Laboratory Members
Lab Manager
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Read More about Taylor Tredinnick
Taylor Tredinnick
taylor.tredinnick@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I received my B.S. in both biology and secondary education at Temple University. I worked as a high school chemistry teacher before pursuing a career in biomedical research. My prior research has primarily focused on the characterization of druggable targets in AML, ALL, and BRCA+ cancers, with high-throughput screening of small molecule libraries to identify drug candidates. Currently, I'm working in a dual role as a research scientist, and as the manager of the Gill lab. My current research project is on the development of novel CRISPR-based editing systems to be used in gene therapy for hematologic malignancies.
TCE & PICI Staff
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Read More about Nils Wellhausen, PhD
Nils Wellhausen, PhD
Associate Director of TCE
nilsw@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Nils Wellhausen is the Associate Director of the Translational Center of Excellence in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Engineering and an assistant professor of Medicine in Hematology/Oncology. In this role, he works alongside Dr. Gill to develop and translate transformative cell therapies for hematologic malignancies and other diseases with significant unmet needs.
Born and raised in Germany, Nils completed his undergraduate studies in Biochemistry through a collaborative program between Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf and Michigan State University. He then moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked under the mentorship of renowned cell and gene therapy pioneers Dr. Carl June and Dr. Saar Gill. His doctoral research centered on creating innovative immune- and stem cell-based therapies aimed at treating various blood cancers and non-malignant blood disorders, including anemias, autoimmune diseases, and HIV infection.
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Staff Scientists
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Read More about Olga Shestova, PhD
Olga Shestova, PhD
Senior Research Investigator
shestova@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Olga has been in the Gill lab since 2013 which has allowed her to be involved in exploring various projects as well as seeing the evolution of projects going from bench to bedside. She has experience in using basic techniques as well as the most advanced techniques and approaches in the field to work as part of a team whose goal is to develop therapeutic treatments for cancer patients.
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Post Doctoral Researchers
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Read More about Sara Sleiman, MD
Sara Sleiman, MD
sara.sleiman@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I received my medical degree from the American University of Beirut in June 2020 . Following medical school, I sought to gain experience in translational research prior to applying for a residency position. I joined the Gill lab in January 2021 and have been exploring the world of CAR T cell therapy in AML.
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Read More about Asuncion Borrero, MD
Asuncion Borrero, MD
asuncion.borrero@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I am a physician-scientist with a strong focus on translational cancer immunology, particularly focusing on genetically engineered cell therapies. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where I integrate clinical practice, gained during my hematology specialization in University Hospital Dr. Negrin, in bone marrow transplantation with research on Acute Myeloid Leukemia immunotherapy. During previous experiences, I applied various techniques like cell isolation, phenotyping, and sequencing for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. I have a keen interest in cell therapy and gene engineering, which led me to join Dr. Saar Gill's lab to work on a novel cell therapy using Cytokine-induced memory-like NK cells, utilizing gene editing, electroporation, flow cytometry, bioluminescent imaging, and murine models. I aim to combine my clinical background with expertise in cellular immunotherapy to pursue an independent academic career in this field.
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Read More about Fiona O'Connell, PhD
Fiona O'Connell, PhD
fiona.oconnell@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Fiona completed her BSc Ed in Physical Chemistry at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Following her teaching experience, she earned her MSc in Cancer Research with a focus on cancer epigenetics from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Subsequently, Fiona was awarded the Breakthrough Cancer Research Musgrave Scholarship to pursue her PhD studies under the supervision of Professor Jacintha O’Sullivan at Trinity College Dublin. Her PhD research investigated the influence of obesity, fatty acids, and current treatment modalities on the immune-metabolic profiles of adipose tissue in esophageal adenocarcinoma. As part of the Gill lab, Fiona’s work will now focus on investigating metabolism and cellular engineering in upper gastrointestinal cancers.
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Read More about Astrid Beerlage, MD
Astrid Beerlage, MD
astrid.beerlage@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Astrid completed medical school at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany, followed by hematology residency at University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Previously, she worked in the lab of Lukas Jeker at the Department of Biomedicine (DBM), University of Basel, focusing on cell shielding strategies to improve allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for patients with AML. Now, in the Gill Lab, she is working on innovative CAR-T cell therapy approaches for treating AML.
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Tim Grob, MD, PhD
Tim Grob, MD, PhD
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Clinical Fellows
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Read More about Nathan Welty, MD, PhD
Nathan Welty, MD, PhD
Hematology/Oncology Instructor
nathan.welty@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Nathan is a hematology/oncology fellow investigating novel approaches to solid tumor immunotherapy using genetically engineered myeloid cells. Before coming to Penn for residency and fellowship, he completed MD/PhD training at the University of Minnesota in Dan Kaplan’s lab, where he studied myeloid regulation of tissue-resident immunity in the GI tract.
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Read More about Anand Bhagwat, MD, PhD
Anand Bhagwat, MD, PhD
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Instructor
anand.bhagwat@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Anand is from San Diego California. He is currently working on AML resistance to cell therapy.
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Read More about Neel Nabar, MD, PhD
Neel Nabar, MD, PhD
Hematology/Oncology Fellow
neel.nabar@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Neel Nabar is a Hematology/Oncology Fellow interested in cellular therapies for leukemia. Neel did his medical training at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and residents at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His PhD was through the NIH-Karolinska Institute Graduate Partnership Program, where he worked with John Kehrl and Mikael Karlsson on inflammatory signaling in myeloid cells in viral infection and cancer.
Graduate Students
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Read More about Mara Davis, M.S.
Mara Davis, M.S.
PhD Student, Gene Therapy and Vaccines
mara.davis@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I received my B.S. and M.S. in genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where I studied the effects of microRNAs on the metastasis of breast and lung cancer. My current focus is working on engineering pathogenic protein-targeting CAR-macrophages for neurodegenerative diseases.
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Read More about Joanne Baek
Joanne Baek
PhD Student, Bioengineering
joanne.baek@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I graduated with a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, where I investigated the effects of tissue stiffness on breast cancer metastasis and ageing. My current research focuses on gene editing hematopoietic stem cells for the treatment of AML.
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Read More about Orlando Arevalo
Orlando Arevalo
MD/PhD Student, Gene Therapy and Vaccines
orlando.arevalo@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Orlando hails from the Maryland side of the DMV. He completed his BS in both Chemical-Biological Engineering and Biology at MIT, where he also studied genetically engineered yeast and the metabolic profiles of transformed cells. After MIT, he worked at a biotech startup, engineering hematopoietic stem cells and ex-vivo differentiating them to generate a new cell therapy platform. He then came to Penn and is pursuing an MD/PhD with his PhD focused on treating cancer and other diseases using synthetic biology and engineered stem cells.
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Read More about Om Gandhi
Om Gandhi
M.S. Student, Bioengineering
om.gandhi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I completed my B.A. in Neuroscience and Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania, where I conducted research on perturbing the MYCN-polyamine axis to rewire the tumor microenvironment and promote immunotherapy in neuroblastoma under Dr. Michael Hogarty. My current project focuses on genetically editing hematopoietic stem cells to prevent their differentiation into immunosuppressive, tumor-associated macrophages in solid tumors
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Read More about Bruno Casino Remondo
Bruno Casino Remondo
M.S. Student, Bioengineering
bruno.casinoremondo@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in Biological Engineering from the University of Idaho, where I was also a Division 1 tennis athlete. My previous research experience includes working on magnetic nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery for cancer therapies and developing a flexible biomimetic human spine model for effective drug delivery to the brain. My current research in the Gill lab involves using the COMET platform for multiplex immunofluorescence to study tissue resident memory T cells in graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in BOS lung patients and to study the engraftment and effect of engineering CAR-macrophages targeting pathogenic proteins for neurodegenerative diseases.
