GROUP
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Melody Swartz
Renata Mezyk-Kopec
Alexandra Magold
Anish Mukherjee
Lucas Shores
Emiliano Medellin
Gustavo Andrés Vásquez Montoya
Trevin Kurtanich
Margo MacDonald
Calixto Salles
Ruolan Zhou
Trevor Ung
Thomas Wang
Kristen Shema
Colleen Foley
Kelly Blaine
Camryn Garza
Maia Gabriela Clare
Philip Ang
Yue Wang
Head of the laboratory
Melody A. Swartz, PhD
William B. Ogden Professor of Molecular Engineering
Lymphatic Physiology, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy
Visiting professors
Renata, Mezyk-Kopec, PhD
Professor Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland
Renata Mezyk-Kopec received her PhD in biochemistry from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, in 2008. She worked on identifying proteases other than ADAM17 responsible for the shedding of TNF from the cell surface. As a postdoctoral fellow at Jagiellonian University, she focused on the role of ADAM17 in tumor progression.
Postdoctoral scientists and engineers
Alexandra Magold, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Alexandra has discovered the ciliation of lymphatic endothelial cells in vitro and in vivo. Using her inducible murine model of reduced lymphatic endothelial ciliation, she is now targeting lymphatic ciliation for chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis and cancer therapies.
Anish Mukherjee, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Anish is looking to delineate the multifaceted role of lymphatic vessels in cancer. He is specifically looking at how cancer therapies, such as radiotherapy, can affect the structure and function of the local lymphatic vasculature and what it entails for cancer therapy and metastasis.
Lucas Shores, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Lucas’ research interests lie at the intersection of research on lymphatics, diabetes, and immune engineering for regenerative medicine. This interdisciplinary focus leverages techniques from several disciplines to develop novel, translationally-oriented, and disease-targeted therapeutics.
Graduate students
Ruolan Zhou
PhD candidate
In vitro models of the tumor microenvironment.
Gustavo Andrés Vásquez Montoya
PhD candidate
The integration of multi-scale modeling and simulations of in vitro and in vivo experiments for the study of cancer immunobiology and cancer immunotherapy.
Emiliano Gomez Medellin
PhD candidate
Understanding the role of lymphatics in the lung immune microenvironment and its contributions to allergy and chronic airway inflammation.
Trevin Kurtanich
PhD candidate
The role of lymphatics in immunity, specifically in how they may promote an enhanced memory response in both tumor and vaccination contexts.
Margo MacDonald
PhD candidate
My work explores the role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in the tumor microenvironment and examining how the biomechanical properties of the tumor microenvironment impact immunotherapy response. Recently, I have also been investigating the role NETs and lymphatic clotting play in severe cases of COVID-19
Calixto Mateos Salles
PhD candidate
The role of lymphatics and their microenvironment in the education and priming of T cell memory.
Trevor Ung
PhD candidate
Trevor is currently studying the role of lymphatics in vaccine responses. He is specifically interested in how cell-specific delivery of vaccines to lymph node cell subsets affects immune responses and generation of immune memory.
Thomas Wang
PhD student
I am currently researching and optimizing the VEGFC vaccine for tumors. My research consists of screening and characterizing different various adjuvants for the vaccine.
Kristen Shema
PhD student
TBD
Colleen Foley
PhD student
TBD
Camryn Graza
PhD student
Camryn is passionate about engineering as a school of thought, and is interested in pursuing a project the combines the power of engineering with the basic science of immunology. She is looking forward to working on a project modulating the immune-suppressed tumor microenvironment to an immune-activated site to aid in the treatment of cancer.
Maia Gabriela Clare
PhD student
TBD
Phillip Ang
MD student
TBD
Staff
