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: Small Molecules and PROTACs for Modulation of Epstein-Barr Virus Lytic Reactivation

Beth Rousseau, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Mentor: Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh, M.D., Ph.D., Pediatrics-Infectious Diseases
Dissertation Project: Discovering pro-lytic mechanisms to trigger lysis of Epstein-Barr virus cancer cells

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

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

Jeremy Ducharme, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D., Physical Therapy
Dissertation Project: Development of Novel Therapeutics for Cancer Cachexia

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

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

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

Jordan McKean, M.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Mentor: Steven Hughes, M.D., General Surgery

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

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

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

Publications