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Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Raghu Kalluri, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor and Chairman, Department of Cancer Biology

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

*Adjunct Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Baylor College of Medicine

*Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering

Rice University

Raghu received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Kansas Medical Center and his M.D. degree from Brown University Medical School. Kalluri was a Post-doctoral fellow and a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and studied immunology and mechanisms associated with tissue injury and repair employing organ fibrosis as model system. In 1997, he moved to Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and as a faculty member in the Department of Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2006, Dr. Kalluri was appointed the Chief of the Division of Matrix Biology and was promoted to Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He held faculty appointments in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute in the division of nephrology of the Children’s Hospital Boston. Raghu was recruited to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2012 as a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology and the Director of the Metastasis Research Center. His laboratory is broadly interested in investigating the functional contribution of cell and tissue microenvironment, and Exosomes in cancer progression and metastasis.

Administrators

Eboni Pettus
Research Department Administrator
EPettus@mdanderson.org
713-745-6609

Sara Mitchell
Executive Assistant
SMMitchell4@mdanderson.org
713-794-5310

Giesel Arnold
Program Coordinator, Education
gmarnold@mdanderson.org
713-563-0183

Roxanna Zarate
Program Manager
rzarate@mdanderson.org
713-745-3236

Laboratory Manager

Michelle Kirtley, B.S., MPH.

Laboratory Manager and Research Investigator

Michelle graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. degree in Marine Biology and from Florida International University with a M.S. degree in Public Health. Prior to joining the Kalluri Lab in 2017, she worked at the University of Texas Medical Branch where she investigated virulence gene regulation, pathogenic mechanisms, and vaccine candidates for select agent pathogens. Currently, Michelle functions as the laboratory manager for the Kalluri Laboratory and handles reagent purchasing, oversight of the animal colonies, supervision of the laboratory related logistics, monitoring IACUC and IRB submissions and approvals and general laboratory maintenance. Additionally, Michelle participates and aids in several research projects as a research investigator.

MLKirtley@mdanderson.org

713-745-9528

Postdoctoral Fellows

Nancy Andres, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Nancy C. Andres received a Ph.D. in Biology in 2016 from the National University of South Argentina and the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. During her Ph.D. studies, she was focused on the role of Heme-Oxigenase 1(HO-1) in metastatic colorectal cancer. She then performed a postdoctoral fellowship engineering Mg2+ - Hydroxyapatite nanorods for orthopedic implants and testing the cellular response associated with mechanisms of bone regeneration. She joined MDACC in 2019 as a postdoctoral fellow dissecting the roles of Hippo-YAP and mTOR signaling in NF2 mutant tumors. Her current research focus is on elucidating the function of exosomes in cancer metastasis.

Yang Chen, B.S., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Yang received his Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2014 and joined the Kalluri Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in 2014. His current research project focuses on the roles of investigating the functional heterogeneity of fibroblasts in health and disease with specific emphasis on pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis. Yang also employed novel mouse models to study tumor lymphangiogenesis and its contribution to lymphatic metastasis.

Meagan Conner, B.S., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Meagan received her Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology in 2016 from Texas A&M University. She then attended Stony Brook University in New York where she earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2021 investigating influences of androgen on Parkinson’s disease-related cognitive decline. In 2022, she joined the Kalluri lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Her research interests include exploring the biology, trafficking therapeutic potential in healthy brain and pathogenesis of brain.

Kate McAndrews, B.S., Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Kate received her B.S. from University of Nevada Reno in Chemical Engineering in 2010 and her PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2015. She joined the Kalluri lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2015. Kate is investigating the mechanisms associated generation, release and uptake of exosomes by normal cells and cancer cells. Kate is employing siRNA and CRISPR screens coupled with 3D culture systems, novel transgenic mice, spheroids and organoids to identify novel pathways associated with creation of exosomes.

Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Kavitha earned her PhD from Dept of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2019 where she worked extensively on Mechanobiology of Stem cells and Fibroblasts. Her research led to multiple first author publications, a patent and an Excellence in PhD research award. After, a short Post Doc at Georgia Tech during Covid, she joined Dr. Kalluri Lab in Nov 2022 to study evolution of fibroblast heterogeneity during PDAC progression and Metastasis. Dr. Sthanam is particularly interested in understanding the role of CAFs in modulating immune response in solid tumors specially PDAC.

Thao Tran, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Thao received her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 2021 from Kangwon National University, South Korea. Her Ph.D. thesis focused on the function of exosomal miRNAs-derived from KRAS mutant-breast cancer on osteolytic bone metastasis. She joined Dr. Kalluri’s Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow in April 2022 to investigate further the functional role of exosomes in KRAS mutated cancers.

