Lab Members

Giulio F. Draetta, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
SrVP, Chief Scientific Officer
Chair, Therapeutics Discovery Division
Professor, Genomic Medicine

Angela Kay Deem, Ph.D.
Scientific Manager

Ziheng Chen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., Chinese Academy of Sciences
Originally from: China
Research interests:

• Mitochondrial regulation in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and other cancer types
• Mitochondrial-associated metabolic drugs discovery

I-Lin Ho, M.S.
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
M.S., National Taiwan University
Originally from: Taiwan
Research Interests:

• Clonal tracking
• Tumor initiation
• Tumor metastasis

Hong Jiang, M.S.
Sr. Research Asst
M.S., East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
Originally from: Beijing, China
Research interests: Genetics and biology of pancreatic cancer

Cecilia S. Leung, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
M.S., The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Originally from: Hong Kong
Research interests:

• Cancer biology
• Functional genomics
• Translational cancer research
   

Alex Chieh-Yuan Li
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
B.S., University of California Berkeley
Originally from: Los Angeles
Research interests:

• Tumor evolution
• Lineage tracing
• Drug resistance

Jintan Liu
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
B.S., Peking University
Originally from: China
Research interests:

• Functional genomics and systems biology
• Genome engineering

Rosalba Minelli, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., University of Turin
M.S., University of Turin
Originally from: Turin, Italy
Research interests:

• Clinical and translational cancer research
• Identifying novel therapeutical targets in lung cancer
• Integration of functional genomics with system biology for development of a new metabolic platform.
  

Francesca Puca, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., University of Naples Federico II
Originally from: Naples, Italy
Research interests:

• Identifying metabolic dependencies in glioblastoma multiforme
• Cancer metabolism
• Cancer stem cells

Johnathon L. Rose
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
B.S., The University of Texas at Austin
Originally from: Plano, Texas
Research Interests:

• Functional genomics in vivo
• Oncogenic signaling and the cell surfaceome
• Biomarkers of vulnerability
• Functional networks and systems biology

Sahil Seth, Ph.D.
Institute Assoc Scientist IV

MennatAllah Shaheen
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
B.S., Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cairo University
Originally from: Giza, Egypt
Research interests:

• Functional genomics
• Genetic engineering
• Translational therapeutics
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Biotechnology

Melinda Soeung, M.S.
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
M.S., Rice University
B.A., Baylor University
Originally from: Houston, Texas
Research interests:

• Identifying vulnerabilities in SMARCB1-deficient tumors
• Developing novel mouse models for cancers
• Using genetic tools to understand the biochemical mechanisms of cancer survival and progression
• Translational research

Sanjana Srinivasan, M.P.H.
Graduate Research Asst
MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School
M.P.H., University of Texas School of Public Health
B.S., University of Toronto
Originally from: Toronto, Canada
Research Interests:

• Bioinformatics and functional genomics
• Network analysis
• Transcription regulation
• Preclinical models
• Cancer subtype classification
  
   

Wantong Yao, Ph.D.
Instructor
Ph.D., Fudan University, P.R. China
M.D., Taishan Medical College
Originally from: China
Research interests:

• Key effectors for KRAS*-dependent tumorigenic events
• Cell surface proteins (surfaceome)
• Biomarkers
• Therapeutic targets