Graduate Students

Research Advisor:

Justin Wilson

Research Advisor:

Megha Padi, PhD

Research Topic:

Identifying unique mechanisms of APC wild-type Colorectal Cancer through network biology

Selected Publications:

Research Advisor:

Carlos Caulin

Research Advisor:

Gregory Rogers

Research Topic: 

Research Advisors:

Curtis Thorne

Andrew Paek

Research Topic:

Selected Publications: 

Research Advisor:

Emmanuel Katsanis

Research Topic: 

Cancer immunotherapy; hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; pediatric oncology 

Selected Publications:

Selected Publications:

Jumpstarting My Journey Toward Conquering Cancer with ASCO’s Oncology Summer Internship; Andres F. Diaz, MS; ASCO Connection; Alexandria, VA; 2023.

Duan S, Sawyer TW, Sontz RA, Wieland BA, Diaz AF, Merchant JL. GFAP-directed Inactivation of Men1 Exploits Glial Cell Plasticity in Favor of Neuroendocrine Reprogramming. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022;14(5):1025-1051.

Research Advisor:

Joyce Schroeder

Research Topics:

The role of nuclear epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cell migration for the promotion of wound healing and cancer metastasis

Selected Publications: 

Research Advisor:

Juanita Merchant

Research Topic:

Tumor suppressor Protein, Menin; Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs); MEN1 gene; phosphorylation and post-translational modifications; EGFR and cAMP signaling pathways; nuclear-cytoplasmic trafficking; gastrin gene regulation; proteasomal degradation; kinase-substrate interactions; cancer cell signaling; transcriptional repression

Selected Publications:

Research Advisor:

Geoffrey Gurtner

Research Advisor:

Noel Warfel

Research Topic:

Research Advisor:

Jennifer Carew

Research Advisor:

Steffan Nawrocki

Research Advisors:

Swarna Ganesh

Alexander McGhee

Research Topic:

Research Advisors: 

Cynthia Miranti

Ghassan Mouneimne

Research Topic:

Research Advisor:

Noel Warfel

Research Topic:

Selected Publications:

Research Advisor:

Cynthia Miranti

Research Topic: 

Basal to Luminal Cell Differentiation in Prostate Cancer

Selected Publications:

Research Advisor:

Ghassan Mouneimne

Research Advisor:

Alfred Bothwell

Research Topic:

Investigating the role of trogocytosis in immune antigen acquisition by renal tumor cells.

Selected Presentations:

Poster presentation: 18^th Annual Frontiers in Immunobiology and Immunopathogenesis Symposium, March 2023, Tucson, Renal Cancer Cells Acquire Immune Surface Proteins Through Trogocytosis

Research Advisor:

George Sutphin

Research Topic:

FOXO dynamics in starvation-induced differential stress resistance

Selected Presentations:

“Copper hormesis in Caenorhabditis elegans” AGE, San Antonio, TX. 2022.

Research Advisor:

Curtis Thorne

Research Topic:

Research Advisor:

Anne Cress

Research Advisor:

Kelvin Pond

Research Topic:

How signaling dynamics and mechanical environments influence stem cell commitment in normal and tumor-derived colonic organoids.

Research Advisor:

Anne Cress

Research Advisor:

Carlos Caulin

Research Topic:

Selected Presentations: 

Research Advisor:

Alfred Bothwell

Research Topic:

Investigation of alternative pathways of Dikkopf-1 in promoting tumor formation and progression

Selected Awards/Honors:

Nevada Undergraduate Research Award, The University of Nevada, Reno, 2019

Research Advisor:

Carlos Caulin

Research Topic:

Research Advisor:

Steffan Nawrocki

Research Advisor:

Samuel Campos

Koenraad Van Doorslaer

Research Topic:

Determining the impact of oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPVs) on the DNA-sensing, cGAS/STING, pathway.

Selected Publications:

Research Advisor:

Cynthia Miranti

Research Topic:

Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition in Prostate Cancer

Selected Publications:

Research Advisor:

Megha Padi and Gregory Rogers

Research Topic:

Detecting chromothripsis in a centrosome-depleted prostate cell line.

Investigating the tumorigenesis and neuroendocrine transition mechanism of Merkel cell carcinoma

Selected Publications:

Zhang T, Yang J, Vaikari VP, et al. Apolipoprotein C2 - CD36 Promotes Leukemia Growth and Presents a Targetable Axis in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Blood Cancer Discov. 2020.

Research Advisor:

Juanita Merchant