Lab Members
Anil Sood, M.D.
Principal Investigator
Nicholas B. Jennings
Lab Manager
nbjennin@mdanderson.org
I graduated from the University of Houston after majoring in biochemistry and biophysics and joined the lab in 2004 as a research assistant and have evolved over the years to lead the day-to-day operations of the lab, along with lab compliance/integrity. I have worked on a variety of projects over the years with a focus on nanoparticles/extracellular vesicles as well as chronic stress effects. I am an avid volleyball player and lover of playing sports in general, along with interests in art and music. I have visited six out of the seven continents and love getting away into nature.
Mark Seungwook Kim, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine
I earned my Ph.D. from Seoul National University and completed my postdoctoral training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and UT MD Anderson. I have an extensive background in cancer biology, with specific training and expertise in cancer metastasis and translational research for novel anti-cancer drug development. My research has focused on 1) development of a unique and innovative approach to cancer therapy using novel inhibitors aimed to target therapy, 2) development and design mouse models for novel anti-cancer drug testing and 3) determining how bidirectional signaling between cancer cells and tumor microenvironment contributes to tumor progression and acquisition of the resistant phenotype.
Sara Corvigno, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine
In the Sood Laboratory, I work on several projects, some related to the role of cancer-derived EVs and tumor-educated platelets in high-grade serous ovarian cancer initiation and early diagnosis. Additionally, I am involved in several tissue analysis projects in which I study markers and localization-defined immune cells phenotypes in HGS tumor microenvironment.
Elaine Stur, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
I joined UT MD Anderson and the Sood Laboratory in 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow. In these last few years, I have been working mainly on projects related to tumor microenvironment with focus in mechanisms of immune suppression in ovarian cancer, single-cell heterogeneity of high grade serous ovarian carcinoma and biomarkers of long-term survival.
Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Current Trainees
Emine Bayraktar
Postdoctoral Fellow
My current research has been focused on the mechanism of the hematogenous metastasis in ovarian cancer, the mechanism of the lymphatic metastasis in ovarian cancer and the mechanism of adaptive resistance to combination therapy with anti-angiogenesis drugs.
Nazende Nur Bayram
Postdoctoral Fellow
I joined the Sood Laboratory in June 2022 as a graduate student and continued as a postdoctoral fellow beginning in 2023. My research focuses on nanomedicine and targeted drug delivery for ovarian cancer, with particular emphasis on plant-derived extracellular vesicles as biocompatible therapeutic platforms. I also investigate mechanisms of therapy resistance within the tumor microenvironment, particularly cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), tumor–stroma interactions, and molecular and epigenetic changes associated with treatment resistance using in vitro and in vivo models and multi-omics approaches.
Kazuhiro Suzuki, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
I am an OB/GYN physician-scientist with more than 10 years of clinical experience and a strong interest in translational gynecologic oncology. I joined the Sood Laboratory to investigate clinically relevant questions in ovarian cancer and develop innovative therapeutic strategies. My research focuses on extracellular vesicles, ovarian cancer and precancerous lesions.
Nur Sebnem Ersoz, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine
My research focuses on computational biology, bioinformatics, multi-omics data integration and machine learning approaches for cancer biomarker discovery and precision oncology. I earned my Ph.D. in bioengineering from Abdullah Gül University in Türkiye, where my doctoral research focused on integrating biological domain knowledge with machine learning to identify biomarkers from high-dimensional omics data. During my doctoral training, I developed and applied computational frameworks for transcriptomic, proteomic, and microbiome data analysis, with an emphasis on feature selection, pathway-based analysis, and explainable machine learning. My current research at UT MD Anderson focuses on ovarian cancer, particularly understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying chemotherapy response and resistance. I integrate transcriptomic and proteomic data with computational and experimental approaches to identify clinically relevant biomarkers and investigate tumor microenvironment interactions. My broader research interests include multi-omics integration, cancer systems biology, machine learning, biomarker discovery, pathway and network analysis, and translational cancer research.
Asitha Premaratne, Ph. D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Wei-Che Wu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow