Team Members

Current Faculty Leaders

Sunil Singhal, MD (2007-present) is the William M. Measey Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Vice Chair, Translational Research, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania and received post-graduate training at Johns-Hopkins and University of Pennsylvania. His research interests in nanotechnology, intraoperative immune suppression, muscle physiology, patient outcome, myeloid derived suppressor cells, and gene-expression and profiling are what drives the laboratories’ core experimental philosophy.

Evgeniy Eruslanov, PhD (2013-present) Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Eruslanov is a tumor immunologist with a research focus on myeloid derived cells, focusing on the complex interaction between immune cells and the tumor microenvironment. His work has been internationally cited for his contribution to neutrophil biology.

Current Lab Members

Venu Gopal Bandi, PhD (2019 - present) is a Research Assistant Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine. He earned his M.S. in Organic Chemistry in 2007 from the Osmania University in India. After working for 1 year in the India’s leading paint manufacturing company, Asian Paints, he worked for 3 years in pharmaceutical industries, including Biocon, Avigna, and Bharavi laboratories. Then, he moved to Denton, TX to pursue his Doctorate in Organic Chemistry from the University of North Texas. There, he developed numerous fluorescent dyes, including aza-Bodipy, Bodipy, Porphyrin, Phthalocyanince, and Subphthalocyanine, to mimic natural photosynthesis. He studied their biological applications under the guidance of Dr. Francis D’Souza and earned his Ph.D. in 2016. After, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Dr. Martin Schnermann’s lab at the NCI (NIH), Frederick, MD. There, he developed novel cyanine dyes and their bioconjugates for various applications in NIR-I to NIR-II (SWIR) region. His current research at Perelman school of medicine is focus on developing NIR-I and NIR-II dyes and their small molecule drug conjugates for targeted molecular imaging. His goal is to make cancer surgery more efficient and affordable to improve patient outcomes. Venu.bandi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
 

Azra Din, MPH, BS (2018 - present) is a Project Manager to Dr. Sunil Singhal in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from Temple University with a Master in Public Health (in Health Administration and Policy) and a B.S. in Neuroscience. She has experience researching vitamin D deficiency and cell culture at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She currently manages Dr. Singhal’s INDs and studies for Lung, Pituitary, Urology, Colorectal, Otorhinolaryngology, and Gastrointestinal malignancies. In addition, she is a surgical scribe in Dr. Singhal’s clinic. Her career goal is to become a Clinical Research Director.

Katherine Ortmeyer, MD (2023 - present) is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Surgery. She graduated from Princeton University in 2014 with her B.A. in Architecture and completed medical school at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in 2021. She has completed 2 years of general surgery residency at Emory University and is now studying intraoperative molecular imaging in the Thoracic Surgery Research lab at the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Singhal. Katherine plans to pursue a career in academic thoracic surgery. 

Kelly Anne McGovern MD (2023-present) is a third-year general surgery resident at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed her undergraduate studies studying chemical engineering at the University of Notre Dame and subsequently earned her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. During medical school she focused on health justice and advocacy as well as gynecologic surgical outcomes based on social determinants of health. She joined the Singhal lab after completing her first two years of residency. She is interested in studying intraoperative molecular imaging and improving surgical outcomes for patients with lung cancer. Kelly plans to pursue academic thoracic surgery.
 

Jake Mlakar, BS (2022 - present) is a Chemistry PhD Student with a concentration in Biological Chemistry. He earned his B.S. in Biochemistry in 2020 from The Ohio State University. There, under the guidance of Dr. Zachary Schultz,  Jake performed research on monosaccharide detection utilizing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Currently, he is developing novel cancer therapeutics and intraoperative imaging agents for fluorescence-guided surgery.
 

Emily Guo, BA (2022 - present) is a Measey Surgical Scholar in the Department of Surgery. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar with a B.A. in Biology with a Concentration in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Chemistry. As an undergraduate, she worked on projects investigating CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder (CDD), an X-linked neurodevelopmental condition caused by mutations in a gene encoding a serine/threonine kinase. She submitted a thesis for her work on a phosphoproteomics project investigating CDKL5’s role in synaptic development and maintenance for which she received honors in her major. She plans to attend medical school.

Michael Brown, BS/BA (2023 - present) is a Research Specialist and Lab Manager in the University of Pennsylvania Department of Surgery. He graduated the University of Delaware in 2019 with a BA in Biological Sciences and a BS in Finance. He manages the surgical department research lab while also participating in immunological and oncological imaging research. Michael plans to enter medical school for a career in surgery. 
 

Adam Honig-Frand, BA (2023 - present) is a Measey Scholar in the Department of Surgery. He graduated from Penn in 2023 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science, specializing in Cognitive Neuroscience. He completed his honors thesis on the connection between sleep and stress within the lateral parabrachial nucleus using optogenetic and fiber photometry techniques. He studies the tumor microenvironment in lung cancer within the Thoracic Surgery Research lab at Penn. Adam plans to pursue a career in medicine.

 

Andres Bermudez, BSE (2023 - present) is a Measey Surgical Scholar in the Department of Surgery. He graduated from Duke University in 2023 with his B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry. As an undergraduate, he pursued several research projects studying cancer and immunology, completing a senior thesis on the immune response generated in vivo by peptide nanofiber biomaterials. Andres plans to pursue a career in academic surgery and is interested in oncology and immunotherapies.
 

Ryan Krouse, BS (2023 - present) is a Measey Surgical Scholar in the Department of Surgery. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2023 with a B.S. in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. There, he also conducted research through the Department of Orthopedics, analyzing bone regenerative properties in translational models. Ryan is currently studying immunotherapy techniques within the context of pulmonary oncology at the Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratory. His goal is to pursue a career in surgery.