Lab Members

Krishna Bhat, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

Dr. Bhat obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago followed by a post-doctoral training at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Bhat has broad expertise in cellular and molecular biology, stem cell biology, pre-clinical models of cancer, and bioinformatics.
He is a recipient of the adult basic science research award from the Society of Neuro-oncology and is credited to have discovered proneural to mesenchymal transition in GBM. He is a curious scientist and an avid collaborator with a primary interest in brain tumors. When not writing grants, Dr. Bhat is a home chef, likes to play basketball with his boys, or catches up on sleep.

Barbara Sadeghi, Senior Administrative Assistant

Barbara Sadeghi, originally from Louisiana, began working at MD Anderson in 2000 as a Compliance Specialist in the Department of Office of Research Administration.  She was the coordinator of the Institutional Biosafety Committee, Institutional Radiation Safety Committee and the Institutional Conflict of Interest Committee.  In 2002, she joined our department as a Senior Administrative Assistant and assists Dr. Bhat among other faculty. Outside of work, Barbara loves spending time with family, reading, gardening and traveling.

Vineeth Murali, M.S., Lab Manager/Research Investigator

Vineeth graduated with a master's degree from Georgia State University with thesis option in Cancer Biology in 2012. After having extensively worked on leukemia at the Baylor College of Medicine and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, he joined the Bhat Lab to learn about brain tumors and its subtypes. Outside of research he enjoys hiking, playing football and irritating his lovely wife.

Alessandra Audia, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Alessandra received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Padova (Italy) in Medical Biotechnology. After two years working on leukemia at the Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, she won a Cancer Research UK fellowship and graduated with a Ph.D. in hematopoietic stem cells and cancer from the University College London. She currently works on elucidating the epigenetic regulation of mesenchymal transdifferentiation in GBM as well as the bidirectional interaction of platelets and tumor cells. Outside of the lab, she is a full time mom, salsa lover and a foodie.

Pravesh Gupta, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Pravesh is an entrepreneurial myeloid cell immunologist currently navigating the immune universe in neuro-oncology. He characterized the fascinating complexity of antigen presenting cells (macrophages and dendritic cells) and their functional elucidation in malaria for his Ph.D. at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. This was followed by a short post-doctoral training in understanding immune contexture of transcriptionally stratified hepatocellular carcinoma patients at the Translational Immunology Institute Duke-NUS SingHealth, Singapore. Currently he is exploring the phenotypic and functional diversity of myeloid cells (in particular macrophages) and underlying mechanisms that define immune altering milieu in the GBM tumor microenvironment. Beyond research, Pravesh enjoys travelling, sports, yoga, social work, networking and playing with kids keeps him energetic.

Visweswaran Ravikumar, B.Sc., Graduate Student

Viswesh obtained his bachelor's in Biology with a minor in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. From very early in his academic career, he has been very interested in quantitative biology and in developing and applying principles and techniques from mathematics and physics to problems in biology. He is currently pursuing a master's in Bioinformatics at The MD Anderson/UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences with a thesis focused on understanding the genetic and epigenetic alterations driving gliomagenesis and progression. Besides doing science, he is very passionate about running, biking, and any other kinds of outdoor physical activities.

Zhong Deng, M.D., Visiting Scientist

Zhong Deng is a neurosurgeon from China currently working toward his Ph.D. at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Laboratory-based brain tumor research fuels his passion and knowledge that he would like to apply in the clinic one day. His other major interests are in bioengineering and instrumentation research with the ultimate goal to improve patient life. During the past year in the Bhat laboratory, he is elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying immune functions in GBM and understanding the role of anti-oxidants in tumor progression. During his free time, Zhong likes to research in the lab on weekends and late nights.

Iris Stuver, B.Sc., Visiting Student

Iris is a visiting student from the Netherlands. She has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences, and is currently enrolled in the oncology master program at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In Dr. Bhat’s lab she studies the role of anti-oxidants in altering the tumor immune microenvironment of GBM with Zhong. When not busy in the lab or at school, she likes watching movies, hanging out with friends and is a sports lover (frequently forgetting to renew her gym membership).

Cailey Renken, Undergraduate Student

Cailey is a sophomore studying Biochemistry & Cell Biology at Rice University.  She investigates cell fate alterations in gliomagenesis with Alessandra. Outside of research and academics, she enjoys competing for the Rice swimming team and leading worship for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.