Lab Members

Kevin McBride, Ph.D. 
Principal Investigator
Associate Professor
kmcbride@mdanderson.org
B.S., Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
Ph.D., Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY

Zaowen Chen
Laboratory Technician
zchen9@mdanderson.org
Sudan University, Shanghai, China, Department of Genetics
Sudan University, Shanghai, China, Department of Bioengineering

Xiaoling Liu, Ph.D.
Senior Research Assistant
xliu29@mdanderson.org
B.S., Chemistry, Beijing University, China
Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UT Health Science Center at Houston

Shalaka Lotlikar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
srlotlikar1@mdanderson.org
B.S., Microbiology, Jai Hind College, University of Mumbai, India
Ph.D., Microbiology and Cell Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla.
Research Interests: Antigen design and immunoglobulin expression and activity

Yunxiang Mu, Ph.D.
Instructor
ymu@mdanderson.org
M.B., Clinical Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, China
M.S., Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Tianjin Medical University, China
Ph.D., Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Southern California
Research Interests: Regulation of activation induced deaminase and cell signaling pathways in the immune diversification process, mutagenesis, and DNA demethylation

Somnath Paul, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
spaul2@mdanderson.org
B.Sc., (Hons), Physiology, Presidency Universtiy, Kolkata, India
M.Sc., Genetics, Universtiy of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
Ph.D., Life Science and Biotech, Jadavpur University via CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata

Joshua Plummer, M.S.
Research Laboratory Manager
jbplumme@mdanderson.org
B.S., Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
M.S., Experimental Therapeutics, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas
Research Interests: Protein engineering, flow cytometry, microscopy

Melissa Simper, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
msimper@mdanderson.org
B.S., Biology, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, Texas
Ph.D., Molecular Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas

Monika Zelazowska, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
mazelazowska@mdanderson.org
M.S., Biotechnology, International Faculty of Engineering, Technical University of Lodz, Poland
Ph.D., Molecular Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, Poland
Research Interests: Rearrangement of immunoglobulin genes

Former Trainees and Lab Members

Amanda Guilmette
Research Assistant I — 2016–2017
Research Interests:  The process of B cell differentiation and maturation
Medical Scribe, Brown Urology/Landmark Medical Center

David Aghado
Research Assistant I — 2019–2020
Medical Research Student — 2023
Medical School Student, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

Ben Daniel
Research Assistant II — 2020–2022
Coordinator, Research Data, MD Anderson

Lisa Jatta
Research Assistant I — 2022–2023
Program Analyst, NIH NICHD

Katie Liu
High School Student — 2022–2023
College Stydent

Keeshav Naick
Research Assistant I — 2022–2023
Technical Consultant, Lightning Bolt Solutions

Allie Hebertson
Research Assistant II — 2020–2023
Business Systems Analyst at Select Water Solutions