Lab Members

Hannah Wingate, Ph.D.
Principal Research Scientist

Dr. Wingate's research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the progression of breast cancer. She continues to collaborate with researchers in the medical center. Dr. Wingate’s teaching focus is on establishing a solid foundation of knowledge and interest in the general biology courses. She specializes in teaching cellular and molecular biology courses and developing critical thinking and laboratory skills in the upper-level courses. 

Yan (Esther) Wang, Ph.D.
Research Scientist (2019–present)

Dr. Wang earned her Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (China) and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the KeyHunt Lab in 2019 and works on identifying biomarkers in breast cancer in addition to providing her expertise in clinical studies. Specifically, she studies changes in cyclin E expression during tumor progression and identifies new biomarkers for early diagnosis and new prognostic factors to predict recurrence or drug resistance.

Min Yi, M.D., Ph.D.
Data Integration Developer

Dr. Min Yi earned her Ph.D. in biostatistics and a master's degree in health informatics. She has many years of experience working with clinical researchers and basic scientists and is responsible for the application of standard statistical methods in many projects within the KeyHunt Lab.

Xiayu Rao, M.S.
Research Statistical Analyst (2019–present)

Xiayu earned her B.S. in biotechnology and M.S. in biology from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong, China. She relocated to the United States and completed her M.S. in food & nutrition with a specialization in cancer nutrition from Purdue University, followed by M.S. in Biostatistics from the University of Texas at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. Xiayu works on bioinformatics/biostatistics-related data analysis for the lab. She enjoys cooking, exercising, watching movie, and traveling in her free time.

Tuyen N. Bui, B.S. 
Research Investigator (2003–present)

Tuyen N. Bui received his B.S. degree in chemistry and biology from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama. He joined the KeyHunt Lab as a Research Assistant in 2003 and was promoted to Research Investigator in December 2017. Since 2021 he has been serving as Coordinator of the Research Laboratory in the KeyHunt Lab. Tuyen is experienced in a vast array of lab techniques and protocols in molecular and cell biology, integrating his expertise into all projects within the laboratory. Additionally, Tuyen serves as the Lab Manager, overseeing lab operations, compliance and organization. As the coordinator, he organizes, distributes and verifies the work of others and participates in their training. He also coordinates the execution of projects and services and designs new laboratory exercises and procedures.

Rezvan Esmaeili, Ph.D.
Faculty/Instructor (2023–present)

Dr. Rezvan Esmaeili holds a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Tarbiat Modares University, Iran. Her research centered on prognostic, predictive and therapeutic biomarkers in breast cancer. In 2023, she joined the KeyHunt Lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Prior to this, she served as an Associate Professor at Motamed Cancer Institute, where her outstanding contributions earned her recognition as a distinguished researcher.

Driven by a passion for advancing cancer treatment, she decided to leave her previous role to pursue greater opportunities for contributing to cancer treatment discoveries. Her current research interests include exploring novel therapeutic strategies, with a particular focus on CDK7 inhibitors and drug resistance mechanisms in treating ER-positive and triple-negative breast cancer. Her overarching career goal is to enhance personalized treatments for breast cancer patients, emphasizing translational research.

Beyond the laboratory, Dr. Esmaeili enjoys TRX workouts, cooking and traveling with her spouse and friends.

Akshara Singareeka Raghavendra, M.B.B.S., M.S.
Assistant Professor

Akshara Singareeka Raghavendra is an Assistant Professor in Breast Medical Oncology. Her research interests include identifying prognostic and predictive factors to improve breast cancer survival. Specifically, she focuses on identifying optimal treatment patterns and prognostic or predictive factors through clinical and biological markers that will generate interventional clinical trials and develop hypotheses related to biological phenomena that will assist in personalized therapeutic decisions and ultimately elucidate mechanisms of resistance in advanced breast cancer.

Roanna Debler
Research Assistant I

Roanna Debler is a cancer researcher at MD Anderson with a background in psychology and neuroscience. She obtained her B.S. in psychology at Sam Houston State University and some graduate studies at Texas A&M University. Her previous work included studying nanoparticles for brain delivery and aryl hydrocarbon receptors in depression. She has published in the Journal of Affective Disorders and presented at the Society for Neuroscience. Currently she is honing her skills to contribute meaningfully to the KeyHunt lab. Outside the lab, Roanna enjoys crocheting and making art.

