Current Students H-K

I was born in Central Ohio and raised in both North Canton, Ohio and Vienna, Austria. Following my graduation from Hoover High School I attended The Ohio State University, where I enrolled in the Undergraduate Biomedical Science Program and completed a Bachelor of Science in Health & Rehabilitation Sciences in 2015. Throughout my college experience I helped provide free weeklong summer camps for kids whose parents have been affected by cancer through Camp Kesem OSU, consulted the SAS institute, Federal Communications Commission, and Weinland Park Community as a Buckeye Leadership Fellow, and promoted the liberty of the physician-patient relationship through the OSU Chapter of the Benjamin Rush Foundation. I joined the lab of Dr. Gustavo Leone of the Department of Molecular Genetics at The Ohio State University in late 2011, and began a Pelotonia-funded research project in 2013 that I continued throughout my senior year. My project focused on the genetics of the tumor microenvironment and sought to elucidate tumor-signaling networks through a genome-wide screen in Caenorhabditis elegans. The project identified multiple candidate genes that, upon validation, could provide clinically relevant targets in the tumor microenvironments of Ras-driven cancers, and culminated in a senior honors thesis titled “Novel stromal-derived oncogenic signals enhance Ras-mediated cell proliferation,” research presentations at the Pelotonia Fellowship Symposium in Columbus, Ohio and Health Sciences Innovation Conference in Mumbai, India, and an honorable mention placement at the Denman Research Forum. In the summer following graduation I worked in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil at the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto under the guidance of Dr. Eduardo Rego of the Department of Hematology. The research project focused on the effects of post-sepsis on melanoma progression. My clinical experience include a summer internship in The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Department of Internal Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Michael Grever, and a weeklong clinical research project on HIV/Tuberculosis co-infections in rural Guatemala. My research and clinical experiences have motivated me to ultimately bridge the medical and scientific fields as a physician scientist to create treatments and hope for individuals who previously had no viable treatment options. I have a particular interest in microRNAs in cancer and am excited to begin my training with the knowledgeable and talented faculty at Ohio State.

I was born about 2.5 miles from OSU’s campus and grew up just north of Columbus in Dublin, OH. I attended Ohio State University for my undergraduate studies and earned my bachelor’s in microbiology in May 2019. During my undergraduate career, I joined the lab of Dr. Daniel Wozniak whose research group focused on bacterial pathogenesis, biofilm formation, and host-microbe interactions of a variety of pathogens, but with a primary focus on P. aeruginosa in the Cystic Fibrosis lung. During my time in the Wozniak lab, I primarily supported a project that sought to understand the pathoadaption strategies of P. aeruginosa and biofilm formation in a chronic wound environment. The experience during this time really launched me down a path of seeking to understand microbial communities in greater detail. In my post-bac career, I was fortunate to secure a position at NASA working at the Johnson Space Center working on microbial fouling mitigation for space life support systems. I was able to support numerous projects characterizing dynamic microbial communities that live onboard the international space station and advise engineers on methods to reduce microbial risk to spacecraft systems. After leaving NASA, I joined the lab of Dr. Kevin Mason and Nationwide Children’s where I studied nutrient acquisition mechanisms and biofilm formation of non-typeable Haemophilus influenza (NTHI) in context of Otitis Media (middle ear infection). Currently, I am a second-year student in the BSGP program working in the lab of Dr. Justin Kaspar, whose research focus on microbial community dynamics and carbohydrate utilization of oral Streptococci.

For my undergraduate training I attended the University of Minnesota Twin Cities where I double majored in biochemistry and physiology. As a college freshman I became intrigued by the highly synchronized and resilient biochemical program involved in DNA replication, and joined Dr. Anja Bielinsky’s lab investigating this process. Throughout my 4.5 years in the lab, I was involved in several projects and gained experience in yeast genetics, bioinformatics, and for my honors thesis, used CRISPR- Cas9 to generate a human knockout cell line for a DNA replication factor whose cellular requirement I investigated. Anja became an invaluable role model and mentor to me, and helped me develop great respect for what it means to do good science. In parallel with conducting biomedical research, I was involved in several clinical settings throughout college, completing EMT-Basic training, serving as a medical scribe and critical care recorder in the emergency department of a level 1 trauma center, and working as an anatomy lab TA. These experiences helped me recognize what a remarkable privilege it is to be with patients and people during extraordinary and vulnerable moments in their existence. I became inspired by connections I saw between research and medicine; first, that a rigorous understanding of our molecular circuitry better enables advances that make patients’ lives better. But even more so, I saw that the logic of nature and molecular symphonies we seek to understand in the lab synchronize and converge on astounding scales to create living human beings and patients whose emotions, experiences, and stories are an immense privilege to be a part of in medicine. Seeing the beauty of our existence as a fundamental connection between research and medicine forms the basis of my calling to be a physician investigator. I’m currently an MSTP student at OSU and have many research interests including cancer immunotherapy, brain and spinal cord injury, and immunology, particularly in emerging laboratory techniques and therapies that are well poised to comprehensively address the incredible diversity and complexity of human cells.

