Lab Members

Graduate Student

ICai@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2017)

 

Li (Lily) Cai received her B.A. degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Boston University in 2016. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in a project investigating the tumor suppressor STAG2 in BRAFi resistance in melanoma. She also worked on a project exploring the potential utility of a novel immune checkpoint blockade in colon cancer.  In our laboratory, Lily is investigating the immune inhibitory function of a ligand on tumor cells using highly immunogenic cancer models, and exploring the antitumor effect of its inhibition in colon cancer.  She expects her work to contribute to novel immunotherapies in a variety of cancers. 

Postdoctoral Fellow

DChakravarti@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2013)

 

Deepavali (Deepa) Chakravarti earned her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology & Biochemistry from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston. Her graduate work focused on delineating the role of the p63 informs TAp63 and  ΔNp63 in the transcriptional regulation of the microRNA biogenesis pathway proteins Dicer and DGCR8 in processes such as metastasis and induced multipotency of differentiated cells. Her current work in our lab focuses on the role of telomere dysfunction in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using a stem cell specific telomerase re-activatable mouse model, and highlights the role of the epithelium in disease initiation. 

Research Medical Student

JRChen@mdanderson.org

Postdoctoral Fellow

PChen4@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2016)

 

Peiwen Chen earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Padova (Italy) in 2015. During his Ph.D. studies, he focused on revealing the role and underlying mechanisms of macrophages in tissue repair and tumorigenesis, as well as extracellular matrix in the nervous system and hair follicle homeostasis. In our laboratory, Peiwen is working to characterize the mechanisms that underlie heterotypic interactions across diverse cell types in the tumor microenvironment of glioblastoma (GBM). The goal of his work is to uncover insights that can be used to develop novel immunotherapy strategies to improve outcomes for GBM patients. 

Sr. Research Assistant

PDeng@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2010)

 

Pingna Deng graduated from Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Science, and trained and practiced as an obstetrician and gynecologist in China.  After moving to the U.S., she took the USMLE examination and pre-matched to York Hospital, Pennsylvania, for obstetrics and gynecology training. Ultimately, her interests turned to cancer research. In our lab, she focuses her efforts on research technology, cancer biology and biochemistry experiments and applications, laboratory management, mouse model generation and colony maintenance. In her spare time, she volunteers at clinics while continuing to pursue her passion for science, medicine, and women’s health. 

Instructor

PDey@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2013)

 

Prasenjit Dey earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in the laboratory of Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson at The Center for Nuclear Receptor and Cell Signaling, University of Houston.  His graduate thesis focused on the function of estrogen receptor b (ERb) in prostate cancer, where he demonstrated how ERb opposes prostate cancer development, progression, and bone metastasis.  In our laboratory, Prasenjit focused his early efforts on a malic enzyme (ME) project that began as an effort to identify new synthetic lethality partners.  Prasenjit identified that ME2 is co-deleted in SMAD4-null pancreatic cancer tumors.  This was an important finding, as ~30% of pancreatic cancer patients present with SMAD4 deletion, so targeting this large patient population with ME3-specific small molecules could be highly beneficial.  He undertook comprehensive validation of ME3 as a synthetic lethality target using in vitro and in vivo models, earning a first-author paper in Nature in 2017.  Most interestingly, in a follow-up study, he is testing the hypothesis that co-extinction targets of ME3 can also be exploited as targets in pancreatic cancer. 

Instructor

PGulhati1@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2017)

 

Pat Gulhati received his M.D. and Ph.D. (Cancer Biology) degrees from The University of Texas in 2013. During his Ph.D. studies, he focused on characterizing the role of mTOR signaling in tumorigenesis, metastasis and therapeutic resistance of colorectal cancer. He went on to complete his Internal Medicine residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He subsequently completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at MD Anderson in 2018. Pat is currently an Advanced Scholar/Instructor in the Department of GI Medical Oncology and is completing a postdoctoral fellowship in our laboratory. Pat is evaluating the role of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in mediating therapeutic resistance to immune checkpoint therapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. He hopes to contribute a novel treatment option for patients with PDAC. 

Postdoctoral Fellow

PHou1@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2014)

 

Pingping Hou received her Ph.D. degree in Cellular Biology from Peking University in Beijing, China in 2014. During her Ph.D. studies, she focused on identifying combinations of small molecule compounds that would induce somatic cell to reprogram into a pluripotent state. She identified a 5-chemical cocktail that enables reprogramming of mouse somatic fibroblast cells to embryonic stem cell-like cells. In our laboratory, Pingping is performing gain-of-function screening of epigenetic modulators using an inducible KPC mouse model to discover novel oncogenic drivers that promote pancreatic cancer cells to bypass KRAS dependency. She expects her work to contribute to therapies for KRAS inhibition resistance of deadly pancreatic cancer. 

