Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Filippo Giancotti, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Cancer Biology
Olla S. Stribling Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research
Scientific Director, David H. Koch Center for Applied Research of Genitourinar Cancers
Co-Leader, Prostate Cancer Moon Shot™

Lauren T. Abrahams, BBA
Program Manager (2016-present)

Lauren obtained her BBA degree in Marketing with a minor in Management from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in 2011. After pursuing respective careers in corporate retail management and in commercial furniture and design, she joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2016 as a Program Coordinator for Dr. Filippo Giancotti. Since then, she has assisted Dr. Giancotti in his various efforts as the Co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Moon Shot Program, Scientific Director of the David H. Koch Center for the Applied Research of Genitourinary Cancers, and Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology. She has supported his research program though facilitating the recruitment and onboarding of over 25 investigators and students to his lab in the Department of Cancer Biology. She has organized several complex faculty recruitment visits and manages the David H. Koch Center Seminar Series that features distinguished guest speakers each month. Lauren was promoted to Program Manager in 2019, and she continues to perform highly responsible project management for Dr. Giancotti in the Department of Cancer Biology and the David H. Koch Center for the Applied Research of Genitourinary Cancers and to serve as a liaison to the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology.

Qingwen Xu, M.D., Ph.D.
Instructor (2016-present)

Qingwen Xu obtained his Ph.D. degree in immunology from Peking University in Beijing, focusing on identification of tumor-specific antigens for immunotherapy. He then joined Kun Ling’s lab at Mayo Clinic as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a research associate. He explored the role of lipid signaling in centrosome duplication, and found that PIPKIg suppresses centrosome overduplication by inhibiting PLK4. In subsequent work, he discovered that the ciliopathy-associated phosphatase INPP5E localizes at the ciliary base and cooperates with PIPKIg to regulate ciliogenesis. In our laboratory, Qingwen is using cell biological and genetic methods to explore the mechanisms through which Merlin/NF2 suppresses tumorigenesis. His current studies focus on dissecting the roles of Hippo-YAP and mTOR signaling in NF2 mutant tumors, including malignant mesotheliomas and Schwannomas.

Yuxia Zhang, M.D.
Senior Research Scientist (2016-present)

Yuxia Zhang received her M.D. degree from Peking University in 2004 and then joined Hong Zhang’s lab at the National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS) in Beijing to study the function of SEPA-1 in autophagy. Yuxia's work with Zhang provided the first mechanism for selective autophagic degradation of unnecessary proteins in C. elegans. In 2010, she joined Jinghua Hu’s laboratory at the Mayo Clinic to investigate the role of the Intraflagellar transport (IFT) complex in ciliogenesis and defined a role for the BBSome in the assembly of the IFT and turnaround in cilia. In addition to managing the technical staff of our laboratory, Yuxia is investigating the molecular mechanisms governing pancreatic cancer dormancy and reactivation through genetic screening in mice.

Yan Wang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-present)

Yan Wang received his Ph.D. in 2014 from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, working with Guohong Li on histone variants. Yan’s graduate studies provided key insights into the mechanisms through which histones H3.3 and H2A.Z coordinate chromatin dynamics over enhancer and promoter regions and hence regulate gene transcription. Yan is following up on our observation that blockade of the AR induces prostate adenocarcinoma cells to undergo an EMT and acquire stem cell traits. He is currently examining the epigenetic mechanisms that re-program prostate adenocarcinoma cells to castration-resistance and metastasis using high resolution epigenomic analysis and fate mapping in PDX and tumor organoid models.

Hyunho Han, M.D.

Visiting Graduate Student (2016-2018)

Postdoctoral Fellow (2018- Present)

Hyunho Han received his M.D. degree from Yonsei University in 2008 and did a residency and internship in urology at Severance Hospital in Seoul. In 2013, he enrolled in the Ph.D. Program in Medical Sciences of Yonsei University. Hyunho’s clinical and scientific interests focus on castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In our laboratory, Hyunho is using forward genetic screening in combination with mechanistic analysis to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that contribute to immune-evasion in CRPC and possibly in other cancer types that become resistant to therapy through acquisition of mesenchymal and stem cell traits. He anticipates that this work may contribute to the identification of novel rational targets for combination therapy in these cancers.

Shimin Wang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-present)

Shimin Wang performed her graduate studies with Lei Zhang at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (SIBCB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2016. With Zhang, she discovered that the polarity-inducing protein Par-1/MARK binds to Hippo and Sav and restricts Hippo kinase activity in D. melanogaster. In addition, she defined a novel non-canonical Nuclear Localization Signal in Yorkie/YAP that interacts with importin alpha-1. In our laboratory, Shimin is using 3D systems and genetically engineered mice to examine the integrin-mediated mechanotranduction pathways that regulate the invasive growth of breast and prostate cancer cells.

