Karuna Mittal

Postdoctoral fellow (2020-2021)

Karuna graduated with her PhD in cellular and molecular biology in 2018 from Georgia State University. Prior to her Ph.D., Karuna completed her Master's in Medicine Human Physiology at Sardar Patel Medical College, India, where she studied the effect of alternative medicine on metabolic syndrome in the geriatric population. In the Hong lab, she focused on the developmental and therapeutic aspects of Wilms tumor. Her DoD grant KC200264 was recommended for funding. As of 10/2021, she is the Director of Research & Development at PreludeDx.

Karuna’s publications can be found here.

Nikita Modi, MS, PHD (2023-2024)

Postdoctoral fellow

Nikita received her PhD in Biochemistry in 2023 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the mentorship of Dr. Lin-Feng Chen. Her previous work focused on understanding the role of epigenetic reader, BRD4 in immune response to gastrointestinal infections. She also has a Masters in MCB from the University of Arizona. As of 2/2025, she is a Senior Scientist at Eurofins.

Nikita’s publications can be found here.

Eric parigoris, MS, PhD (2024-2025)

Postdoctoral fellow

Eric Parigoris received his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2022 from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. His research focused on engineered organoid models of breast cancer and chronic kidney disease in Shuichi Takayama’s lab. Eric’s current research interests include microphysiological systems, cellular biomechanics, and in vitro disease modeling.

Prior to his graduate studies, Eric received his BS in Mechanical Engineering with an additional major in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He also completed a Whitaker Fellowship at ETH Zurich in Switzerland studying cancer cell biomechanics. Before joining the lab, Eric worked as a biomechanics consultant at Exponent.

In 2025, Eric returned to Exponent as a Senior Associate.

Eric’s publications can be found here.

Anna Mckee, PHD (2023-2024)

bioinformatics masters student (GT)

Anna received her PhD in Forestry and Natural Resources in 2012 from the University of Georgia where she studied landscape genetics and molecular ecology of pond-breeding amphibians. After graduating, she worked for the U.S. Geological Survey South Atlantic Water Science Center in Norcross, Georgia, where her research primarily focused on the application of DNA isolated from environmental samples (environmental DNA; eDNA) to detect taxa of interest, including microbial-source tracking bacteria, pathogens, invertebrates, and metazoan species. In 2023, Anna pivoted in her career and enrolled as a master’s student at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Bioinformatics program to advance her skillsets in molecular data analysis and apply these skills to cancer research.

She was awarded the Georgia Institute of Technology Computational Biology Graduate Research Award (2024). In the summer of 2024, she interned at Foundation Medicine. She completed her Masters in December 2024.

In 1/2025, Anna took a position at Foundation Medicine.

Anna’s publications can be found here.

Frank Feng

Emory 4+1 Masters Student (2022-2024)

Frank received his Masters through the 4+1 MS in Cancer Biology and Translational Oncology (CBTO) program at Laney Graduate School in 2024. Frank has previously done epigenetic research in Dr. Roger Deal’s lab involving A. thaliana. In his free time, Frank likes to play soccer and the piano.

He is currently a research specialist in the Department of Radiology at Emory University.

Frances Fuks

Research Intern (Diversity Equity & Inclusion initiative, 2021-2022)

Frances received her MPH from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health with a focus on Epidemiology in 2022. She graduated from the University of Rochester with a BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences in 2020. She has served as a peer advisor for her major and as a trainer for Students Wanting Alcohol Responsibility. She and Simonne worked with the Department of Pediatrics Diversity Committee to understand the themes surrounding DEI.

She is currently a fellow at the CDC.

SimonnE Vincent

Research Intern (Diversity Equity & Inclusion initiative, 2021-2022)

Simonne received her MPH from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health with a focus on Benavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences in 2022. She graduated from American University with a BA in psychology and public health in 2019. She has previously worked as a project coordinator for George Washington University and interned with the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization. She and Frances worked with the Department of Pediatrics Diversity Committee to understand the themes surrounding DEI.

She is currently a Social Science Research Analyst with Abt Associates.

Dami Taiwo, MD

medical STUDENT 2021-2023 (ALSF POST Program, 2022-2023)

Dami graduated from Emory University’s School of Medicine in 2023. He worked with Drs. Sharon Castellino, Bill Woods, Ann Mertens and Caitlyn Monroe to understand health care disparities in pediatric solid tumor oncology.

He was awarded the ALSF POST award in 2022.

He is currently a neurology resident at Emory University’s School of Medicine.

Victor Chen

Research Specialist (2022-2023)

Victor joined our group after graduating from Emory University in 2022. Previously, he studied therapeutic strategies for medulloblastoma under the mentorship of Dr. Anna Kenney, during which he completed a senior honors thesis.