I am from Portland, Oregon, and am graduating from Oregon State University with a Honors bachelor's in Microbiology with a minor in Chemistry (Spring 2020). For 3 years of my undergraduate education, I conducted research in Dr. Kristin Trippe's USDA-ARS laboratory, where I developed a bacterial bioluminescent sensor of isothiocyanates and created new detection protocols. This research primarily focused on controlling the expression of the luxCDABE gene with an inducible promoter region to detect residual products of biofumigation that harm new crop growth. Designing, generating, and testing a solution to a problem was an incredibly exciting aspect of this project. I considered this experience with genetics foundational to my future disease research, as I have always been drawn to the biomedical sciences. For several years, I participated in health-related programs like the Oregon National Primate Research Center's Onco-fertility Program, where I was assigned cancer patient cases and had to use current knowledge to propose treatment plans for their fertility. Dianna Fitzgerald, a medical technician at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), mentored me for 6 years in microbiology and we conducted a variety of small-scale projects on P. fluorescens, microbial identification and surface disinfectants. Throughout my college career, I continued to narrow down my interests after taking virology and immunology as elective coursework until ultimately applying for graduate school. I am excited to pursue my PhD in Ohio State University's Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and I hope to make contributions to the pursuit of translational medicine with this institute's exceptional faculty and resources.

I am from Albion, NY, a small town in western New York. I attended St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York where I obtained a B.S. in Biochemistry in 2021. During my undergraduate studies I tried to improve the accuracy of the COVID-19 saliva test that was being used on campus under the direction of Dr. Kevon Callahan. Following graduation, I began working at the University of Rochester in Dr. Peng Yao’s laboratory as a laboratory technician. While there I purified the novel mitochondrial membrane protein FAM210A and subsequently published this research as well as helped my fellow lab members with their research. I then began focusing on studying an RNA binding protein and how it related to the cell cycle progression and cell proliferation in various cancer types. This experience and my interest in further studying cancer biology led me to pursue a PhD at OSU. While here I hope to join a cancer focused lab and work towards helping improve the lives of patients in the clinic.

I was raised in Beavercreek, Ohio. I attended Brigham Young University where I was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in bioinformatics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian. I also completed minors in computer science and music. During my time at BYU, I had various opportunities which exposed me to different perspectives of medical research. In summer 2018 I was a bioinformatics intern in Riga, Latvia at the Biomedical Research and Study Centre studying prostate cancer using RNA-seq data. In August 2018, I began working with Dr. Samuel Payne in the Biology Department of Brigham Young University. Our project focuses on cancer mutations and their effects on the proteome and phosphoproteome of endometrial cancer patients. This project is in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Analysis Consortium. Our findings will be useful in precision medicine to customize treatments for individual cases of cancer. That same year, I also co-led a team of undergraduate researchers on a project analyzing drug reactions of breast cancer patients from the TCGA databank. We focused on varying reactions to specific drugs based on mutation as well as copy-number variants. These experiences have inspired me to pursue a career in cancer research. My specific interests include cancer biology, genetics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and machine-learning. I am looking forward to being part of this program and being trained by its exceptional faculty.

I was born and raised in Taiwan. I earned my bachelor's and master's degrees both in pharmacy. In the last year of the graduate stage, I learned bioinformatics and was attracted by the concept of computational biology, so I decide to dedicate myself to this research direction while pursuing my Ph.D. degree. After graduating, I work as a research assistant and I participated in many projects, such as conducting experiments on virus-induced differential gene expression, modeling viral infectious diseases and developing antiviral therapies. My future fields of research interests will be multi-modal and multi-omics data integrative analyses, focusing on viral diseases.

