Alums

Sara Rubin, MD

Hi! I’m Sara Rubin, a first year graduate student in the MD-PhD Program at Harvard Medical School, as of 2017; and a SUPERS 2011 alumna. I recently completed my preclinical studies in the Health Sciences & Technology (HST) MD Program, and I am beginning my PhD in Immunology. Broadly, my research interests are in investigating immune cell development and function in the context of human disease. I am particularly interested in cancer immunology, transplant immunology, and neuroimmunology, and I look forward to exploring these interests further during my upcoming rotations.

SUPERS@Penn was my first experience in basic science research and when I was introduced to the option of combining medical and graduate studies through pursuing an MD-PhD. I have fond memories of my SUPERS summer, both in and outside of the lab, including seeing my first successful immunohistochemical stain under the microscope and spending time with my SUPERS friends at Dave & Buster’s courtesy of Siemens. Participating in SUPERS@Penn sparked my interest in training to become a physician-scientist, and I have greatly appreciated the continued support of my SUPERS mentors and friends.
Recent Publications: 

•  
Metabolite concentrations, fluxes and free energies imply efficient enzyme usage. (Nat Chem., 2016)
•  2 Minute Medicine, (Cambridge MA, 2016)

Joseph Benci, PhD

An original 2010, 2011 SUPERS student, Joe Benci went on to attain his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, in Dr. Andy Minn's Lab here at UPenn. As of fall 2017, he is a postdoc in Dr. Minn's lab in the Department of Radiation Oncology. 
Recent publications include:

Mitotic progression following DNA damage enables pattern recognition within micronuclei (Nature, 2017)

• Exosome RNA Unshielding Couples Stromal Activation to Pattern Recognition Receptor Signaling in Cancer (Cell, 2017)
• Nuclear Acetyl-CoA Production by ACLY Promotes Homologous Recombination (Mol Cell, 2017)
• Tumor Interferon Signaling Regulates a Multigenic Resistance Program to Immune Checkpoint Blockade (Cell, 2016)

Calla Shubin

As of Fall 2017, I am a third year PhD candidate in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology PhD Program (BCMB) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I am pursuing my degree in Dr. Carol Greider’s lab, where I study telomerase regulation during DNA replication using yeast as a model system. I was awarded the NSF GRFP in the Spring of 2016.

Now that I have passed my qualification exam in graduate school, I can look back on the chalk talks that we gave halfway through our summer in the SUPERS program and appreciate the significance of practicing this skill early on in my SUPERS summer. It was fun to learn about everyone’s projects and to learn how different labs ask questions with their own perspectives and techniques. SUPERS 2014 alumna.

Mailene L. King

As of 2017 I am currently located in Nashville, TN. My research interests include: Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal Proteins. My teaching experience: Graduate Teaching Assistant- Lab Instructor for Introductory Biology (Non-majors), General Biology (Majors), and Cell Biology (Majors)

Remembrance of SUPERS 2011 : Being given a chance to learn various techniques outside of my university. Overall: Networking and personal relationships, Bridging Communities, Peer-Networking, Peer-Mentoring, Senior Scientist Interesting, Collaborations.

Dayton McMillian

As of 2017 I am currently in Boston, MA. Beginning my 3rd year in MD program at Harvard Medical School. Currently finishing up my primary clinical year and getting ready to start into electives. Also starting research with radiation oncology group at Mass General Hospital working on topics in pediatric proton therapy.

SUPERS!: Was a tremendous opportunity to get together with other young students with interests in medical science, and figuring out how research and academic inquiry fit into our life plans (while having a pretty fun summer too!). Provided great perspective on the research process, and was a valuable chance to meet fun people all along the career track ranging from graduate students, post-docs, to faculty, helping us SUPERs figure out where we could possibly contribute in such a system. SUPERS 2012, 2013 alumnus.

Recent Publications:
Korean pediatric and adult head computational phantoms and application to photon specific absorbed fractions calculations. (Radiat Prot Dosimetry, 2017)

• Validation of calculation algorithms for organdoses in CT by measurements on a 5 year old paediatric phantom. (Phys Med Biol., 2016)

Christopher Wang

As of 2017, I am entering my 3rd year at Yale and am still working in the Schoelkopf group. Most recently I am involved in a project that involves experimentally demonstrating the teleportation of a quantum gate between two logical qubits. The larger vision of the lab is to demonstrate the building blocks of a modular quantum network of qubits for scalable quantum computation. My favorite SUPERS memory is definitely our canoe trip. 2013 SUPERS alumnus.

Recent Publication:
Deterministic teleportation of a quantum gate between two logical qubits (Nature, 2018)

Maximilain Schaettler

As of Fall 2017, I am entering my third year in the MD/PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. Having finished the preclinical years of medical school, I am now pursuing my PhD in Immunology in the lab of Dr. Gavin Dunn, focusing upon tumor immunology with the goal of developing improved immune-based therapies for the treatment of malignant gliomas.

SUPERS (2013, 2014) was a tremendous experience that really introduced me to both basic and translational research. My two summers spent working in the lab of an MD/PhD at SUPERS convinced me to pursue the dual degree for the many opportunities it provides. In addition, I made some great friends over the course of the two summers at Penn, many of whom I still talk to today.

Deborah Ajayi, PhD (formerly Ayeni)

Deborah Ajayi (formerly Ayeni) obtained her PhD in Experimental Pathology from Yale University in 2017. Her research explored the determinants of response to cancer therapies, why patients relapse and how to harness a patient’s immune system to prolong responses. Shortly after graduation, she worked at the Catholic Medical Mission Board, a non-profit global health organization, where she contributed to their mission of strengthening health systems and sustainable growth in developing countries. Deborah is motivated to build a career in global public health focused on chronic diseases such as cancer. She credits her interest in cancer research and her terrific PhD experience to the training she had as a SUPERS student in 2010. She added that working with Dr. Constantinos Koumenis’ dynamic research group opened a new world of biomedical research, which she had never experienced before. 

Recent Publications: 

• Afatinib plus Cetuximab Delays Resistance Compared to Single-Agent Erlotinib or Afatinib in Mouse Models of TKI-Naïve EGFR L858R-Induced Lung Adenocarcinoma. (Clin Cancer Res., 2016)
• Emerging Agents and New Mutations in EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancer. (Clin Cancer Res., 2015)
• The Next Wave of EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Enter the Clinic. (Cancer Cell, 2015)
• Julia-Kocienski Approach to Trifluoromethyl-Substituted Alkenes1. (Tetrahedron Left, 2013)

James S. Weltz

As of 2017, I am currently entering my fifth year as a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department. My advisers are Dr. Joel Kaar and Dr. Dan Schwartz. As a member of these groups, I am using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to investigate the structure and dynamics of enzymes at solid-liquid interfaces. Specifically, I am interested in the mechanisms that cause protein denaturation on surfaces, which is important for the safety of protein-based therapeutics, the immune response of biomaterial implants, and the sensitivity of enzyme based sensors. I have published one paper on my PhD work so far.
My first experience using a microscope was in the lab of Dr. Cameron Koch during my time as a SUPERS student. I was using a hemocytometer to quantify the number of cells in a suspension, and I broke the hemocytomer (sorry Cam!). I can honestly say my skills have improved since that time, thanks in part to the experience I gained at Penn.
When I am not in lab, I try to get into Colorado's beautiful backcountry. My picture was taken outside of Aspen Colorado, where I enjoy climbing up and snowboarding down the Elk Mountain Range.
Recent Publication:

• Surface-Mediated Protein Unfolding as a Search Process for Denaturing Sites (ASC Nano, 2016)