Lab Members
Yonathan Lissanu, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery & Genomic Medicine
Nicholas Blazanin, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Nicholas Blazanin obtained his Ph.D. in molecular toxicology from The Pennsylvania State University.
His current research interests involve characterizing effective and durable cancer therapies using chemical probes called proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) targeting the glucocorticoid receptor and implementing drug based CRISPR screens to identify novel gene targets that can be harnessed therapeutically.
Sasi Kotagiri, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sasi Kumar earned his M.S. in genetics from Osmania University, India, and his Ph.D. from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. He completed his thesis entitled, “Studies on regulation of C3G and its role in signaling to actin cytoskeleton dependent cellular functions.”
His ultimate goalsares to understand the molecular mechanisms that cause cancer and to seek more effective therapeutic interventions.
Yanyan Han, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yanyan Han earned her master’s degree from DaLian Medical University, China. She also finished her master’s course and obtained her Ph.D. in oncology and pathology from Okayama University, Japan.
Her current project is to understand the impact of SMARCA2 deletion on tumor development in a SMARCA4-mutant KPS GEM model of lung cancer.
Xiaobing Liang, M.D.
Sr. Research Assistant
Xiaobing Liang earned his M.D. at Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, China, and his master's in immunology from Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology in Beijing, China. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at UT Health San Antonio and WVU Cancer Institute.
His current research interests include characterizing novel chemical probes called proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs).
Mohamod Qudratullah, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mohamod Qudratullah earned his M.S. in biotechnology from Madurai Kamaraj University, India, and he completed his Ph.D. at the National Institute of Immunology, India, in the area of genome annotation.
His ultimate goal in research is to find therapeutics in SMARCA4 mutant tumors.
Dr. Lissanu's lab members