to understand the signaling pathways that govern liver development and cancer. Since joining the Cancer Biology PhD program in fall of 2018, he has earned multiple research awards including the TL1 fellowship, the American Legion Auxiliary Fellowship in Cancer Research, and the John J. Kopchick Fellowship.

Kyle's Research Interests:
In the DePinho lab, Kyle has generated complex mouse models and organoid culture systems to decipher the relationship between chromosomal instability and colon cancer.

Swati earned her Integrated Master's (BS-MS) in Life Science from National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NITR), India in May 2019. She was awarded the 2016 Indian Academy of Sciences Summer Scholarship to study the role of PKD2 in polycystic kidney diseases and 2017 AcSIR- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Summer Scholarship to study novel mutations in POLG causing mitochondrial DNA depletion leading to encephalopathy, seizures and stroke-like episodes. In the year 2018, she was competitively selected by the Government of India’s Department of Biotechnology, the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, and WINStep Forward to the Khorana Scholar Exchange Program and worked at Baylor College of Medicine where she was involved in conducting pre-clinical studies utilizing separase inhibitor-Sepin-1 in Ewing Sarcoma and Neuroblastoma PDX murine models. Her master's thesis project was focused on studying the role of PIWI-interacting RNAs in fibrosarcoma and she was awarded gold medal for Best Thesis Project.  She matriculated into the GSBS in Fall 2019. She has a primary affiliation with the Cancer Biology Program and secondary affiliation with Therapeutics and Pharmacology Program. Since joining the Calin Lab in January 2020, Swati has earned Student InterCouncil (SIC) Positive Impact Scholarship (2021) and Steve Lasher and Janiece Longoria Research Award (2022). 

Swati's Research Interests:
In Dr. Calin’s lab, Swati plans to investigate the role of non-coding RNAs mapped from ultraconserved regions in the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Richter transformation

Oscar earned his B.S. degree in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. During his time at UT, he participated in several research projects. After receiving the Beckman Scholar Award, he joined the lab of Dr. George Georgiou where he conducted his undergraduate thesis work on engineering glutaminase in order to treat glutamine auxotrophic cancers. In 2016, Oscar matriculated into the dual MD/PhD degree program at The University of Texas Medical Scientist Training Program at Houston. After completing his first three years of medical school, Oscar began his graduate training by joining the Cancer Biology Program and the lab of Dr. Scott Kopetz. After completing his MD/PhD training Oscar plans on continuing his education in order to become a physician-scientist specializing in medical oncology. 

Oscar's Research Interests:
Oscar’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms causing the limited response of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who are treated with MAPK-pathway inhibitors.

Er-Yen (Nick) received his B.S. in Life Science from National Taiwan University. He later furthered his education with a Master’s degree in Anatomy and Cell Biology at National Taiwan University. Under the mentorship of Dr. I-Rue Lai, a physician scientist specializing in gastrointestinal oncology, Nick’s thesis project examined the roles of gastric cancer-derived exosomes in establishing a pre-metastatic niche in the peripheral lymph node. After graduation, Nick worked as a research assistant specializing in imaging analysis in Dr. Feng-Chiao Tsai’s lab. Under the supervision of Dr. Guilio Draetta and Dr. Andrea Viale, Nick’s work has been awarded the Rosalie B. Hite Fellowship (2021) as well as the Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Scholarships in Cancer Research (2019). 

Er-Yen's Research Interests:                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
My research focuses on spatial heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer and characterizing interaction between subclones and their surrounding microenvironment as an approach of identifying potential therapeutic target.

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