Xunian Zhou, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Xunian received her Ph.D. from the School of Biomedical Sciences from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Dec. 2017. During that time, she investigated the underlying anti-cancer mechanisms of a small molecule in breast cancer model. In 2019, she joined the Kalluri Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow to study the function of tumor stroma and exosomes in cancer.

Graduate Students

Yasaman Barekatain, B.S., M.S.
Graduate Ph.D. Student

Yasaman received her bachelor’s degree in Physics from Isfahan University of Technology, Iran, and her master’s degree in Physics from the University of Delaware in 2017. She is currently in the medical physics program at GSBS. She joined the Kalluri Lab as a Ph.D. student in 2021 to complete her thesis work. Her research interests include cancer metabolism and metabolic imaging. Her project is to develop a non-invasive imaging method to diagnose metabolic-genomic alterations and exploit exosomes as oncometabolite biomarkers of brain tumors.

Kshipra Kapoor, B.S.
Graduate Ph.D. Student, School of Engineering, Rice University

Kshipra received her B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Mumbai (India) in 2016. She joined Rice University in 2016 for her M.S./Ph.D. integrated degrees and joined the Kalluri Laboratory for her thesis work in 2017. Dr. Kalluri is an adjunct faculty in the Department of Bioengineering, Rice University. Kshipra received her Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2019 from Rice University (USA) working in the laboratory of Dr. Kalluri. Currently, Kshipra is investigating electrical and biomechanical properties of exosomes.

Bingrui Li, B.S.
Graduate Ph.D. Student

Bingrui received his B.S. degree in Bioinformatics from Qingdao University, China in 2018. During his undergraduate, he was actively involved in various projects, including bioinformatics tool development, binding affinity prediction between antibody and antigen, and deep learning model development for drug repurposing. He joined the Kalluri lab as a Ph.D. student in 2020. His current studies focus on tumor microenvironment and predicting and tracking immunotherapy outcomes based on the biology and therapeutic capabilities of exosomes.

Xin Luo, B.S.
Graduate Ph.D. Student, School of Engineering, Rice University

Xin received her Bachelor’s degree in Science from Nankai University, China, in 2019. She joined Rice University in 2019 for her Ph.D. degree in Engineering and joined the Kalluri lab in 2020 for her Ph.D. thesis work. Xin’s current research focuses on the mechanistic properties of exosomes, elucidating single exosome biology and explaining translational potential of exosomes in cancer and COVID-19.

Krishnan Mahadevan, B.S., M.D.

Graduate Ph.D. Student

Krishnan completed his M.D. from JIPMER, India in 2013. He worked as a clinical research fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital, HMS, Boston until 2015. He joined the Kalluri laboratory in 2016. His thesis goal is to understand the role of T-cells in pancreatic cancer progression and therapy response.

Yuanyuan Zhu, B.S.
Graduate Research Assistant – GSBS

Yuanyuan Zhu received her Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in 2022. She joined the Kalluri Lab as a graduate student in 2022. Her research interests include PDAC-associated CAF metabolism and its contribution to disease progression and metastasis.

Research Staff

Kent Arya Arian, B.S.

Research Assistant

Kent received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the Kalluri Laboratory in 2021 where he is focusing on elucidating the biology of exosomes and exploring their role in therapies against cancer and infectious diseases. His research interests include further studying the utility of exosomes to potentially alter disease progression.

Wafaa Hassen B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Research Scientist

Wafaa Hassen received her Ph.D. in Molecular Toxicology, University of Monastir, Tunisia and participated in several doctoral and postdoctoral internships in France. In 2006, she was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Toxicology, University of Monastir. In 2012, she joined an INSERM-CNRS research group at the Institute of Human Genetics, Montpellier, France to study Multiple Myeloma. In 2016, Wafaa moved to Duke University and joined the Department of Neurosurgery to study the efficacy of oncolytic viral therapy in Medulloblastoma. She joined the Kalluri lab in 2021 as a research scientist to study tumor microenvironment and exosomes as it relates to cancer progression and metastasis.

Zahra Hooda, B.S.
Research Assistant

Zahra received her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences in 2021 from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. After graduation, she worked as a research technician for NASA exploring microbial interactions on solid motor rockets for the upcoming Europa Lander Mission. She joined the Kalluri Lab as a research assistant in 2022, and her research focuses on the role of exosomes as a therapeutic delivery mechanism in various disease states, including breast cancer, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Patience Kelly, B.S., M.S.
Research Assistant II

Patience received her B.S. in Biochemistry/B.A. in Psychology from Texas State University in 2015. She continued her education at the University of Delaware, where she studied developmental models of neuron migration and completed her M.S. in Biological Sciences in 2019. Patience joined the lab in 2020 as a research assistant and provides technical support for a project related to translational biology of exosomes and organ tropism.

