Labgram

Congratulations to Hajar Rajaei, who received her white coat from Dr. McAllister today.

Dr. Florencia McAllister presented the work done in our lab as part of the Mary Beth Madox TAMEST Lecture Series as well as the Blaffer Lecture Series hosted by the Department of Genetics at MD Anderson.

Welcome to our new members: Amir, Saman, and Mona. Head over to our Lab Member section to meet them.

Congratulations to our mentor and leader!

Dr. Florencia McAllister travelled to present the work of our lab and receive the Mary Beth Maddox Award at the TAMEST conference.

Congratulations to Dr. Dhwani Rupani and Dr. Vidhi Chandra, who graduated from GSBS.

A large contingency of the McAllister Lab descended on Orlando, Florida, to attend the AACR Annual Meeting. A group of  12 scientists, both current and past members, joined thousands from across the world to share our knowledge and learn from others. 

A special congratulations to all who presented: Florencia McAllister, Susana Castro-Pando, Vidhi Chandra, Yu Zhang (former member), Erick Riquelme (former member).

Congratulations to one of our graduate students, now known as Dr. Vidhi Chandra, who successfully defended her thesis! Vidhi was the first student to join the McAllister Lab, and we are proud to have witnessed her successes.

Florencia McAllister has received the  Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Technology Mary Beth Maddox Award for pancreatic tumor microbiome research. The Mary Beth MaddoxAward and Lectureship recognizes women scientists in Texas who bring new ideas and innovations to the fight against cancer.

Congratulations to Susana Castro-Pando for receiving the AACR-Ludwig
Institute for Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training Award to attend the AACR Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Newly graduated Dhwani Rupani's latest paper on Adar1 deletion was published today in Development. Be sure to read the paper here.

Early in September, PI Florencia McAllister was joined by Post-doctoral Fellow Dr. Le Li and PhD Candidate Vidhi Chandra in Boston for the AACR Special Conference: Pancreatic Cancer. They shared some of the work we have been doing, but keep an eye open for publications where we share in greater depth.

A couple of days after defending her thesis, Dhwani and her family joined the McAllister Lab for a celebratory lunch, sharing the foods of India and expanding all of our palates.

Join us in congratulating the newly minted Dr. Dhwani Rupani, graduate student of the McAllister Lab, in defending her thesis today.

A full-of-food-and-fun lunch gathering for the McAllister at one of our favorite spots for good Tex-Mex.

Check out this awesome review by our own Le Li and Florencia McAllister on Akkermansia and immunotherapy.

The McAllister Lab gathered today to celebrate a major milestone. It's still hush-hush. But watch this space for big things in the future.

McAllister Lab members Le, Dhwani, Hajar, and Vidhi, along with PI Florencia McAllister at AACR 2022 with our colleagues from the Vilar-Sanchez and Bailey Labs. Researchers from all corners of the world gathered to share their knowledge in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Achievement alert!

Congratulations to Dr. Florencia McAllister who was recently elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Publication alert!

Congratulations to Saumya Kasliwal on the publication of her paper in Gastroenterology. Be sure to take a look at the advances made by the McAllister Lab.

The McAllister Lab gathered this week for an early end-of-year holiday celebration. Good food, good spirits, and good times.

Achievement Alert!

Saumya Kasliwal, our Cancer Prevention Research Training Program student, won the best Interventional Study Poster competition during the CPRTP Trainee Exposition. Congratulations to Saumya and her mentor in this project, Seyda Baydogan.

Achievement Alert!

Susana Castro, graduate student of the McAllister Lab, has been selected as the 2021 Tzu Chi Scholar for her excellent academic achievement and outstanding community service.
 

Achievement Alert!

Rian Morgan and Vidhi Chandra, graduate students of the McAllister Lab, have been elected as President and Vice President of the GSBS Student Association. Congratulations to both for your achievements both inside and outside the lab.
 

Publication Alert!

Make sure to head over to Gut and give the latest publication from the McAllister Lab a read. Graduate Student Vidhi Chandra and Dr. Florencia McAllister discuss the relevance of various microbiomes in pancreatic cancer and the future of treatments for PDAC patients.

After a tough, long year, the McAllister Lab gathered to celebrate our successes and the many challenges we have overcome. 

The latest addition to the McAllister Lab publications repertoire looks at neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and their role in connecting pancreatic cancer with immunosuppression. Be sure to give this paper a read!