Brian Xu
Research Assistant I

Brian Xu earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2021. Originally from Irvine, California, he recently relocated to Houston and joined the KeyHunt Lab in February 2025. Brian's previous research focused on exploring learning and memory mechanisms using mouse hippocampal models. Currently, his research interests center around investigating various types of cancer and their potential treatment strategies in clinical settings. Outside of the lab, Brian enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with his cat, Mushroom.

Mei-Kuang (Kathy) Chen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022–present)

Dr. Chen earned her bachelor’s degree in life sciences from National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan, and pursued master’s degrees from both the Institute of Molecular Medicine at National Tsing-Hua University and the Cancer Biology Program at UTHealth in Houston, TX, USA, where her research focused on DNA repair mechanisms and nuclear protein kinases. In 2020, she completed her Ph.D. at MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houson Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, studying kinase profiling in PARP inhibitor resistance in triple-negative breast cancer, a field she continued to explore during her early postdoctoral training.

In October 2022, Dr. Chen joined the KeyHunt Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Her research aims to develop novel targeted therapies to overcome therapeutic resistance in breast cancer, with a particular focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying drug resistance. She is currently investigating the targeting of cell cycle regulatory kinases as a strategy to address resistance in both triple-negative breast cancer and CDK4/6 inhibitor-resistant ER-positive breast cancer. Additionally, Dr. Chen is now expanding her research by developing the use of electron microscopy for profiling breast cancer organoids.

Outside of her research, Dr. Chen enjoys cooking, solving jigsaw puzzles and shopping for her son.

Mi Li, B.S.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2023–present)

Mi Li received his B.S. in Biology from Sichuan University in China after starting his research career as a technician at West-China Hospital of Sichuan University. Before starting his graduate studies at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, he received training at MD Anderson Cancer Center as a research assistant. In the KeyHunt lab, Mi is interested in the oncologic functions of low molecular weight cyclin E (LMW-E), particularly the association between LMW-E and genomic instability in breast cancer development, the different effects of LMW-E and full-length cyclin E on DNA replication and DNA damage responses, and how LMW-E facilitates DNA replication stress tolerance and cell proliferation with damaged DNA. Since childhood, Mi is a fan of model ships and planes. He enjoys upgrading toys for his two kids with 3-D printing. 

Linjie Luo, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021–present)

Linjie Luo received her M.D. degree from the Sino-France medical program at Wuhan University, China, and Lorraine University, France. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University Health Science Center in 2020. Her current research interests are investigating therapeutic strategies and mechanisms of drug resistance in breast cancer, particularly the CDK4/6 inhibitors in the treatment of HER2-enriched breast cancer. She is also interested in studying breast cancer initiation, risk factors, ethnic disparities and determinants for outcomes. Her career goal is to improve breast cancer prevention and patient outcomes from basic, translational research to clinical practice. She loves all kinds of tasty food and green tea worldwide and explores new restaurants in her spare time. She also loves classical music, particularly Frederic Chopin, and watching a variety of entertainment shows.

Nga Nguyen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow 

Nga Nguyen earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biotechnology from the University of Science, Vietnam National University, in 2015 and 2019, respectively. She then obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, in 2024. In January 2025, Nga joined the KeyHunt Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Her research focuses on investigating the potential of cell cycle-targeting inhibitors as anticancer therapies and elucidating their molecular mechanisms.

Tonči Ivanišević, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow 

Tonči Ivanišević joined the Keyomarsi Hunt Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in February 2025. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Trinity College, University of Oxford, and completed his Ph.D. at the KU Leuven – VIB Center for Cancer Biology. During his Ph.D. studies, he focused on the proteostatic regulation of RAS signaling, with a particular interest in the role of LZTR1 in tumorigenesis. In the Keyomarsi Hunt Lab, he is investigating the role of IL6 in the progression of metastatic breast cancer.