I'm from Missouri City, TX. I attended Texas A&M University at College Station, TX and graduated twice. On December 2016, I received my Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Genetics. On May 2019, I received my Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences. I matriculated into the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at Ohio State University in June of 2021. My personal research interests are within the basic science behind Immunology and its potential translation into clinical therapies. I am also interested in the wide range of bioinformatics and its real-life applications on both the bench-side and bed-side.

I was born in Xiamen, China, and moved around the U.S. until finally settling in Beavercreek, Ohio, where I attended high school. Afterwards, I completed my undergraduate studies in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I knew I wished to pursue medicine since I was young but didn't realize I had an interest in research until my time at Vanderbilt, where I spent working at the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery focusing on preclinical studies in drug discovery and development in neuropsychiatric disorders and at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis focusing on the genetic basis of nicotine dependence. Such experiences were instrumental in my decision to pursue MD/PhD training. My PhD advisor is Dr. Paul Janssen of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, and I will be studying the physiologic and molecular underpinnings of human heart failure.

My name is Jiali Huang, and I am from Heyuan, a small city in Guangdong Province, southern China. I graduated with a master’s degree in pathophysiology, focusing on cardiovascular diseases, from Sun Yat-sen University in June 2024. Following that, I moved to Columbus, a beautiful city, to pursue my PhD under the guidance of Professor Fu, where I am studying the modulation of mRNA. I am deeply interested in exploring unknown areas by learning new knowledge and technologies and am passionate about understanding the mechanisms behind clinical diseases. I hope to make significant progress in my research and in my life while studying in Columbus.

I was raised in Chesterville, Ohio. I attended Ohio State University’s Marion Branch where I was awarded my Bachelor's of Science in Biology Pre-Med Summa Cum Laude with research distinction in molecular genetics in May 2021. Beginning college as a high school student, I spent 3 years conducting molecular genetics research under Dr. Ruben C. Petreaca. This research primarily focused on investigating the DNA double strand break repair pathways. In the Petreaca laboratory, we generated an assay to study intrachromosomal deletions. During my senior year, I was a Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellow of The James: The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Under this fellowship, I designed, engineered, and tested an in vivo assay in the model system Schizosaccharomyces pombe to study most forms of homologous recombination, the major repair mechanism of double strand breaks. This assay was uniquely able to report the contribution of all recombination sub-pathways, both error-proof and error-prone, simultaneously. The hands-on experience I had with cancer research in the Petreaca laboratory and time volunteering with Pelotonia left a great impact on my desire to pursue a higher education in cancer and genetics research. I am excited to pursue my PhD in Ohio State University’s Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. Understanding the need for cancer research, I look forward to training with its outstanding faculty and contributing to translational medicine.

I am from Camas, WA. I attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT where I completed a Bachelor's of Science degree in Genetics, Genomics, and Biotechnology. In June of 2021, I moved to Columbus to matriculate into the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

I was born in Royal Oaks, Michigan, but grew up in Mansfield, Ohio. I attended The Ohio State University for my undergraduate education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry. I went on to further my education at Georgetown University where I earned my Master of Science in Physiology and Biophysics. After graduation, I returned to The Ohio State University to conduct research with Dr. Karilyn Larkin and Dr. John Byrd in the Experimental Hematology Laboratory. During my two years in the laboratory, I studied the tetraspanin CD37 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and evaluated its potential as a new target for direct therapy. My experiences inspired me to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree, and inspired me to use my education to conduct impactful research that will change the lives of patients.

I am from La Puente, California. I am currently attending California State University, Fullerton, from which I will be graduating in June 2021 with my Bachelor’s of Science in Biological Science. In June 2021, I will be moving to Columbus, Ohio, to pursue my Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences. I am currently not a part of a lab at the Ohio State University; however, I am in Dr. Amybeth Cohen’s plant physiology lab at my current institution. Our research uses the model organism Chlamydomonas Reinhardt, with the goal to investigate photosynthetic gene regulation of C. reinhardt and the role of calcium and light in the induction of D1 protein expression and total cellular protein oxidation. Using different light and calcium treatments, we aim to understand what regulates photosynthesis to improve the quality of oxygen-producing organisms in times of need. We believe that this will be beneficial for agriculture and biofuel production in the future. Although I enjoy the research that I am conducting at the moment, my personal research interests are cancer research. My overall drive is to eventually develop cheaper alternative treatments for patients. My goal is to help minorities and low-income families shift their focus from the economic tolls of cancer to instead focus on caring and being there for their family members.