He is currently a research technician at Columbia University under Dr. Dian Yang.

Benjamin lee

Research specialist (2020-2022)

Benjamin graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019 majoring in Biochemistry. After graduating he spent the year working with freshmen at the Georgia Tech Christian Campus Fellowship. Prior to that, he has spent time at Seattle Children’s Research Institute researching CAR-T therapies.

He is currently a MD-PhD candidate at the University of Alabama.

GUillaume Kugener

Associate computational biologist (2017-2019)

Guillaume completed his undergraduate and masters studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined our group (along with the Cancer Data Sciences team with Aviad Tsherniak) in 2017. He analyzed computational datasets from the Achilles Dependency Map Project along with our projects in kidney and brain cancer. He completed his MD at the University of South California, Keck School of Medicine in 2023 and began his residency as a General Surgery Resident at Beth Israel Lahey Health.

Mai Abdusamad

Research Assistant (2017-2018)

Mai graduated from the University of California Los Angeles and joined our group (along with the Pediatric Dependency Map team with Paquita Vazquez and Brenton Paoella) in 2017. She focused her efforts on validating novel targets in rhabdomyosarcoma. In the fall of 2018, Mai joined the laboratory of Uri Ben-David, PhD and Todd Golub, MD. She is currently a MD/PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis in the lab of Jorge Z. Torres, PhD.

Mihir doshi

research assistant (2015-2017)

Mihir completed his masters degree at Northeastern University and joined our group in 2015 (a joint recruit with Andrew Aguirre’s laboratory). Mihir focused his efforts on optimizing methods to screen primary solid tumor cells from children. He completed his PhD in Dohoon Kim, PhD’s lab at University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2023 and joined as a Scientist in Oncology Discovery Biology at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Bryan Kynnap

Co-op (2015), research assistant (2015-2017)

Bryan completed his undergraudate studies at Northeastern University in 2016. He joined our group initially as a co-op student through the CaNCURE program, then part-time and subsequently full time as a research assistant. He spent a year in lab of Sita Kugel, PhD and as a medical scribe in orthopedic surgery. He completed his Masters of physician assistant studies at the University of Iowa in 2023 and is a board-certified physician’s assistant in spinal surgery.

sean malhotra

Undergraduate Student (2022-2024)

Sean is a senior at Emory studying Anthropology and Human Biology on the Pre-Medical track. He has done previous research on lessening disparities in oncology through stem-cell transplant referrals in hematologic malignancy patients and wants to do further research in oncology. In his free time, Sean loves playing table tennis, cooking new food, and watching F1.

Sean was awarded the Summer Scholars Internship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in 2023.

Jessica Yoon

Undergraduate Student (2022-2024)

Jessica is a senior at Emory University studying Biology on the pre-medical track. On campus, she is a first-year Resident Advisor and is involved in multiple service and volunteer organizations. Jessica loves to play violin, try new foods, and bullet journal in her free time.

Jessica was awarded the ALSF POST Award in 2023.

Antara Palkar

undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Antara graduated from Emory University in 2023 with a degree in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Spanish. She was awarded Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude) for her senior thesis “Understanding drivers of doxorubicin resistance in Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor”. Her personal experience with childhood leukemia and cancer sparked an interest in cancer and pediatric oncology, and she plans on becoming a pediatric oncologist. In her free time, Antara enjoys volunteering as an ESL teacher, participating in the Student Activities Committee, and watching movies (her favorite movie is Interstellar!).

Josh Riembauer

Undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Josh graduated from Emory University in 2023 with a degree in Human Health and Economics on the Pre-Medical track. On campus, he was involved in multiple health and mental health advocacy organizations. In his free time, he enjoys playing baseball, outdoor recreational activities, and volunteering as an EMT in his community.

Paige Hauke

Summer undergraduate student (summer 2017)

Paige finished her sophomore year of college at Wellesley College and was interested in exploring more about the life of the lab after several science courses in college. During her time in the lab, she focused on learning about site directed mutagenesis and the effects of mutations in cancer genes. She recently graduated from Wellesley College (Class of 2019). In 2019, she joined as a research assistant in my mentor’s lab, Dr. William Hahn, and is working under senior scientist, Dr. Barbel Schrofelbauer.

Brandon thornhill

Summer undergraduate student (summer 2016)

Brandon finished his freshman year of college at Holy Cross and was interested in learning more about the life of the lab as he was exploring his career options in college. During his time in the lab, he focused on learning about site directed mutagenesis and the effects of mutations in cancer genes. He recently graduated from Holy Cross (Class of 2019) and is pursuing a career in business.