Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Ronald A. DePinho, M.D.
Professor, Cancer Biology
RDePinho@mdanderson.org
Y. Alan Wang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
yalanwang@mdanderson.org
Denise J. Spring, Ph.D.
Managing Lab Director
dspring@mdanderson.org
Jessica Aguila
Sr. Administrative Assistant
JJAguila@mdanderson.org
Li Cai
Ph.D. 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.
Deepavali Chakravarti, Ph.D.
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.
Ko-Chien Chen
Ph.D. Graduate Student
kchen9@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Ko-Chien Chen received her B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia and received her M.Sc. degree from National Taiwan University. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant investigating the role of exosomes in the tumor microenvironment. She also participated on a project to profile the miRNAs of various types and stages of breast cancer aimed to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Ko-Chien is currently focusing on projects related to the tumor microenvironment of colorectal cancer. She expects her study to unveil alternative therapeutic targets for colorectal cancer.
Peiwen Chen, Ph.D.
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.
Pingna Deng
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.
Pat Gulhati, M.D., Ph.D.
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.
Jincheng Han
Ph.D. Graduate Student
JHan6@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Ph.D. Graduate Student
JHan6@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Jincheng Han received his B.E. degree in Bioengineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2018. During his undergraduate and rotation studies, he actively participated in a variety of labs having different focuses, including immunology, computational biology and single cell sequencing technology. In our laboratory, Han plans to investigate mechanisms by which pancreatic cancer responds to novel immune checkpoint blockade antibodies. He expects to discover novel mechanisms that will lead to new combination therapies for patients.
Pingping Hou, Ph.D.
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.
Wen-Hao Hsu
Ph.D. Graduate Student
whsu@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Ph.D. Graduate Student
whsu@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Wen-Hao (Howard) Hsu received his master’s degree in Science in Oral Biology from National 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. In our laboratory, Howard plans to investigate the role of telomere dysfunction using a colorectal cancer mouse model, especially looking 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.
Kyle LaBella, B.S.
Ph.D. Graduate Student
KALaBella@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Ph.D. Graduate Student
KALaBella@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Kyle graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in biology from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2016, where he studied regeneration and limb patterning in Ambystoma mexicanum. He completed research at Harvard Medical School where he utilized confocal microscopy, transgenic zebrafish models, and various molecular assays to understand the signaling pathways that govern liver development and cancer. Kyle is interested in utilizing three-dimensional in vitro organoid culture and complex mouse models to decipher the relationship between the immune system and colon cancer.
Rumi Lee
Ph.D. 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.
Jiexi Li
Ph.D. 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.
Xingdi Ma
Ph.D. Graduate Student
Xingdi.Ma@uth.tmc.edu
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Ph.D. Graduate Student
Xingdi.Ma@uth.tmc.edu
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Xingdi Ma received her B.A. double majoring in Biology and Music from Mount Holyoke College in 2018. During her undergraduate, she worked on exploring IL-24’s potential as a biomarker for cancer diagnostic at Beijing Jiaotong University. Discovering her interest in cancer research, Xingdi was a summer student in our laboratory and participated in several projects. She worked on elucidating the role of KRAS-IRF2 axis in colorectal cancer and contributed to projects focusing on USP21 and HDAC5 in pancreatic cancer. Returning to the lab as a PhD student, Xingdi is developing projects that closely integrate bioinformatic tools and powerful experimental techniques to answer important questions in translational cancer research.
Xiaoying Shang
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.
Hong Seok Shim, Ph.D.
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.
Yan Xia, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
yxia@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Yan Xia graduated from Nanjing University, China and obtained her Ph.D. degree from Umea University, Sweden. Dr. Xia did her postdoctoral training in Dr. Tony Hunter’s lab in The Salk Institute, where she was awarded a California Breast Cancer Research Program postdoctoral fellowship to support her research on BRCA1 tumor suppressor as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Since joining MD Anderson, Dr. Xia has focused on cancer metabolism research. Her work on understanding the roles of PKM2, PGK1, KHK-A in Warburg effect and tumorigenesis and novel identification of these metabolic enzymes as protein kinases have been published on top journals. In our laboratory, Dr. Xia is mainly involved in research to understand the mechanisms and immunotherapy of oncogenic Kras-induced PDAC and CRC through guiding graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and advancing collaborations in the lab.
Yohei Yoshihama, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
YYoshihama@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Postdoctoral Fellow
YYoshihama@mdanderson.org
(Joined the lab in 2019)
Yohei Yoshihama received his Ph.D. degree in Agricultural and Life Sciences from the University of Tokyo in Japan in 2012. During his Ph.D. studies, he focused on the biological functions of KIBRA, an upstream regulator of Hippo pathway, in epithelial cell polarity. He found that KIBRA inhibits the aPKC-PAR complex and thereby suppresses the expansion of apical membrane domains. In our laboratory, Yohei will work on discovering novel synthetic lethal target genes in a variety of cancer types. He expects his work to contribute to novel cancer therapies without severe side effects.
Tingxin Zhang, Ph.D.
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.
Yongping Zhang, Ph.D.
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.
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.