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
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sarah McMahon, Ph.D.
Mentor: Rolf Renne, Ph.D., Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Research Project: Epigenetic regulation of KSHV latency
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
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jeremy Ducharme, Ph.D.
Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D., Physical Therapy
Research Project: Development of Novel Therapeutics for Cancer Cachexia
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
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jordan McKean, M.D.
Mentor: Steven Hughes, M.D., General Surgery
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
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