Barbara Moreno Diaz, B.S.
Research Assistant

Barbara received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Texas A&M University in 2021. She joined the Kalluri Laboratory as a Research Assistant in 2021 and provides histology and immunohistoclonal support. Additionally she is involved in tumor microenvironment research.

Sami Morse, B.A.
Research Assistant I

Sami received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis of Immunology and Pathogenesis from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. After his graduation, Sami worked as a medical assistant for two years at an allergy, asthma and immunology practice in San Jose, California. He joined the Kalluri Laboratory in 2022 and is currently working on developing exosome-based vaccines and therapeutics to control pancreatic cancer.

Hariyadarshi Pannu, Ph.D.
Director, Research Planning and Development

Hariya received a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, focusing on human genetics, from the MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2000. After completing postdoctoral studies in cardiovascular and neurovascular genetics, she was appointed to faculty at UTHealth McGovern Medical School. In 2012, she left academia to explore consulting opportunities before returning to UTHealth as an executive administrator for research and education and then moving to MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she joined the Kalluri lab as the director of research planning and development. Hariya organizes the operation of the laboratory and helps the lab and the trainees with grant submissions and manuscript submissions.

Sarah Patel
Research Technician

Sarah received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Houston in 2022. She joined the Kalluri Laboratory in 2022. Her research interests include studying exosomal biology and she is currently involved in a project relating to the trafficking of exosomes between organs.

Amari M. Sockwell, B.S.
Research Assistant I

Amari attended Houston Baptist University where she studied Medical Humanities and developed an interest in biological sciences. From there she focused on Cellular and Molecular Biology before receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in 2020. Amari joined the Kalluri lab in 2021 where she assists in research related to tumor microenvironment and Cancer Biology.

Hikaru Sugimoto, B.S., M.D., Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Hikaru completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in medicine at Okayama University, Japan. After having finished the residency program as a general physician, he trained as a diabetes specialist and a nephrologist. He moved to Boston in 1999 for a postdoctoral fellowship to study mechanisms associated with diabetic nephropathy. In 2001, he joined the Kalluri Lab in Boston to study tumor angiogenesis and develop novel angiogenesis inhibitors for treatment of cancer. His current research interests are to find new therapies for organ fibrosis and cancer metastasis. Hikaru also serves as the resident mouse surgeon in the laboratory and trains new graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

Sujuan Yang, B.S., M.S.

Senior Research Assistant

Sujuan received her Master’s degree from Peking University in China in 2011 and joined the Kalluri laboratory as a research assistant in 2015. Her research interests include nucleic analysis of exosomes, engineering exosomes for treatment of pancreatic cancer and development of novel methods to utilize single cell sequencing in identifying novel mediators of pancreatic cancer.

College Students

Mia Brakebill
Rice Undergraduate Research Intern

Mia is an undergraduate at Rice University pursuing a B.S. in Biosciences. She joined the Kalluri Lab in June 2021. She is interested in studying the potential therapeutic applications of engineered exosomes.

Kristen Harris
Undergraduate Research Intern

Kristen is an undergraduate student in the Honors College at the University of Houston majoring in Biochemical & Biophysical studies. She joined the Kalluri lab in June 2021 for her research internship. Her research interests include studying cancer metabolism and diagnostic applications as it relates to exosomes.

Chloe Seoyun Kong
Undergraduate Research Intern

Chloe is an undergraduate student at Rice University studying a B.S. in Materials Science and Nanoengineering. She joined the Kalluri lab in the summer of 2021. Her research interests include 3D-modeling the tumor microenvironment using biomaterials engineering approaches and investigating its mechanical and structural properties.

Danielle Wills, B.S.
Postbaccalaureate Trainee

Danielle received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology at Howard University in Spring 2022. She joined the Kalluri lab in Fall 2022 as a postbaccalaureate trainee. Her research project is related to tumor immunology in the context of Pancreatic Cancer and Metastatic Melanoma.

Kevin Yin
Undergraduate Research Intern

Kevin is an undergraduate student at Rice University studying Bioengineering. He joined the Kalluri Lab in February 2020. His research interests include studying exosomal biology and engineering exosomes for therapeutic applications

Other Students

Krystal English, B.S.

