2023-2025 Cohort

The second cohort of pre-and postdoctoral trainees joined the TICaRT Program in August 2023. They will spend two years in the program, working as teams on joint projects.

Team Project: PROTAC-mediated Degradation of the Latency-Associated Nuclear Antigen (LANA) to Target KSHV Latency

Predoctoral Fellow

Alexis Smith

Mentor: Guangrong Zheng, Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences-Medicinal Chemistry
Dissertation Project: Development of potent METTL3 PROTAC degraders for treatment of AML

Alexis Smith

Postdoctoral Fellow

Sarah McMahon, Ph.D.

Mentor: Rolf Renne, Ph.D., Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Research Project: Epigenetic regulation of KSHV latency

Sarah McMahon

Team Project: Utilizing proteolysis targeting chimeras against BCL-2 and BCL-X for clearing senescent cells to reverse therapy induced cachexia

Predoctoral Fellow

Madison Carelock

Mentor: Weizhou Zhang, Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences-Cancer Biology
Dissertation Project: Dissecting the lineage-specific role of BCL-XL in breast cancer metastasis

Madison Carelock

Postdoctoral Fellow

Jeremy Ducharme, Ph.D.

Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D., Physical Therapy
Research Project: Development of Novel Therapeutics for Cancer Cachexia

Jeremy Ducharme

Team Project: Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Biomarker Detection/Validation via Intelligent Microrobotic Chip Device

Predoctoral Fellow

Nathan Hart

Mentor: Yong Zeng, Ph.D., Analytical Chemistry
Dissertation Project: CRISPR-based Biosensing of Target MiRNAs Using Micro-scale Pneumatic Actuator

Nathan Hart

Postdoctoral Fellow

Jordan McKean, M.D.

Mentor: Steven Hughes, M.D., General Surgery

Jordan Mckean

Team Project: Optimizing lung cancer risk assessment: from bench to trench

Predoctoral Fellow

Meghann Wheeler

Mentor: Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D., Epidemiology
Dissertation Project: Evaluating proteomic and metabolomic blood-based biomarkers for use in lung cancer risk assessment

Meghann Wheeler

Predoctoral Fellow

Breanne Freeman

Mentor: Chengguo Xing, Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences-Medicinal Chemistry
Dissertation Project: Developing lung carcinogenesis biomarkers and cancer risk predictive
score on a tobacco smoke-induced lung carcinogenesis A/J mouse cohort

Breanne Freeman
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