Cyrus Ghajar, PhD
Endowed Chair: Peter S. Lefkarites Memorial Endowed Chair
Hometown: Los Altos, CA (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Selflessness
Favorite band: Khalid
Favorite scientist: Mina Bissell (I'm biased!)
A paper that amazes you: "Wounding and its role in RSV-mediated tumor formation"
Fantasy benchmate: Judah Folkman
Favorite movie: The Dark Knight
Fun is: Cooking great food
Taleb Ahsan
Hometown: Cupertino, CA (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Advancements in chronic disease treatments
Favorite Band: Miles Davis Quintet
Favorite Scientist: Peter Attia
A paper that amazes you: Role of smooth muscle cells in vascular calcification: implications in atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness.
Fantasy benchmate: Lou Bloom
Favorite movie: The Shining
Fun is: Going Outside
Annika Ayer
Hometown: Austin, TX (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Dedication and compassion
Favorite band: The Marías
Favorite scientist: Jane Goodall
A paper that amazes you: “Targeting the NPY/NPY1R signaling axis in mutant p53–dependent pancreatic cancer impairs metastasis"
Fantasy benchmate: Sofia Vergara
Favorite movie: Harry Potter
Fun is: Traveling, spending time with family, and exploring new places
Bailey Harmon, BS
Hometown: Seattle, WA (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Dedication + Authenticity
Favorite band: Taylor Swift
Favorite scientist: Marie Curie
A paper that amazes you: “MicroRNA-Detargeted Mengovirus for Oncolytic Virotherapy"
Fantasy benchmate: Meredith Grey
Favorite movie: Harry Potter
Fun is: Spending time with family & friends, good coffee or food, traveling & exploring, listening to live music
Jennifer Dinh
Hometown: Renton, WA (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Dedication
Favorite band: The Volunteers
Favorite scientist: Sidney Farber
A paper that amazes you: Lupus IgA1 autoantibodies synergize with IgG to enhance plasmacytoid dendritic cell responses to RNA-containing immune complexes
Fantasy benchmate: Amy Poehler
Favorite movie: Look Back
Fun is: Going to concerts, trying new restaurants, and trivia with friends.
Shi Li, PhD
Hometown: Fujian (China)
Something you're inspired by: Perseverance, risk-taking, and teamwork
Favorite band: Westlife
Favorite scientist: Tu Youyou
A paper that amazes you: Targeting the perivascular niche sensitizes disseminated tumour cells to chemotherapy.
Fantasy benchmate: Kobe Bryant
Favorite movie: The Pursuit of Happyness
Fun is: Playing basketball, hiking, running, hurdling and cooking Chinese Food.
Ian Linde, PhD
Hometown: Woodinville, WA (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Integrity
Favorite band: The Black Keys or Arctic Monkeys
Favorite scientist: Tyler Jacks
A paper that amazes you: Neutrophil swarms require LTB4 and integrins at sites of cell death in vivo
Fantasy benchmate: Pete Carroll
Favorite movie: Fargo
Fun is: Hiking, camping, and backpacking with my family
Miles Linde, PhD
Hometown: Woodinville, WA (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Teachers
Favorite band: Muse or Foo Fighters
Favorite scientist: Ralph Steinman
A paper that amazes you: "IFNγ and lymphocytes prevent primary tumour development and shape tumour immunogenicity."
