Lab members

From left to right: Aparna Ranganathan, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow), Wen Huei-Chi, MD (Graduate Student), Denis Schewe, MD (Postdoctoral Fellow), Bibiana Iglesias (Research Support Specialist), Alejandro Adam, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow), Sharon Sequeira, MSc (Graduate Student) and Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, PhD (PI). For other present and past lab members, see below.

Studies the mechanisms of ERK and p38 signaling-mediated regulation of metastatic growth and dormancy in vivo using novel signaling reporters and gene arrays. Also studies the contribution of endoplasmic reticulum-signaling to cancer dormancy.

Wen is interested in the mechanisms that define lumen formation in ducts and alveoli of mammary gland. He is particularly interested in how stress signaling intersects with the field of adhesion signaling and polarity. He is exploring how the outcome of these signals shape tissue organization and the early onset of breast cancer.

Studies the mechanisms by which endoplasmic reticulum signaling regulates cell fate in head and neck and mammary cancers. She also is the lab expert in the chicken embryo CAM system for studying growth of primary tumors and metastases.

Recipient of a 2005 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) NIH Fellowship to study the mechanisms of cancer dormancy and drug resistance of dormant cancer regulated by endoplasmic reticulum signaling. She also studies how p38 controls post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and tumor growth through mRNA binding proteins.

Denis is the recipient of a 2006 German Cancer Society Fellowship to study the signal transduction mechanisms regulating quiescence and stress resistance of head and neck cancer cells and multiple myeloma. In particular he is interested in the link between ER-stress and proteasome inhibitors used in the clinic.

Recipient of a 2005 Best Poster Award during Poster Day, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health for studies on Anchorage-independent growth and stress signaling through the endoplasmic reticulum. Studies how integrin signaling might control cell fate through the regulation of stress signals originated in the endoplasmic reticulum signaling machinery.

Past Lab members

Tara rotated for a year in the lab and worked on the regulation of mRNA binding protein shuttling caused by ER-stress. She was also interested in how modulation of ER-stress signaling pathways might affect tumor growth.

Rotated in the lab when he was a student at Bethlehem High School, NY. Awarded High Honors in Bio Med II during the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, Ballston, NY for his studies on the metastatic capacity of cells in which p38 signaling was ablated. Presently at at the University of Maryland - College Park, College of Chemical and Life Sciences.

Lin worked as a Research Support specialist. Her work focused on the chick embryo CAM system and phenotypic changes of tumor cells. She also worked on the mechanisms of drug resistance of dormant tumor cells, specifically on how BiP/Grp78 signaling regulates chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis. Presently at Yale University, CT.

Worked on the contribution of PERK signaling to tumor growth.

Studied the regulation of the chaperone BiP/Grp78 during tumor growth.

For other pictures of the lab's activities please click here