Lab Members
Yonathan
Lissanu, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal
Investigator
Assistant Professor Department
of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Department
of Genomic Medicine
M.D., Gondar College of Medical Sciences in Ethiopia (University of Gondar).
M.S., International Molecular Cell Biology Program (MCB) of the University of Heidelberg/German Cancer Research Center/EMBL in Germany. Mentors Heike Peterziel and Klaus Unsicker.
Ph.D. (summa cum laude), Johan Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany. Mentor Ivan Dikic.
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Mentors Lynda Chin and Andy Futreal
Primary Long Term Interests: Discovery of therapeutically relevant vulnerabilities of genetically defined subtypes of cancer; discovery of cancer therapeutics.
Nicholas Blazanin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Nicholas Blazanin obtained his Doctor of Philosophy 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
Dr. Sasi Kumar earned his Masters of Science in Genetics from Osmania University, India. He received his Ph.D. from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and he completed his thesis entitled “Studies on regulation of C3G and its role in signaling to actin cytoskeleton dependent cellular functions.”
The ultimate goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that cause cancer and seek more effective therapeutic interventions.
Xiaobing Liang, M.D.
Sr. Research Assistant
Dr. Liang earned his M.D. at Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, China. He received 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).
Pandey R. Poonam, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Poonam did her MSc. in Biotechnology from the University of Mumbai and then received a Ph.D. in Biotechnology in 2017 from National Centre For Cell Science, Pune, India. During her graduate studies, she was focused on the differential translational regulation in insulin gene splice variants in pancreatic beta cells. She then obtained a visitor exchange fellowship from the National Institute of Health (NIH), under the guidance of Dr. Gorospe, and characterized the circular RNAs associated with myogenesis.
She joined MD Anderson in 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow and currently explores the Genome-wide CRISPR screening of synthetic lethal targets that synergize with EZH2 inhibition in SWI/SNF mutated lung cancer along with screening of molecular glue degraders that targets zinc finger containing oncoproteins. Apart from doing science, Poonam loves to explore nature by hiking and trekking in her free time.
Yawen Wang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Wang earned her Master's degree from the East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. She finished her Ph.D. project related to autoimmune diseases at Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
She joined Dr. Yonathan Lissanu Deribe lab in September 2021 for her postdoctoral research. During her postdoc research, she will explore the impact of SMARCA4 on antigen presentation, inflammatory, inflammasome and interferon signaling pathways to develop the novel immune therapy in lung cancer and study the function of SMARCA2 in cancer development in vivo.