Graduate Student

RLee4@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2016)

 

Rumi Lee received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Molecular Biology from Korea University in Seoul, Korea in 2014. During her M.S. studies, she focused on the mechanisms of excitotoxicity and neuronal cell death in cerebral ischemia. In our laboratory, Rumi is working to identify synthetic essential genes for APC-mutated colorectal cancer using large-scale genomic analysis and multiple screening datasets. She is expecting that these synthetic essential genes may be crucial for the survival of these tumors, hence could serve as therapeutic targets in APC-deficient cancers. 

Graduate Student

JLi24@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2017)

 

Jiexi Li received her Bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, and her Master’s degree from New York University. After graduation, she worked with Dr. Effie Apostolou at Weill Cornell Medical College as a research technician and lab manager, during which time she was trained intensively in epigenetics, embryonic stem cell, and iPSC study.  In our lab, Jiexi is using a colorectal cancer mouse model to study the epigenetic factors that govern colorectal cancer liver metastasis in a gender specific manner. She expects her findings to contribute to advances in clinical treatment of colorectal cancer metastasis. 

Research Medical Student

SShah3@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2015)

 

Sagar Shah is a HHMI Medical Research Fellow whose research focuses on delineating immunosuppressive pathways underlying immune therapy resistance in KRAS-mutated cancers. Sagar originally joined our lab in 2015 as a research assistant after receiving his B.S. degree from UT Austin. As research assistant to Dr. Di Zhou, he helped our team elucidate a novel framework identifying “synthetic essential genes” as therapeutic targets for genetically defined cancers. Sagar currently attends medical school at University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine and plans to pursue residency training in cardiology or interventional radiology. 

Sr. Research Assistant

XShang@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2015) 

 

Xiaoying obtained her Ph.D. in 2003 in Tumor Immunology from Peking University, Beijing, China, where she identified the CD8+ T cell response to HLA-A2 restricted peptides MAGE p271-279 and NY-ESO-1 p157-165 from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. She began her scientific career at Baylor College of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow and then an instructor focusing on a pediatric cancer, neuroblastoma. She identified that the cell cycle-related gene, Aurora A, is a negative prognostic factor and a new therapeutic target in human neuroblastoma. She also developed a deeper understanding of how Neuroblastoma Derived Secreted Protein (NDSP) influences neuroblastoma tumor cell growth. In addition, Xiaoying identified the possible roles and mechanism of Dual-specificity phosphatase 26 (DUSP26) in neuroblastoma and found that inhibition of this phosphatase may increase neuroblastoma chemosensitivity, and possibly be a therapeutic target for this aggressive pediatric malignancy. In the DePinho lab, Xiaoying continues to make contributions to support multiple cancer projects, with a goal of identifying novel drug targets and therapeutic strategies for cancer patients. 

Postdoctoral Fellow

HShim@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2015)

 

Hong Seok Shim earned his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. During his graduate studies, he identified REV1 and EGR1 as important signaling nodes linking nutrient sensing and metabolic control to cell fate in cancer cells. He found that REV1 SUMOylation and the glucose-PKA-AMPK-EGR1 pathway contribute to selectively protect normal cells while sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapy. In our laboratory, Hong is developing small-molecule telomerase-activating compounds and validating their anti-aging effects in mouse and human. He also has been establishing new inducible telomerase activation mouse models and assessing telomerase’s beneficial role in natural aging and age-related diseases. 

Postdoctoral Fellow

TZhang13@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2019)

 

Tingxin Zhang received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China in 2018. During his graduate studies, he focused on the regulation mechanisms of mechanically-activated ion channel Piezo proteins. He found that SERCA proteins suppress channel activities by binding to a lysine-rich linker that plays essential roles in mechano-gating of Piezo channels.  In addition, he identified a type of phosphorylation regulation mechanism of Piezo channels. In our laboratory, Tingxin is developing projects related to study of the tumor microenvironment using genetically engineered mouse models. 

Postdoctoral Fellow

YZhang52@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2019)

 

Yongping Zhang earned his Ph.D. degree in 2016 from the Life Sciences Institute at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. During his Ph.D. studies, he focused on mitochondrial dynamics, and found that a new protein, MIGA, promotes
mitochondrial outer membrane fusion by stabilizing PLD6 enzyme activity. Loss of the Miga gene leads to neurodegeneration.  In our lab, Yongping will expand his research interests in neurodegeneration.

Postdoctoral Fellow

DZhao2@mdanderson.org

(Joined the lab in 2014)

 

Di Zhao earned her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Fudan University in Shanghai, China in 2014. During her graduate training, she focused on the post-transcriptional modifications of metabolic enzymes, including LDHA, ALDH1A1 and PKM2, in tumorigenesis. She found that the deacetylation of LDHA, which catalyzes the last step of glycolysis, activates its enzyme activity and represses its degradation through chaperone-mediated autophagy, leading to tumorigenesis of pancreatic cancer. In our lab, Di is investigating the biological function of CHD1 in PTEN-deficient prostate cancer using genetically engineered mouse models, and explore effective therapeutics for PTEN-deficient prostate cancer. Her work also established a novel computational approach, synthetic essentiality, to identify the novel therapeutic targets for tumor suppressor gene deficiencies in various cancer types.