I am from China and currently work in Dr. Ma Qin's Bioinformatics and Mathematical Biosciences Lab and the Biomedical Informatics Graduate program. I have a master’s degree in bioinformatics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and applied mathematics from the Central South University of China. My research plans are to use a graph signaling system to represent and analyze Spatial transcriptomics data. I had an introductory statistical course during my undergraduate study, and I applied the knowledge I gained in my master's project to qualify for the significant degree of ChiPSeq Motif. I learned C++ programming skills in an undergraduate course and Python in the master's program. For biology, I participated in courses like molecular biology and genomics. I hope to learn more about new biotechnology and build useful tools for the clinic.

I grew up in the Batavia, a far-western suburb of Chicago, and always harbored a passion for science. As an undergraduate I attended Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania where I completed a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry. While at Gettysburg I was able to work with Dr. Ralph Sorensen in investigating autophagy and phagocytosis in B16F10 melanoma cells. In June 2015 I moved to Indianapolis and began work at the Komen Tissue Bank at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center (KTB). The KTB is a unique bio-bank of richly-annotated normal breast tissue donated by healthy women, with matching blood and DNA specimens. At the KTB I was able to work with Dr. Natascia Marino on a number of exciting projects, including identifying molecular alterations in the breast tissue of young women with early menarche. Being a member of the KTB team gave me the opportunity to interact with breast cancer survivors and advocates, which inspired me to continue to work on cancer research with translational applications. I am excited to continue my education at The Ohio State University as a part of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and look forward to learning from the outstanding faculty and students there.

I was born in Chita, Russia but spent most of my life living in Toledo, Ohio. For both undergraduate and graduate studies, I attended the University of Toledo. My undergraduate degree was in biochemistry, where I spent time working in the lab of Dr. John Bellizzi; in the Bellizzi lab, I focused on the synthesis of recombinant methyltransferase proteins that were part of a potential anti-tumor compound biosynthesis pathway. The molecular modeling and data analysis portions of this project spurred my interest in bioinformatics, which ultimately motivated me to pursue a master’s degree in bioinformatics at the University of Toledo Medical Center. It was at UTMC where I worked in the Cognitive Disorders Research Lab under Dr. Robert Smith, with a focus on Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia and the role that protein kinases play in the development of those disorders. Using the classroom and self-taught training in computer programming, I successfully completed my master’s thesis by developing Kinopedia- an application written in R that stores and analyzes various types of protein kinase activity data captured by kinase array. Currently, I’m working primarily with mass spectroscopy data to improve the process of database searching with regards to peptide modification site localization.

I was born in Daegu, South Korea. I received my undergraduate degree majoring in economics and minoring in mathematics from Minnesota State University, Mankato. After graduation, I worked in a healthcare research consulting company and developed data visualization tools. I decided to study more about theory and methodology, and thus I obtained my master’s in mathematics and statistics. My research interests are developing a new methodology using genetic and genomic data. I am pleased to join the BSGP program at OSU and looking forward to learning more from peers and mentors.

I grew up in Corbin, Kentucky. I completed my undergraduate studies in neuroscience at the University of Kentucky, where I focused on traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders. After graduating, I spent a year as a research technician at a biotech startup, where we identified upregulated metabolites in Lobelia cardinalis and tested their effects on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells to study the inhibition of alpha-synuclein neurotoxicity. I’m pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the Ohio State University, working in Dr. Pollock's lab. Our research focuses on liposarcoma, a rare cancer arising from fat tissue. We specifically investigate well-differentiated liposarcoma (WDLPS) and dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS). Our focus is on understanding the aggressive subtype, dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS), which has a high recurrence rate and poor survival outcomes. With current treatments being largely ineffective, our goal is to identify new molecular targets and develop better therapies.

I was born in Brazil, but spent most of my childhood living in Helsinki, Finland. After graduating from high school, I moved to Columbus, Ohio, where I've lived ever since. I attended the Ohio State University for my B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. As an undergraduate student, I was offered the chance to conduct research at Dr. Sameek Roychowdhury's laboratory at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and found that I had a passion for biomedical research. I joined Dr. Roychowdhury's laboratory as a biomedical informatics specialist, and spent two years involved in various projects related to cancer research. At the lab, we have a focus on precision cancer medicine, and have studied translocations and single nucleotide variations using both RNAseq and DNAseq approaches, computational detection of microsatellite instability from NGS data, and mutations that confer resistance to drug treatments. I have recently been assisting with the research autopsy program Dr. Roychowdhury's group oversees and have had a chance to see the extent at which cancer afflicts our patients. I have decided to pursue a doctoral degree in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, since I believe the program will give me the opportunity and experience to become a better researcher, and allow me to learn independent problem-solving and research skills.

