Lab Members
Principal Investigator
fcole@mdanderson.org
B.A., in Biological Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York
Ph.D., in Biomedical Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University
Research Interests: Homologous recombination and germ line mutagenesis
Other Interests: Snorkeling
Favorite PCR machine: Medusa
Parijat Chakraborty, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
pchakraborty@mdanderson.org
B.S. in Zoology, Presidency College, University of Calcutta,
India
M.S. in Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, India
Ph.D. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Thiruvananthapuram , India
Research Interests:
Age-dependent regulation of meiotic recombination
Other
Interests: Music, cooking
Laura Denton
Senior Administrative Assistant
Grants Contact
lmdenton@mdanderson.org
Laboratory Focus: Grant and fellowship submission and compliance
Other Interests: Dancing
Favorite PCR machine: Venus
Melissa Frasca
GSBS Ph.D. Student
mnfrasca1@mdanderson.org
B.S. in Biology, Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, Michigan
Research Interests: Homologous recombination and homolog pairing
Other Interests: Music and attending concerts
Favorite PCR Machine: Athena
Julie Ontiveros
Research Assistant I
jaontiveros@mdanderson.org
B.S. in Biology, University of Houston - Downtown
Research Interests: Homologous recombination
Other Interests: Baking and sports
Favorite PCR Machine: Mercury
Aastha Pandey, Ph.D.
apandey@mdanderson.org
Postdoctoral Fellow
B.S. in Biological Sciences, Dr. RML Avadh University, Faizabad, India
M.S. in Biotechnology, HNB Gharwal University, Srinagar, India
Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, India
Research Interests: Meiosis and homologous recombination
Other Interests: Gardening and music
Lakshmi Paniker, Ph.D.
Research Investigator
lpaniker@mdanderson.org
B.S. and M.S. in Zoology, University of Kerala, India
M.S. in Biology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
Ph.D. in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala, India
Research Interests: Double-strand break repair and meiotic hot spot characterization
Other Interests: Gardening
Favorite PCR machine: Mojo
Tolkappiyan Premkumar
GSBS Ph.D. Student
tpremkumar@mdanderson.org
B.tech and M.tech in Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
Research Interests: Homologous recombination
Other Interests: Cycling, robotics and programming
Favorite PCR Machine(s): The ones in the lower rack
Lisa M. Shriver, CAP
Senior Administrative Assistant
Administrative Contact
lmshriver@mdanderson.org
Laboratory Focus: Educational Appointments, Summer
Program in Cancer Research
Other Interests:
Cooking, baking, crafting
Former Members:
Joanna Baird
Research Assistant I
Honorine Destain
Summer Undergraduate Fellow
Melissa Frasca
Summer Undergraduate Fellow
Current graduate student in the Cole laboratory.
Andrew Gage Chance
High School Fellow
Currently premed student at UT Austin
Isabella Ferranti
Research Assistant I
Currently graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University
Mikalah Gribbell
Summer Undergraduate Fellow
Graduate of Ball State University
Holly Hamilton, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ericka S. Humphrey, M.S.
Research Assistant I
Currently graduate student at MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Jiaying "Nebula" Han
Summer Undergraduate Fellow
Graduate of Rice University
Currently in Ph.D. program at UCLA
Rhea Kang, Ph.D.
Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently working at Luminex in Austin
Lorie Leyva
Summer Undergraduate Fellow
Graduate of A&M-Corpus Christi
Linda Odentha-Hesse
Odyssey Postdoctoral
Fellow
Went on to: Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Diethard Tautz
at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany
Maria Sandoval
Senior Research
Assistant
Currently works in industry, manager for department
that tests for microbiological contaminants
April Weiss
Laboratory Technician III
Maciej (Maciek) Zelazowski, Ph.D.
Instructor