Yan Jiang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-present)

Yan Jiang performed her graduate studies with Gaoxiang Ge at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (SIBCB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2014. In the Ge laboratory, Yan found that Snail and Slug promote resistance of ER+ breast cancer cells to tamoxifen by upregulating EGF-R signaling. After a subsequent stint in biotech in Shanghai, Yan decided to join our laboratory to study metastatic dormancy and reactivation. Yan is currently defining the role of the asymmetric cell division determinant Numb in metastatic dormancy of breast cancer by conducting mechanistic studies in vitro and 2-photon confocal imaging in mice.

Yan Ji, Ph.D.
Research Investigator (2016-present)

Yan Ji performed her graduate studies with Yaowu Zheng at the Transgenic Research Center of Northeast Normal University in China and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2014. With Zheng, she used mouse genetics to examine the role of VEGF signaling in implantation. Yan provides mouse genetics support to our laboratory and is currently developing novel genetically engineered mouse models of mesothelioma.

Junfeng Zhang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-present)

Junfeng Zhang performed his graduate studies with Anming Meng at Tsinghua University and received his Ph.D. degree in developmental biology in 2016. In the Meng laboratory, Junfeng studied the function of Eph-Ephrin signaling in tissue boundary formation during zebrafish embryogenesis. After a brief stint Rong Wang’s laboratory at UCSF to learn mouse genetics, Junfeng joined our laboratory to study the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate metastatic dormancy and reactivation. Junfeng is currently studying a common group of epigenetic regulators isolated from two ORFEome screens performed in a model of breast and a model of pancreatic cancer dormancy.

Boyu Zhang, Ph.D.
Research Scientist (2017-present)

Boyu Zhang obtained her Ph.D degree from Peking Union Medical College in 2005 with a thesis on SNP variants associated with schizophrenia. She performed her first postdoctoral studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, exploring the possibility of improving the efficacy Cetuximab by conjugating it to the TRL-9 ligand CpG ODN. In 2009, Boyu joined Li Xin’s lab at Baylor College of Medicine, where she participated in the development of GEMMs of prostate cancer and demonstrated a role for Dicer in sustaining Pten loss-driven prostate tumorigenesis. Her major contribution was to show that mosaic deletion of the AR compromises luminal cell survival but it promotes non-cell autonomous proliferation through paracrine signals that recruit an immune infiltrate to the gland. She also contributed to a study, indicating that both luminal and basal cells can serve as cells-of-origin for Pten loss-driven prostate tumorigenesis. In our laboratory, Boyu is examining the role of the immune microenvironment in prostate cancer metastasis to the bone.

Sara Laudato, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-present)

Sara Laudato performed her graduate studies at the German Cancer Center (DKFZ) and obtained her Ph.D. from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg in 2016. Her graduate studies, which were performed in the laboratory of Heike Allgayer, focused on the identification of p53-regulated miRNAs involved in colorectal cancer progression. She then did a brief postdoctoral stint in the laboratory of Christoph Plass at the DKFZ, where she worked on the effects of epigenetic drug treatments on transcription and chromatin. In our laboratory, Sara is studying the role of epigenetic reprogramming in metastatic dormancy and reactivation, with a specific focus on prostate cancer. By using genetic screening in mice, she aims to identify new regulators that maintain a dormant state or promote metastatic reactivation, and to elucidate their mechanism of action as well as their clinical relevance.

Dhiraj Kumar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-Present)

Dhiraj Kumar received his PhD degree in 2016 from the National Centre for Cell Science in India, working with Gopal Kundu on tumor progression, metastasis and angiogenesis. Dhiraj’s graduate studies demonstrated that a Notch1-MAPK signaling axis regulates melanoma stem cells, metastasis and angiogenesis. In our laboratory, Dhiraj is currently examining the role of the long non-coding RNA MALAT1 in metastatic reactivation of breast and prostate cancer.

Seongyeon Bae, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-Present)

Seong-Yeon Bae received her Ph. D. degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea in 2016. During her Ph. D. studies, she focused on the biological functions of TPT1 (tumor protein, translationally-controlled 1) in tumorigenesis. She found that TPT1 activates both mTORC1 and mTORC2 signaling and thereby modulates EMT and autophagy. In our laboratory, Seong-Yeon is performing genome scale CRISPR-Cas9 screening using the breast cancer metastasis model in mice to discover novel target genes which govern breast cancer dormancy and metastatic reactivation. She is expecting her study to contribute to a clinical prevention and therapy of breast cancer metastasis.