I was born in Fort Thomas, Kentucky near the border of Cincinnati, Ohio. I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Hanover College in 2014. In 2013, I received a summer internship at the National Institute of Health in the Lab of Allergic Diseases (LAD). At the LAD, I studied mastocytosis and physical urticarias under Dr. Hirsh Komarow. This internship was my first exposure to clinical research and provided the opportunity to attend rounds, perform experiments, and present my work at the summer research poster day. This experience sparked my combined passion for medicine and research. In 2016, I obtained my Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology at the University of Cincinnati. During my final semester, I started a research project at the Hamilton County Department of Public Health to determine the need for needle exchange programs. This project involved reaching out to newly diagnosed individuals in the county and providing a brief survey to determine potential exposure sources, including the use of injection needles. Through these various experiences in medicine and research, I have discovered an interest in immunology and virology. During my time at The Ohio State University, I look forward to studying these fields at length alongside the passionate researchers and physicians here.

I grew up in LaPorte, Indiana. For college, I moved 2 hours east to attend Purdue University-Fort Wayne, majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in psychology. In undergrad, I was fortunate enough to land a position on Dr. Liliya Frolova’s research team and researched the antibacterial properties of azaindole derivatives. I always enjoyed science labs, but my time in Dr. Frolova’s lab solidified my desire to make research my career. When I started my graduate career at The Ohio State University, I didn’t have an exact research topic in mind, but I knew I wanted to rotate at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. In April of 2024, I committed to Dr. John Kelly’s lab in the Center of Regenerative Medicine. The Kelly lab, in collaboration with Breuer lab, developed an ovine model of Fontan palliation. My project primarily focuses on the long term effects the Fontan surgery has on the liver (Fontan Associated Liver Disease or FALD). I am using various imaging modalities, ultrasound and MRI, as well as performing histology and sequencing on liver tissue samples to determine the time course of FALD.

I was born and raised in South Korea until moving to the States in high school. I graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology. I worked as a Research Technician at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center until I start my PhD journey at the Ohio State University. I am currently working at Dr. Joyce Wu lab, studying T cells in the context of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I hope to further my experience in the biomedical research field.

I grew up in rural southwestern Minnesota and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue an undergraduate degree in biochemistry. While there, I developed a passion for research studying viral oncology and Epstein-Barr virus pathogenesis in the lab of Dr. Bill Sugden. I graduated with a B.S. in biochemistry in May of 2023 and moved to Columbus in June of 2023 as a student in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. I joined the lab of Dr. Andy Gunderson who studies pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and tertiary lymphoid structures in antitumor immunity. I am specifically interested in CAF heterogeneity in the tumor microenvironment and working on strategies to direct these phenotypes towards immune responses that antagonize tumor progression. I hope to pursue novel and effective therapeutic combinations to combat the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer for afflicted patients.”

I was born in Henan province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. I have a Bachelor of Engineering in Bioengineering from the China Pharmaceutical University, and then obtained a Master of Engineering degree at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. After that, I carried on with my scientific career in Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), a comprehensive research institution for drug discovery. Since 2020, I have been working as a research assistant at Dr. Deliang Guo lab in the Comprehensive Cancer Center, aiming to decipher the molecular mechanism of cancer metabolism for developing novel agents for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive type of cancer. The typical duration of survival following diagnosis is 12 to 15 months, with fewer than 3 to 7% of people surviving longer than five years. Without treatment, survival is typically three months. My purpose in undertaking graduate study is to develop my skills and knowledge of oncology in preparation for the discovery of new therapeutics in GBM and to contribute to create a cancer-free world. My long-term goal is to identify new target for cancer therapy and to improve glioblastoma patients’ survival and quality of life.

I grew up in Boulder Colorado and graduated from University of Colorado Boulder in 2020. My undergrad research focused on metabolism and immunity in the context of diabetes. Post-graduation I worked for a biotech company focused on non-Small-cell lung cancer research and patient treatment. I moved to Columbus in summer 2022 and hope to continue research in immunology.