Medical Student Researcher

Krystal received her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Amherst College in 2014. She completed her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UT Health MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2020 and is currently a medical student at UTHealth McGovern Medical School. Her dissertation, titled “Astrocytes rescue neuronal health after cisplatin treatment through mitochondrial transfer,” focused on how astrocytes transfer mitochondria to neurons damaged upon cisplatin treatment. This not only improves neuronal survival but also mitochondrial function. She jointed the Kalluri lab as a medical student researcher in 2021. Her current research interests include investigating new methods for chemotherapeutic drug delivery, and communications between the brain and other systems especially with focus on exosomes.

Caleb Johnson
Postbaccalaureate Student

Caleb Johnson graduated from Prairie View A&M University in May 2021 and received his Bachelor's of Science in Biology while serving in the Army Reserve. Caleb joined Dr. Kalluri's lab in July 2021 as a Postbaccalaureate student to conduct cancer research with a focus on tumor microenvironment and fibroblast biology.

Kalluri Laboratory-Based Faculty Researchers

Jacqueline Parchem, B.A., M.D.
Physician Scientist Trainee

Dr. Jackie Parchem received her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California Berkeley in 2004 and her M.D. from the University of California San Francisco in 2010. She completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCSF in 2014. She trained as Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellow at Baylor College of Medicine and currently is an attending physician in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center. In 2015, Jackie joined the Kalluri lab as a Physician Scientist Research Fellow. Her research interests include discovering the pathogenesis of preeclampsia and investigating the function of exosomes in pregnancy and fetal development. In 2017, Jackie was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology/ Maternal-Fetal Medicine at UT Health. Jackie continues to conduct her research in the Kalluri Laboratory.

Alumni

Fernanda G. Kugeratski, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Riley Martin
UPWARDS Undergraduate Research Intern

Eny Ramirez
Undergraduate Research Intern

Brian Koehler
Research Assistant

Nuno Bastos, B.S., M.S.
Graduate Ph.D. Student

Carolina Ruivo, B.S., M.S.
Graduate Ph.D. Student

Eric Perez
Undergraduate Researcher (2021)

Dara Dowlatshahi
Research Scientist (2021)

Jennifer Leveille
Senior Research Assistant (2021)

Kadeshia Earl
Research Assistant II (2021)

Janine Hensel
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Karina Vazquez-Arreguin
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Jamie Lin
Instructor (2020)

Laura Snowden
Research Assistant II (2020)

Yibo Fan
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Jianli Dai
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Anthonios Chronopoulos
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Julie Carstens
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Sara Lovisa
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Min Tang
Graduate Research Assistant (2020)

Mariangela Natale, B.S., M.S.
Visiting Graduate Student

Josephine Kebbeh Darpolor
Graduate Research Assistant (2018, 2020)

Lisa Becker
Graduate Research Assistant (2020)

Pedro Correa De Sampaio
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019)

Olga Volpert
Associate Professor (2019)

Jena Tavormina
Graduate Research Assistant - GSBS (2019)

Patricia Phillips
Research Assistant (2019)

Elena Ramirez
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019)

Kyle LaBella
Graduate Research Assistant - GSBS (2019)

Fei Xiao
Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2019)

Robert Hahn
Research Assistant I (2018-2019)

Li “Lily” Huang
Senior Research Assistant (2018)

Liv Gansmo, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018)

Reshma Bhowmick
Research Scientist (2018)

Paul Kurywchak, B.S.
Graduate Student (2018)

Ehsan Ehsanipour
Graduate Research Assistant – GSBS (2018)

Chengyan “Nick” Dong
Research Investigator (2018)

Amanda Haltom, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018)

Yan Wang
Research Investigator (2017)

Xiaofeng Zheng, B.S., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Kerri Wolf-Dennen, B.S., M.B.S.
Graduate Student (2017)

Matthew Scheible, B.S.
Graduate Student (2017)

Changsoo Kwak, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Graduating Student (2017)

Eliot Fletcher, B.S., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Graduating Student (2017)

Sushrut Kamerkar, B.S., Ph.D.
Graduating Student (2017)

Mayela Mendt, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellows (2017)

Jiha Kim, B.S., Ph.D.
Instructor (2017)

Margo Cain, B.S.
Graduate Student (2017)

Donna Lundy, B.S., M.S.
Sr. Research Assistant (2016)

Tao Wei, B.S., M.D.
Visiting Graduate Student (2016)

Kathryn Tighe
College Student - Summer Undergraduate Research Program (2016)

Hunter Elms, B.S.
Medical Student - Summer Experience (2016)

Tomas Dias, B.S., M.S.
Visiting Graduate Student

Andrea Waltrip, A.S.
Summer Research Intern