Alekya Rumandla    
Research Assistant II (2018-present)

Alekya Rumandla had obtained her masters at Universita’ Degli Studi di Milano in 2017. She performed her graduate thesis in the area of tumor immunology in the laboratory of Federica Cavallo at Universita Degli studi di Torino focusing on the exploitation of the immune response against the cancer stem cells in breast cancer by using therapeutic vaccines against oncoantigens and the evaluation of the efficacy of chemo immunotherapy in transgenic mouse model of breast cancer. In our laboratory, Alekya is working on AR targeting drug in different human prostate cancer models to understand their reprogramming status and further find the synergistic combinatory drug to inhibit the growth of reprogrammed cells.

Hong Chen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-Present)

Hong received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering (bioinformatics direction) in 2018 from Harbin Medical University. In her graduate studies, she mainly focused on long non-coding RNA function prediction and enhancer co-regulation. In our laboratory, Hong is exploring the regulatory landscape within among different cell types based on single cell sequencing, in order to identify potential master transcriptional regulators in prostate cancer.

Josue Curto Navarro, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-Present)

Josu obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in 2017. During his Ph.D. studies, he was focused on the characterization of the initial signaling events of the less known non-canonical Wnt pathway. They demonstrated that canonical and non-canonical Wnt pathway have more elements in common than it was previously thought. In both pathways, CK1eis required for Dishevelled-2 recruitment to receptor Frizzled upon pathway activation and, p120-catenin, is also necessary to keep the signalosome in a functional and activable situation. In the case of canonical Wnt pathway bridges the interaction of CK1ewith E-cadherin and, in non-canonical Wnt pathway, avoids clathrin-dependent internalization of the co-receptor Ror2. They also demonstrated that in non-canonical Wnt pathway CK1eperforms an extra function avoiding Ror2 lysosomal degradation through direct interaction.

Sreeharsha Gurrapu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-Present)

Sreeharsha Gurrapu received his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from Candiolo Cancer Institute IRCCS, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy in 2017. During his Ph.D. studies, he focused on the biological mechanisms and functions of Semaphorins and their receptors Plexins in tumor progression and metastasis and identified the key functions of transmembrane Semaphorin 4C in promoting EMT, Stemness and hormone independent growth. In our laboratory, Sreeharsha is performing focused genetic screens using breast and prostate cancer metastatic models to identify key regulatory genes, which promotes metastatic by stemness and immune evasion mechanisms. His current studies focus on identifying innate immunity escape mechanisms of cancer cells and applying these findings to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies.

Xiaobo Wang, M.S.
Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Research Assistant (2017-Present)

Xiaobo received his master’s degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in 2016. During his master’s studies, Xiaobo worked on transcriptional regulation of tumorigenesis and drug resistance in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma with a focus on transcription factors Krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) and Snail family transcriptional repressor 2 (SNAI2). In 2016, Xiaobo enrolled in the Ph.D. program at MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and joined the Giancotti laboratory after the tutorial rotations. Xiaobo is currently studying the mechanisms underlying the tumor suppressive functions of NF2/Merlin and BAP1 and investigating the potential therapeutic vulnerabilities in malignant mesothelioma.

Guoxin Feng, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-present)

Guoxin received her Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China in 2017. Her graduate studies focused on exploring the mechanism of directional cell migration in C. elegans. She reported a Hippo-RhoG negative feedback regulation on cell polarity that Hippo kinases CST-1/2 directly phosphorylate RhoG/MIG-2 on S139 site which inhibit its activity and impedes F-actin assembly, while RhoG/MIG-2 excludes Hippo from the leading edge in migrating cells. Guoxin joined the Giancotti laboratory in 2019, and she is currently working on mechanotransduction in tumorigenesis and metastasis in breast cancer.

Nancy Andres, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-Present)

Nancy C. Andrés received a Ph.D. degree in Biology in 2016 from the National University of the South - National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNS-CONICET), Argentina. She completed her studies at the University Medical Center of Groningen (UMCG), The Netherlands with a focus on the role of Heme-Oxigenase 1 (HO-1) in metastatic colorectal cancer and the relationship with p53. She then performed a postdoctoral study delving into the biological properties of bone cements (nano-hydroxyapatite) and the cellular response associated with the mechanisms of bone regeneration. Her current studies focus on dissecting the roles of Hippo-YAP and mTOR signaling in NF2 mutant tumors, including malignant mesotheliomas and Schwannomas.