The McAllister Lab has joined the Twitter-sphere. Be sure to give us a follow for updates and publication notifications!

Former McAllister Lab member, Pompeyo Quesada, graduated on May 22, 2020 from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Pompeyo graduated  with a Medical Doctor Degree, with a Distinction in Research and Scholarship.

Despite the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the McAllister Lab finds a way to continue its work. Frequent online meetings help us to keep moving forward, share what we have learned, and keep each other company. This is a truly remarkable group of people.

Pompeyo Quesada, former McAllister Lab member, matched with the residency program at The University of Kansas School of Medicine, Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery in March 2020.

Chirayu Mohindroo, former McAllister Lab member, matched with the residency program at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore - Categorical Internal Medicine, in March 2020.

Vidhi Chandra, Graduate Research Assistant in the McAllister Lab, attended the AACR: Microbiome, Viruses, and Cancer with Florencia McAllister. She was selected to present her abstract “Elucidating role of bacteria during pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).” Vidhi received the GSBS Cancer Biology Travel Award, and was one of five presenters selected for the AACR Scholar-In-Training Award for travel support.

Dr. Florencia McAllister was awarded one of three Individual Investigator Research Awards for Clinical Translation for her project, Modulating the Gut Tumor Microbial Axis to Reverse Pancreatic Cancer Immunosuppression. For more information, see Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas Awards $78 Million in New Grants. 

Vidhi Chandra was selected to give a flash talk at the Prime TR Retreat – Microbiome and Translational Research. She won the Flash Talk award for her presentation. Here she is with Dr. Jennifer Wargo.

The McAllister Lab gathered on Thanksgiving to celebrate the day with friends, colleagues, and family.

The EACR recognized the McAllister Lab paper published in Cell (Tumor Microbiome Diversity and Composition Influence Pancreatic Cancer Outcomes) as one of the Top 10 Cancer Research Publications for 2019.

The McAllister Lab joined in turning the world purple to raise awareness of Pancreatic Cancer on World Pancreatic Cancer Day on November 21, 2019. 

The McAllister Lab gathered today for lunch to welcome its newest member, Pinar Kanlikilicer (right). Pinar joined the lab as a Senior Clinical Research Scientist.

Rian Morgan, a second year student with the McAllister Lab, received an award for her poster presentation at the annual Cancer Biology Retreat hosted by the Cancer Biology Program.

Vidhi Chandra was awarded the GSBS Endowment Scholarship, which recognizes a GSBS student who is conducting outstanding research in the biomedical area.

The McAllister Lab published a paper in the journal Cell detailing a potential link between the microbiome and pancreatic cancer patient survival.
 

The McAllister lab gathered at Argentina Cafe to celebrate Maria Montiel (middel) and her new position as a Resident at Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Dr. McAllister and Chirayu Mohindroo with a poster presented by Chirayu at the High Risk Clinic  Moonshot Meeting. Poster created by Maria Montiel.

Dr. Florencia McAllister with MD Anderson President Peter WT Pisters (left) and Andrew Sabin of the Sabin Family Foundation (right). Dr. McAllister was one of eight awardees of the Andrew Sabin Family Fellowship for 2019.

The McAllister Lab represented along with former lab member Yu Zhang at the AACR.

A farewell lunch for Yu Zhang (far left). Yu has been part of the lab since its inception in 2015.

Yu Zhang will be wearing his work wherever he goes!

The McAllister Lab members and their families celebrating the festive season.

Dr. McAllister supporting Michelle Zoltan, Lab Technician, at her graduation celebration. Michelle has been with the lab since 2015.

Graduate Student Vidhi Chandra presenting a poster on her work during the Cancer Biology Program retreat. 

Vidhi Chandra (left) and Susana Castro-Pando (right) at the lab coat ceremony, where graduate students receive their lab coats.

The McAllister Lab welcomes the summer students with Indian food.

Farewell for Pompeyo Quesada, medical student who ventured into our lab and contributed heavily to several projects related to immunological characterization of tumors.  

Celebrating Yu Zhang’s first author manuscript on the role of IL-17 in promoting stemness just published in Gastroenterology, the premier Gastroenterology journal (IF: 20.7) 

Birthday celebration after a Lab meeting 

Cancer Prevention- Research in Progress (CP-RIP) meetings were launched for our department trainees to discuss their ongoing research.

The McAllister Lab starts operations!