Fantasy benchmate: John Muir
Favorite movie: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Fun is: Backpacking trips with my wife and brother
Mark Primeaux, PhD
Hometown: Wilmington, DE (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Humility
Favorite band: Elliot Smith
Favorite scientist: Michael Faraday
A paper that amazes you: "The Metabolism of Carcinoma Cells"
Fantasy bench mate: Carl Sagan
Favorite movie: There Will be Blood
Fun is: Seeing live music, hiking/exploring nature, biking
Paul Seth, BS
Hometown: New Providence, NJ (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Biodiverse ecosystems
Favorite band: Mt.Joy
Favorite scientist: Rachel Carson
A paper that amazes you: Mechanochemical Properties of DNA Origami Nanosprings Revealed by Force Jumps in Optical Tweezers
Fantasy benchmate: Kenji Lopez-Alt
Favorite movie: Annihilation
Fun is: Time outdoors, feeding my friends
Megan Stackouse, BS
Hometown: Fort Collins, CO (USA)
Something you're inspired by: Record breaking and pushing boundaries
Favorite band: Caamp
Favorite scientist: Rosalind Franklin
A paper that amazes you: Towards defining biomarkers to evaluate concussions using virtual reality and a moving platform
Fantasy benchmate: Paul
Favorite movie: Inception
Fun is: Skiing, backpacking, climbing, fishing, running, and more!
Rebeka Tomasin, PhD
Hometown: Limeira (Brazil)
Something you're inspired by: Resilience
Favorite band: Coldplay
Favorite scientist: Marie Curie
A paper that amazes you: "Non-cell-autonomous driving of tumour growth supports sub-clonal heterogeneity"
Fantasy benchmate: Siddhartha Mukherjee
Favorite movie: The Silence of the Lambs
Fun is: Friends & family, traveling, good food, doing something you've never done before
Takahiro Tsuji, MD, PhD
Hometown: Nagoya / Kyoto (Japan)
Something you're inspired by: Curiosity
Favorite band: Ed Sheeran
Favorite scientist: Hiroaki Wake
A paper that amazes you: Brain tumour cells interconnect to a functional and resistant network.
Fantasy benchmate: Daisuke Kato
Favorite movie: Spiderman
Fun is: Running, Playing Minecraft with my children
Former Lab Members
Position/graduated to:
- Alice Burchett (UW Capstone Student) / Doctoral Candidate, University of Notre Dame Department of Bioengineering
- Patrick Carlson (Research Technician/Lab Manager) /Senior Associate Scientist, Bristol Meyers Squibb
- Sarah Crist (Graduate Student) / Postdoctoral Fellow, Rita Pelingeiro Laboratory, University of Minnesota
- Jinxiang Dai (Postdoctoral Fellow) / Scientific Lead, Loxo Oncology
- Arko Dasgupta (Postdoctoral Fellow) / Scientist, Adaptive Biotechnologies
- Erica Goddard (Postdoctoral Fellow) / Instructor, UC San Diego
- Candice Grzelak (Postdoctoral Fellow) / Staff Scientist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
- Santino Iannone (Bioinformaticist) / Doctoral Candidate, Neuroscience Graduate Program, Yale University
- Marlowe Keller (Lab Aide) / Research Associate, Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences
- Jeanna Kim (Research Technician/Lab Manager) / Juno Therapeutics
- Grant Klug (Research Technician) / University of Washington
- Victoria Lawless (SURP Scholar) / MD-PHD Candidate, Rockefeller/MSK/Cornell Tri-I
- Andrea Lim (MCB Graduate Student, NCI F99 Fellow) / K00 Postdoctoral Fellow, Steve Horvath Laboratory (UCLA)
- Mani Moniri (Visiting Student) /University of Melbourne Medical School, Class of 2022
- Laura Pisarsky (SNF.Mobility Postdoctoral Fellow) / Associate Principal Scientist, Boehringer Mannheim (Vienna)
- Vera Schulte (Undergraduate Researcher) / UW Medical School, Class of 2021
- Emma Schweitzer (Research Technician) / Rutgers University (Neuroscience PhD Program)
- Ryann Shor (Research Technician/Lab Manager) / UW Medical School, Class of 2024
- Annelise Snyder (Postdoctoral Fellow) / Assistant Professor, Western Washington University (Bellingham)
- Lynn Symonds (Hematology-Oncology Fellow)/ Assistant Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine
- Aiyedun Uzamere (Research Technician) / University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Class of 2026