Xiao-Ting Jiang, M.D.
Graduate Student (2023–present)

Xiao-Ting Jiang received her M.D. degree from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China. Since 2021, she has been enrolled in an 8-year continuous Masters-Ph.D. program at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. Additionally, she is in her second year of a 2-year Ph.D. exchange program with her Chinese mentor, Professor Qiang Liu, at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, to the KeyHunt Lab at MD Anderson. Her current research focuses on investigating novel therapeutic strategies and mechanisms of drug resistance in advanced breast cancer.

Jiwang Lee
Undergraduate Student

Jiwang Lee is a second-year undergraduate student at Rice University majoring in exercise physiology and biochemistry and an undergraduate research intern in the KeyHunt Lab. His previous research involved using small molecule degraders of CDK4/6 to selectively target CDK4/6 inhibitor-resistant breast cancer. His current work focuses on investigating novel therapeutic strategies to overcome triple negative and CDK4/6 inhibitor-resistant breast cancer. In his free time, he enjoys exercising, biking along the Houston bayous and baking.

Nicole Massoumi
Undergraduate Summer Student

Carmen Ulizio
Undergraduate Student (2024–present)

Carmen Ulizio is a current undergraduate student at Rice University majoring in biosciences and minoring in medical humanities. She joined the KeyHunt Lab in the spring of 2024 and her current research interests involve studying the role of IL-6 in breast cancer tumor development. She is also interested in cancer prevention, social determinants of health and bioethics. Outside of the lab Carmen enjoys reading, trying new restaurants and spending time with friends.

Grace Kim
Graduate Research Assistant

Grace J. Kim earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh in 2023. She is currently a master's student at UTHealth Houston MD Anderson Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the Immunology program. She became interested in modulating immune cells after studying autoimmunity during her internship at the Helmholtz Diabetes Center in Munich. Her research focus is exploring the effect of target therapies on the tumor immune microenvironment and investigating methods to enhance anti-tumor immunity. In her free time, she enjoys playing the flute, reading and exploring the performance arts scene in Houston with her friends.

Kara Lewis, Dr.P.H.
Administrative Director, Experimental Radiation Oncology

Dr. Kara Lewis received her B.S. and M.P.H. degrees at Purdue University before relocating to Houston to earn her Dr.P.H. at The University of Texas School of Public Health. Dr. Lewis has served in various research administration roles since she started at MD Anderson in 2012. In 2021, Dr. Lewis joined Experimental Radiation Oncology as the Administrative Director for the CPRIT and R25 training programs led by Drs. Keyomarsi and Watowich.

Danielle Rudolph
Senior Administrative Assistant, Experimental Radiation Oncology
Assistant to Dr. Keyomarsi
Email: DNRudolph@MDAnderson.org

Danielle earned her Bachelor of Arts in telecommunication and film from the University of Alabama. She currently provides essential administrative and coordination support for Experimental Radiation Oncology and Dr. Keyomarsi. In her free time, Danielle enjoys expressing her creativity through fashion and exploring new cultures during her travels.

Mahogany Femi Griffin
Executive Assistant, Breast Surgical Oncology
Executive Assistant to Dr. Hunt
Email: MFGriffin@MDAnderson.org

Mahogany earned her Bachelor of Arts in political science/pre-law with a minor in business from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. After graduation, she decided to focus on her passion for organizing and helping others, finding fulfillment in roles that allow her to connect with people. She enjoys exploring her creative side through selling real estate and decorating homes. In addition, in her free time, Mahogany loves pottery, working out, hammocking, traveling and hanging out with friends.

Bisrat G. Debeb, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Breast Medical Oncology

The major goal of the Debeb lab is to identify and target the molecular determinants of brain metastasis, and to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the unique pathobiology of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), a very aggressive and clinically distinct form of breast cancer. The lab conducts both basic laboratory investigation and translational breast cancer research with an overarching goal of developing novel and effective therapeutic strategies to improve survival of patients with aggressive breast cancer. Current efforts in the lab include developing mouse models of brain metastasis, identification and targeting of novel drivers of IBC tumorigenesis and brain metastasis, and evaluation of patient serum to identify biomarkers of aggressiveness, brain metastasis and therapy resistance.

Aysegul A. Sahin, M.D.
Professor of Pathology
Section Chief of Breast Pathology
Director, Educational Operations, Department of Pathology