Meet the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance

Leadership

Newsroom

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Irving "Coy" Allen, Ph.D., MBA , redirect
Dr. Allen is an immunologist who explores the intersection between the immune system and cancer, specifically studying how unique families of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) contribute to disease pathogenesis and inflammatory microenvironments.
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Ilektra Athanasiadi, D.V.M. , redirect
Dr. Athanasiadi studies radiation-induced brain injury to identify new drugs that can protect healthy brain tissue during irradiation, as well as palliative radiation therapy.
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William T. Baumann, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Baumann is a computational biologist who applies mathematical models to understand who breast cancer cells become resistant to treatment.
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Warren K. Bickel, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Bickel studies how a cancer diagnosis and future valuation influence health behaviors.
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Brittany Ciepluch, D.V.M. , redirect
Dr. Ciepluch is a surgical oncologist who studies treatments for aggressive forms of blood vessel cancer in dogs.
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Daniela Cimini, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Cimini studies the mechanics and dynamics of cell division and proliferation.
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Rafael Davalos, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Davalos applies engineering and biology from nano to macro scales, using electrical feedback to perform complex procedures - such as signal cell analysis, selective cell concentration, and cancer therapy - with precision and control.
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Nick Dervisis, D.V.M., Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Dervisis studies neoplastic processes underlying cancers in cats and dogs, as well as the effects of genetic polymorphic variants on the metabolism and kinetics of anti-cancer agents.
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Harry Dorn, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Dorn is a chemist and nanoscientist who studies next generation instrumentation to visualize cancerous tumors.
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Susan E. Duncan, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Duncan studies the chemistry of the mouth and why many cancer patients report tasting a metallic flavor.
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Carla Finkielstein, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Finkielstein studies the molecular clocks that instruct cells when to grow, divide, and die, and how they're impaired in cancer cells, allowing for unbridled proliferation and the development of tumors. Finkielstein's research offers a critical foundation for the emerging field of chronotherapeutics - the study of time-of-day medicine - in cancer patients.
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Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Friedlander organized and oversees the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance as the vice president for health sciences and technology at Virginia Tech. He is also executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and a neuroscientist.
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Robert Gourdie, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Gourdie's laboratory tests new compounds targeting connexin channels for therapeutic use in wound healing, reducing scarring following breast reconstruction surgery, injury prevention, as well as applications to treat glioblastomas and aggressive, drug-resistant cancers.
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Shawna Klahn, D.V.M. , redirect
Dr. Klahn studies the safety and efficacy of new chemotherapeutic agents in pets, and also designs and implements new clinical trials to evaluate cancer therapies in canine and feline patients to advance veterinary and human cancer medicine.
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Samy Lamouille, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Lamouille's lab studies how cancer cells communicate and is developing novel therapeutic strategies to target these communication mechanisms to prevent metastases in human cancer progression.
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Iuliana M. Lazar, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Lazar's research explores the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer cell cycle regulation by using holistic, mass spectrometry-based systems biology approaches.
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Yong Woo Lee, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Lee studies nanomaterials-mediated targeted drug delivery for cancer treatments, and the effective delivery of therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier.
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Liwu Lee, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Li studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammation, including the molecular pathways controlling immunity and inflammation, programming innate immune leukocytes, and the pathogenesis of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.
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Chang Lu, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Lu is a chemical engineer who applies approaches in microfluidic biotechnology, precision medicine, epigenomics and gene regulation, and single cell analysis to understand cancer and immunology.
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Kathleen Mulvaney, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Mulvaney's research focuses on understanding and disrupting protein-protein interactions and protein modifications in cancer, and translating that knowledge into meaningful clinical improvements for patient care.
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Jenny M. Munson, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Munson studies how cancer increases fluid flow between cells, specifically across the invasive edge of the tumor, altering how tumors respond to drug therapies.
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Keiko Murakami, D.V.M. , redirect
Dr. Murakami studies multimodal cancer treatments, comparative oncology, canine tonsillar tumor and metastasis, stereotactic radiotherapy, and palliative cancer treatment.
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Nicholas Rancilio, D.V.M. , redirect
Dr. Rancilio researches stereotactic radiotherapy and hypofractionated radiation therapy, contouring guidelines, responses of healthy tissue to therapies, and palliative cancer care.
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John H. Rossmeisl, Jr., D.V.M. , redirect
Dr. Rossmeisl studies and develops novel therapeutics for primary brain tumors, including the exploration of medical devices that facilitate drug delivery to the central nervous system, and the identification of molecular and genetic signatures of malignant gliomas.
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Eva Schmelz, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Schemlz studies the role of dietary and endogenous sphinglolipids in cancer progression and metastasis on a molecular scale, as well as obesity and ovarian cancer.
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Zhi Sheng, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Sheng's laboratory explores the molecular pathways involved in cell survival and death to discover new cancer therapies, with a particular focus on glioblastoma multiforme.
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Daniel Slade, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Slade works at the interface of chemistry and biology to determine the role of the microbiome in cancer using chemical biology, x-ray crystallography, biochemistry, molecular genetics, enzymology, and cell biology.
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Jamie Smyth, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Smyth's laboratory studies the gap junction proteins involved in intercellular communication in the context of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
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Jeff Stein, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Stein studies human decision-making processes to prevent disease by improving medication adherence in breast cancer treatment, and increase public interest in cancer prevention tactics, such as cancer screenings and vaccinations.
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Joanne L. Tuohy, D.V.M., Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Tuohy is a surgical oncologist who studies treatments for osteosarcomas, melanomas, carcinomas and other cancers.
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John Tyson, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Tyson is a computational biology who studies cell cycle regulation, estrogen responsiveness in breast cancer cells, innate immune responses, and stochastic modeling of protein regulatory networks.
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Scott Verbridge, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Verbridge researches and develops engineered platforms to better understand the tumor microenvironment, targets the altered physics of tumors with novel ablation modalities, and develops tissue engineering models to analyze host-pathogen interactions in the context of cancer.
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Eli Vlaisavljevich, Ph.D. , redirect
Dr. Vlaisavljevich studies therapeutic ultrasound, non-invasive tissue ablation, nanoparticle-mediated histotripsy, ultrasound-guided tissue regeneration, and ultrasonic neuromodulation.
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Jia-Ray Yu, Ph.D. , redirect
Jia-Ray Yu, Ph.D., studies the regulations of gene expression at the chromatin level. As chromatin is a highly compartmentalized structure, the temporo-spatial regulations of the chromatin-associated factors are crucial for their collective functions in shaping the epigenome. These natural principles are, however, often dysregulated in human diseases such as congenital developmental syndromes and a variety of cancers.

Meet the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance

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Meet the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance