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Welcome to the Katona Lab
Our lab and research program is an exciting, highly collaborative, and interdisciplinary program focused on gastrointestinal cancer and hereditary gastrointestinal cancer predisposition syndromes. Ongoing research activities in this area span the spectrum of basic science, translation studies, and clinical studies, and involve active collaborations across the Perelman School of Medicine, Abramson Cancer Center, and the University of Pennsylvania. Active research projects in our group, as detailed on the Research page, include understanding the biology of colorectal tumorigenesis through the use of mouse models and human-derived organoids, studying the role of the immune system in Lynch syndrome pathogenesis, implementation of early detection of pancreatic cancer in individuals at high-risk, investigating the role of the microbiome in colonic polyposis, and characterizing genetic susceptibility for gastric cancer.
The Katona Lab is looking for motivated graduate students and post-docs. See the Positions page for more details.
Recent News
August 2025
Welcome to Yasmin Kamal, a second year gastroenterology fellow at Penn, who joined our group to work on a project focused on the role of genomic integrity on T cell dynamics in Lynch syndrome and BRCA1/2 carriers.
July 2025
Bryson was promoted to the Jeffery and Cynthia King Associate Professor of Lynch Syndrome Research and Associate Professor of Medicine and Genetics on the CE track.
Welcome to our new group member Theresa Clark, who is a PhD student in Pennt's CAMB - Developmental, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Biology PhD Program. Theresa will be working on a project focused on mechanisms of gastric carcinogenesis in Lynch syndrome.
May 2025
The Katona Lab had a fantastic showing at this year’s DDW in San Diego with 3 talks and 5 posters (including 3 Posters of Distinction) all on hereditary GI cancer topics that span from basic science to clinical/translational research including H pylori seropositivity in BRCA1/2 carriers, BHB supplementation in Lynch syndrome, controversial pancreatic cancer surveillance practices, the yield of repeat non-targeted gastric biopsies in Lynch syndrome, and more. Apart from the research, it was also great being able to spend time in San Diego together.
March 2025
Bryson Katona, Jessica Long, John Wherry, and Sam Halter (pictured below) hosted Penn's 4th Annual Lynch Syndrome Symposium with record attendance and a fantastic slate of speakers. The Katona Lab was well represented in the research portion of the Symposium with Bhoomi Madhu, Anjeli Manam, and Jessica Vadaketh all giving talks on their research.
January 2025
Welcome to Bhoomi Madhu who joined our group as a postdoc. Bhoomi will be working on the role of beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) administration as a potential chemoprevention strategy in Lynch syndrome. Additionally, welcome to Rohan Gala, an undergraduate student at Penn, who joined our group and will be working on laboratory projects focused on Lynch syndrome.
Work from our group published in Gut Microbes examined microbiome and metabolomic signatures in colonic polyposis patients with and without a known genetic driver, allowing us to develop microbiome/metabolomic prediction models for colonic polyposis. This was an exciting collaborative project with the Ni Lab at UTSW.
December 2024
Welcome to Samantha "Sammy" Kasselman and Lauren Cuff, both Master's in Genetic Counseling graduate students, who joined our group to conduct their thesis research. Sammy will be focused on the prevalence and stability of pancreatic lesions on imaging in individuals at high-risk for pancreatic cancer. Lauren will be focusing on knowledge about CMMRD amongst individuals with Lynch syndrome.
New work from our group, just published in Cancer, determines pancreatic cancer risk among women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation in the largest prospectively followed cohort to date. This work will provide important data to the field that will enable BRCA1/2 carriers to make informed decisions about their screening.
November 2024
Congratulations to Danielle (Daniela) Mirda, who published an incredibly important manuscript on the colonic neoplasia detection rate in Lynch syndrome. This work will be important for providing "ballpark" neoplasia detection rates to clinicians performing endoscopic surveillance in Lynch syndrome.
September 2024
Congratulations to Ariana Majer on publishing the most comprehensive review-to-date about the rapidly expanding role of menin in cancer. This review is a true tour de force, and is a must-read for anyone wanting to learn more about this field.
August 2024
We were thrilled to be able to contribute to this special curated collection of manuscripts in Familial Cancer focused on hereditary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. This is the first review ever to address the important topic of cost-effectiveness of pancreatic cancer surveillance in high-risk individuals.
June 2024
Welcome to Linda Zhu, an undergraduate student at Penn, who joined our group and will be working on laboratory projects focused on hereditary gastric cancer risk. Excitingly Linda was awarded a spot in Penn's Undergraduate Student Scholars (USSP) Program for the summer of 2024!
May 2024
Our group was well represented at DDW in Washington DC where we had three abstracts presented, including an oral presentation by Daniela Mirda, who presented on colonic neoplasia detection rates in Lynch syndrome. Daniela was able to present in the hereditary GI cancer abstract session that Bryson was able to moderate with Fay Kastrinos.
April 2024
Welcome to Sara Karley who joined our group as a Clinical Research Coordinator A. Sarah will be working on clinical studies focused on pancreatic cancer early detection.
January 2024
Welcome to Grace Snyder, a Master's in Genetic Counseling graduate student, who joined our group and will be examining reasons for pancreatic surveillance discontinuation amongst individuals at high risk of pancreatic cancer.