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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 ephrology 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
 
Annemarie Putze 
Executive Assistant
APPutze@mdanderson.org
713-794-5310 
 
Julie Theobald
Program Coordinator 
JBTheobald@mdanderson.org
713-792-6374
 
Jennifer Yang
Secretary 
JSYang@mdanderson.org
713-792-2138

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.

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

Postdoctoral Fellow

Fernanda received her M.Sc. degree in Biosciences and Biotechnology from ICC-Fiocruz, Brazil in 2012, where she studied MAPK signaling pathways using quantitative proteomics and phosphoproteomics. In 2013, she started her Ph.D. program at CRUK Beatson Institute and was awarded a Ph.D. scholarship from Cancer Research UK. During her time at the Beatson, her major focus was to unravel mechanisms employed by hypoxic cancer-associated fibroblasts to promote angiogenesis and discovered two novel pro-angiogenic factors. Fernanda joined Dr. Kalluri's Laboratory at the MD Anderson Cancer Center as a Postdoctoral Fellow in October 2017 to pursue her interests in tumor microenvironment,
intercellular communication mediated by exosomes and to investigate the role of exosomes in immune-oncology.

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.

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.

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

Nuno received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Porto in 2014. Afterwards, he completed his M.S. in Medicine and Molecular Oncology from the University of Porto in 2016. He joined the Intercellular Communication and Cancer Laboratory in the beginning of 2017 at i3S, University of Porto, and started his Ph.D. program with Dr. Kalluri as a cosupervisor. His work focuses on understanding the role of exosomes, extracellular vesicles and biogenesis in pancreatic cancer initiation and progression.

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.

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

Carolina received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Instituto Superior Tecnico (Portugal) in 2012 and 2014. She joined Melo Lab at i3S University of Porto in 2015 and started her Ph.D. program in 2017 with Dr. Raghu Kalluri as a co-mentor. Carolina is currently in the Kalluri Lab performing her thesis research work as a Fulbright exchange student in 2021. Her research focus is on understanding the functional role of exosomes in tumor heterogeneity 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 Moleuclar 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 oncoloytic 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.

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.

Brian Koehler
Research Assistant

Brian received his Bachelor's of Science in Biochemistry and Genetics from Texas A&M University in 2018. He previously worked as a research assistant at the Texas A&M Health Science Center investigating the role of NFkappaB Inducing Kinase in cancer metabolism and at Lynntech designing point of care diagnostics for antibodies against the dengue virus in patient serum. He joined the Kalluri Lab as a research assistant in 2021. His research focuses on the role of exosomes in cancer progression and metastasis.

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.

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 Student

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 Researcher

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 Researcher

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.

Kevin Yin
Undergraduate Researcher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jiha Kim, B.S., Ph.D. Instructor (2017)Margo Cain, B.S. Graduate Student (2017)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yan Wang Research Investigator (2017)

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

Josephine “Kebbeh” Darpolor Graduate Research Assistant - GSBS Rotation Student (2018)

Chengyan “Nick” Dong Research Investigator (2018)

Ehsan Ehsanipour Graduate Research Assistant – GSBS (2018)

Paul Kurywchak Graduate Research Assistant – GSBS (2018)

Reshma Bhowmick Research Scientist (2018)

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

Li “Lily” Huang Senior Research Assistant (2018)

Robert Hahn Research Assistant I (2018-2019)

Fei Xiao Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2019)

Kyle Labella Graduate Research Assistant - GSBS (2019)

Elena Ramirez Postdoctoral Fellow (2019)

Debora Ferreira Graduate Research Assistant (2019)

Patricia Phillips Research Assistant (2019)

Jena Tavormina Graduate Research Assistant - GSBS (2019)

Olga Volpert Associate Professor (2019)

Pedro Correa De Sampaio Postdoctoral Fellow (2019)

Lisa Becker Graduate Research Assistant (2020)

Kebbeh Darpolor Graduate Research Assistant (2020)

Mariangela Natale Graduate Research Assistant (2020)

Min Tang Graduate Research Assistant (2020)

Sara Lovisa Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Julie Carstens Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Anthony Chronopoulos Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Jianli Dai Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Yibo Fan Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)

Laura Snowden Research Assistant II (2020)

Jamie Lin Instructor (2020)

Karina Vazquez-Arreguin Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Janine Hensel Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)

Kadeshia Earl Research Assistant II (2021)

Jennifer Leveille Senior Research Assistant (2021)

Dara Dowlatshahi Research Scientist (2021)

Eric Perez Undergraduate Researcher (2021)