Congratulations to our Graduates!
Julie Bray, Ph.D. (Graduated Oct. 2019)
Faculty Research Mentor: Thomas Schmittgen, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Exocrine Pancreas Plasticity During Injury: Implications for Cancer Development
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Ozlem Calbay, Ph.D. (Graduated July 2022)
Faculty Research Mentor: Shuang Huang, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Inflammasome independent pyroptosis in ovarian cancer cells through translational augmentation of Caspase-1
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, AbbVie
Chandler Callaway, Ph.D. (Graduated June 2022)
Faculty Research Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D
Dissertation Project: The Role of IL8 and CXCL1 in Muscle Atrophy during Pancreatic Cancer Cachexia
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow; University of Anschutz Medical Campus
Peter Dib, Ph.D. (Graduated November 2022)
Faculty Research Mentor: Maria Zajac-Kaye, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Testing and Identifying the Mechanism of Novel Thymidylate Synthase Inhibitors
Current Position: Field Application Scientist, Spectral Instruments Imaging, San Diego, California
Zuo Ding, Ph.D. (Graduated December 2021)
Faculty Research Mentor: Shuang Huang, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Study of Effects of MEK Inhibitors on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells
Current Position: Intern, UF Innovate | Venture
Henrietta Fasanya, Ph.D. (Graduated March 2020)
Faculty Research Mentor: Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: The Role of Cathepsin Inhibition in Osteosarcoma Metastasis
Current Position: Completing M.D. in UF COM M.D.-Ph.D. Training Program
Amani Harrandah, Ph.D. (Graduated January 2019)
Faculty Research Mentor: Edward Chan, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Exploring the Roles of MicroRNA and Oral Bacteria in Oral Carcinogenesis
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Oral Biology, Umm Alqura University
Yue Jiang, Ph.D. (Graduated April 2019)
Faculty Research Mentor: Frederic Kaye, M.D.
Dissertation Project: Myb-activated tumor models for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for adenoid cystic carcinoma treatment
Current Position: Scientist, BeiGene Pharmaceuticals
Charlotte Leonie Kaestner, Ph.D. (Graduated June 2023)
Faculty Research Mentor: Jonathan Licht, M.D.
Dissertation Project: Targeting NSD2 in Hematologic Malignancies
Current Position: TBD
Patrick Kellish, Ph.D. (Graduated August 2021)
Faculty Research Mentor: Maria Zajac-Kaye, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Priming Immunity against Small-Cell Lung Cancer with Oncolytic Myxoma Virus
Current Position: Interim Scientific Director/Core Research Facility Specialist II, Flow Cytometry Core, ICBR, UF
Tianqi Li, Ph.D. (Graduated July 2023)
Faculty Research Mentor: Mingyi Xie, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Unveiling RNA-mediated Gene Regulation
Current Position:
Mam Mboge, Ph.D. (Graduated October 2018)
Faculty Research Mentor: Susan Frost, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: The Role of Carbonic Anhydrase in Breast Cancer Growth, Metabolism, & Motility
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Berkeley National Laboratory
Rachel Newsome, Ph.D. (Graduated Oct. 2023)
Faculty Research Mentor: Christian Jobin, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Role of Gut Microbiota in Cancer Immunotherapy
Current Position: TBD
Rachel Nosacka, Ph.D. (Graduated Oct. 2019)
Faculty Research Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Molecular Mechanisms of Skeletal Muscle Wasting in Cancer Cachexia
Current Position: Laboratory Director, Physiology & Functional Genomics, University of Florida
Gabriel Prado, Ph.D. (Graduated November 2022)
Faculty Research Mentor: Jonathan Licht, M.D.
Dissertation Project: Loss of Kmt2c Cooperates with Oncogenic Signaling in Cancer
Current Position: Biomedical Scientist (Molecular & Cancer Biology, University of Florida
Varsha Sundaresan, Ph.D. (Graduated November 2018)
Faculty Research Mentor: Lei Zhou, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Significantly Mutated Genes in Small Cell Lung Cancer & Comparative Analysis of p53 Binding
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Southern California
Mai Tanaka, Ph.D. (Graduated December 2021)
Faculty Research Mentor: Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: The Role of Axl Pathway in Cancer Metastasis
Current Position: Senior Consultant, Trinity Life Sciences
Vrunda Trivedi, Ph.D. (Graduated December 2022)
Faculty Research Mentor: Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Novel RNA therapeutics for precision antigen-specific brain cancer treatment
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow; Stanford University
Kartika Venugopal, Ph.D. (Graduated 2020)
Faculty Research Mentor: Olga Guraynova, M.D., Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Leukemia-associated Mutations in DNMT3A Mediate Sensitivity to Replication Stress
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Vindhya Vijay, Ph.D. (Graduated June 2019)
Faculty Research Mentor: Christopher Cogle, M.D.
Dissertation Project: Splicing repressor hnRNPC is an indispensable and ‘druggable’ target in acute myeloid leukemia
Current Position: Postdoc Fellow, Harvard University
Aaron Waddell, Ph.D. (Graduated May 2021)
Faculty Research Mentor: Daiqing Liao, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Targeting CBP/p300 for Treatment of Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer
Current Position: Postdoc, Boston University
Zachary Wakefield, Ph.D. (Graduated August 2021)
Faculty Research Mentor: Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: The Therapeutic Potential of Aerobic Exercise in Preclinical Breast Cancer Models
Current Position: Staff Scientist, Choate, Hall & Stewart, LLP, Boston
Qin Yu, Ph.D. (Graduated August 2021)
Faculty Research Mentor: Christian Jobin, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: The Role of Natural Killer Cells in Gut Microbiota Mediated Pancreatic Cancer Progression
Current Position: Scientist, Harvard Medical School, Boston
Xin Zhou, Ph.D. (Graduated July 2022)
Faculty Research Mentor: Lizi Wu, Ph.D.
Dissertation Project: Aberrant CRTC-CREB Activation in LKB1-Inactivated Lung Cancer
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate at UF Health Cancer Center
