Current Students

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.

Soleil earned her B.S. degree in Radiological Health Engineering from Texas A&M University where she received a minor in Mathematics. As an undergraduate at Texas A&M, she conducted research alongside Dr. Gamal Akabani on the design and fabrication of a novel mouse nebulizer for the imaging of thoracic tumors. In addition to this work, she participated in two internships and researched alongside two academic medical physicists. The first was to research tumor position reproducibility under the guidance of Dr. Julianne Pollard-Larkin in the Department of Radiation Physics at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The second was to design, fabricate, and test an alternative Total Body Irradiation (TBI) compensator using 3D printed materials under the guidance of Dr. Neil Kirby at The University of San Antonio Mays Cancer Center. Since joining the PhD program in Medical Physics at UT MD Anderson GSBS in the fall of 2018, she’s earned multiple research awards including the Charlene Kopchick Fellowship (2021), the Matthew Mireless Scholarship (2020) and Honorable Mention on her application to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2020). As a first-generation and Mexican-American student, Soleil is passionate about leadership, mentorship, and increasing diversity in STEM. She holds multiple leadership roles within the GSBS and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). She is the co-founder of the Medical Physics Hispanic Network and serves as an ambassador for the GSBS to mentor students from under-represented backgrounds. Soleil also volunteers at the Ronald McDonald family room at the MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Center. She will be the first PhD in her family and she plans to mentor first generation students like herself to achieve her lifetime goal of diversifying academia.

Soleil's Research Interests:                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
In my graduate studies, I have chosen to work alongside Dr. Laurence Court to automate the radiation therapy treatment planning process for pediatric medulloblastoma. The novel algorithms developed in my project will be made available to cancer centers in resource-constrained clinics through the Radiation Planning Assistant (RPA) to increase global access to high quality radiation therapy

Wen-Hao (Howard) Hsu received his master’s degree in Science in Oral Biology from Taiwan University. During his graduate studies, he focused on the biological functions of pluripotency genes and growth factors in head and neck cancer progression. He found that connective tissue growth factor activates NANOG, SOX2, and POU5F1, and inhibits metastasis in head and neck cancer. After graduation he worked at as a research technician in National Yang-Ming University and was trained extensively in stem cell biology, genetics, and epigenetics. He joined the GSBS for his Ph.D. training in 2018. 

Wen-Hao’s Research Interests:                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
In Dr. DePinho's lab, Howard plans to investigate the role of telomere dysfunction using a colorectal cancer mouse model, especially studying for the genomic and transcriptomic events driving metastasis in colorectal cancer. He expects his work to contribute to clinical prevention and therapy of colorectal cancer metastasis.

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.

Mi earned his BS from Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, where he later served as a research technician for several years before joining MD Anderson Cancer Center. At Sichuan University, Mi studied lung cancer metastasis and developed an in vivo model to study bone metastases of human lung cancer. Next, Mi served as a research intern and research assistant in the neuro-oncology department at MD Anderson, where he studied amino acid metabolism before joining the GSBS for his graduate work.

Mi's Research Interests:
I study DNA damage responses induced by overexpression of cyclin E isoforms. 

Ethan completed his medical degree in 2013 at the Tongji Hospital, affiliated to Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Wuhan, China), including 3 years of specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He subsequently moved to the United States and earned his Master of Science Degree in Tumor Biology at Georgetown University in 2015 (Washington D.C.) He is currently in the Immunology program at GSBS. After joining Dr. Rezvani’s lab as a Ph.D. student in 2019, his research focuses is on identifying immune suppressive factors in cancer immunity and developing novel strategies to advance the efficacy of anti-tumor cell therapy. Since joining GSBS, Ethan has received Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Scholarship in Cancer Research in 2020, and the Student InterCouncil (SIC) Positive Impact Scholarship in 2021. He looks forward to expanding his training and research expertise in cancer immunotherapy as a CPRIT Scholar.

Ethan's Research Interests:
My research focuses on cancer biology and anti-tumor therapy. My goal is to explore the understanding of the molecular etiology and immune response in the process of malignant transformation, applying cellular-based immune therapies to increase curative efficacy in treating cancer. I aim to integrate the understanding of biomarkers during malignant progression with advanced cellular therapeutic approaches in order to develop novel strategies to improve outcomes for patients with 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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