Lab Members

Scott Evans, MD.
Principal Investigator
seevans@mdanderson.org

Yongxing Wang, PhD.
Instructor
yxwang@mdanderson.org

I am a Research Scientist in the Evans lab. I received my Ph.D. in Genes & Development in 2009 from the UT GSBS. My training is specialized in mouse genetics. My research goal is to explore Pam2/ODN-stimulated defense mechanisms by the means of genetic and genomic analysis. Currently I am investigating how innate immuno-sensing by lung epithelium initiates protection via production of reactive oxygen species and by the activation of the RIG-1/MAVS pathway.

Jezreel Pantaleon Garcia, MD.
Postdoctoral Fellow
JPantaleon@mdanderson.org

I am a ConTex postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center . I hail from Chinantla, Mexico and moved to Monterrey to obtain my Bachelor's in Biosciences and later M.D. from the Tecnológico de Monterrey. Under the mentorship of Dr. Scott E. Evans at MD Anderson, I am focusing on the development of molecular cell and systems biology approaches to understand the synergistic signaling mechanisms of inducible epithelial resistance to prevent pneumonia. In addition, I am part of the MECOR Program of the American Thoracic Society and the Asociación Latinoamericana de Tórax to that aims to increase and improve the research and epidemiological capacity of Latin American scientists to treat respiratory and critical care diseases in low- and middle-income countries to address the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Vikram Kulkarni, MS.
Graduate Research Assistant-GSBS
vvkulkarni@mdanderson.org

I am graduate student at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth GSBS. After working in the commercial Biopharma sector in India for a few years, I moved to the United States to pursue higher education and research. My broad interests lie in the fields of infectious disease prevention/ treatment and immunology. The Evans lab has discovered that innate immune responses in the lung are highly inducible and this can be exploited therapeutically to prevent lethal pneumonias. I joined the Evans lab in 2018 to be part of this exciting field of innate immunity. I am currently working on understanding the lung epithelial signaling events mediated by STAT3 that underlie inducible resistance to bacterial pneumonia.

Michael Longmire, BS.
M.D./Ph.D. student-GSBS
mklongmire@mdanderson.org

I am an M.D./Ph.D. student at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth GSBS and McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. I am interested in the recognition and response to modified nucleic acids and how they can be utilized in host-directed therapies to infectious diseases. I have been studying the response of TLR9 to phosphorothioate ODNs and DNAs possessing non-canonical secondary structures for almost 10 years, and I am excited to continue this work while studying inducible epithelial resistance. Clinically, I am interested in Infectious Diseases with a particular interest in viral infections in the immunocompromised patient population. I am originally from Alabama, but I moved to Houston in 2015 and joined the Evans Lab full time in Spring 2019.

David Goldblatt, BS.
Research Medical Student
DGoldblatt@mdanderson.org

I am a medical student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I want to become a physician-scientist who how the innate and adaptive immune responses cooperate together in the pathophysiology of disease. I also want to study how to pharmacologically modulate these processes and help alleviate the significant morbidity caused by chronic inflammatory disease.

Kakarla Sriya Naga
College student