Cancer Ecology Center team members

The scientists working in the Cancer Ecology Center are dedicated to understanding the ecology of cancer, how cancer metastasizes and evolves therapy resistance and developing new therapies for patients suffering from cancer.

Ramakrishna Prasad Alur, PH.D.

Lab Manager

Ramakrishna oversees the day - to day running of the lab and is studying cell cycle dynamics of the PACC state.

Kevin truskowski
Ph.d. candidate, cmm

Kevin studies the mechanisms of PACC state dormancy to “hide” from stress.

Michael loycano
Ph.D. candidate, CMM

Michael is studying cell cycle regulation during the polyaneuploid transition.

Chi-Ju Kim, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow

Chi-Ju is working to map the life history of the PACC state and understand role of extracellular vesicles in tumorigenesis.

Ella SANVEE

Research Technician

Ella is supporting the lab on various projects, including identifying molecular mechanisms of endocycling.

Maggie Yang
UNDERGRADUATE student

Maggie is working on multiple projects to understand the role of the PACC state in tumorigenesis.

Anna Gonye
Ph.D. candidate, CMM

Anna is investigating how the polyploid DNA is organized the PACC state.

Mikaela Mallin
ph.d. candidate, cmm

Mikaela is testing the capacity of cells in the PACC state to initiate metastasis.

George butler, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow

George uses his computational modeling skills to explore adaptive polyploidization in cancer.

Shilpa Nair Research Technician

Shilpa is screening for compounds that intercept the PACC state.

Louis Rolle

Research Technician

Louis is supporting the lab on various projects, including the longitudinal imaging of cells in the PACC state.

PAST MEMBERS

Haley Axelrod

Amber DeGroot

Liang Dong

Elizabeth Ferrer

Kengo Horie

Laurie Kostecka

Sabrina Mendez

Kayla Myers

Prince Parsana

Gonzalo Torga

Ken Valkenburg

Emma van der Toom

Jelani Zarif

Richard Zieran

Melvin li
ph.d. candidate, pharmacology

Melvin’s work focuses on mitochondrial structure and function in the PACC state.

Luke Loftus
Ph.D. candidate, cmm

Luke is developing therapeutic strategies to target the PACC state.

Chen-Fan (Bryan) Lee, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow

Bryan is studying the control of RNA expression of cancer cells in the PACC state and how it is linked to cell cycle.

Madison Purkerson

PH.D. Candidate

Pharmacology

Madison is exploring signaling pathways in the PACC state.