T32 Trainees

Isabel Breuer

Advised by Kristen Lynch, PhD

Project: T cell signaling and cancer

Currently:  Isabel is continuing her Phd studies in Kristen Lynch's lab.

Shannon McGettigan, PhD

Advised by David Allman, PhD

Project: Investigating survival mechanisms in normal and malignant plasma cells.

Awards: CRI Postdoctoral Fellowship

Currently: Shannon continues her post-doctoral studies under the guidance of Dr. Dave Allman.

Rumeysa, Biyik-Sit, PhD

Advised by Kai Tan, PhD

Project: The role of tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-derived HB-EGF in high-risk neuroblastoma chemoresistance

Currently: Rumeysa continues her post-doctoral studies under the guidance of Dr. Kai Tan.

Grant Kinsler, PhD

Advised by Arjun Raj, PhD

Project:  Probing the functional effects of oncogenes at the single cell level 

Currently: Grant continues his post-doctoral studies under the guidance of Dr. Arjun Raj.

 Charles Drummer IV, PhD

Advised by Andrei Thomas-Tikhonenko, PhD

Project: Neuroblastoma-specific isoforms of receptor protein tyrosine phosphatases as immunotherapy targets

Currently: Charles continues his post-doctoral studies under the guidance of Dr. Andrei Thomas-Tikhonenko.

Ben Kahn, PhD

Advised by Ben Stanger, MD, PhD

Project: The lymph node is an intrinsically tolerant site for metastasis

Currently: Ben completed his PhD and continues his post-doctoral studies under the guidance of Dr. Ben Stanger.

Samantha Kemp, PhD

Advised by Ben Stanger, MD, PhD

Project: Using a cancer-on-a-chip approach to study the pancreatic cancer tumor microenvironment 

Current Position: Scientist, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Tatiana Blanchard, PhD

Advised by Beatriz Carreno, PhD & Carl June, MD

Project: Translocation induced LOXHD1 is an immunological target for Ewing Sarcoma

Current Position: Co-Founder & CEO Laurel Biotherapeutics

Andrew Rech, M.D., PhD

Advised by Carl June

Project: Overcoming barriers for successful CAR T cell therapy in solid tumors.

Current Position: Instructor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University Of Pennsylvania

Amber Hamilton, PhD

Advised by John Maris, MD

Project: Multiomics to discover and validate immunotherapies in pediatric cancers

Kelly Rome, PhD

Advised by Will Bailis, PhD

Project:  Elucidating the role of Branched-Chain Amino Acid metabolism in T cell immunity

Laura Kim, PhD

Advised by Celeste Simon, PhD

Project: Competition for Arginine between HCC tumor and immune cells

Awards: American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship

Nicholas Lesner, PhD

Advised by Celeste Simon, PhD

Project: Hepatic Urea Cycle Function in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Awards: Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship (Accepted)

Khoa Tran, PhD

Advised by Shelley Berger, PhD

Project: Investigation of chromatin dynamics underlying cellular senescence.   

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Tufts University

Divij Matthew, PhD

Advised by E. John Wherry, PhD

Project: Pembrolizumab with delayed Itacitinib pulse for first line treatment of metastatic lung cancer

Current Position: Research Associate of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gregory Schwartz, MD, PhD

Advised by R. Babak Faryabi, PhD, & Warren Pear, MD, PhD

Project: Deconvoluting the hierarchy of single cell communities

Current Position:  Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre & Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

Neil Sullivan, PhD

Advised by Steven Albelda, MD

Project: Characterization of tumor NK cell subsets from early-stage NSCLC patients 

Current Position: R&D Senior Scientist: Immuno-Oncology

Joseph Pereira (Perry), PhD

Advised by Christopher Hunter, PhD

Project: PD-L1 –PD-1 interactions limit effector Treg cell populations at homeostasis and during infection 

Current Position: Post-doc, Sharpe Lab, Harvard University 

Philip Rommel, PhD

Advised by Carl June, MD

Project: Enhancing tumor infiltration of CAR T cells through the expression of RUNX3

Current Position: Research Associate, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Derek Oldridge, M.D., PhD

Advised by E. John Wherry, PhD

Project: Spatial profiling of the solid tumor immune microenvironment at single cell resolution

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania