People

Ranjit S. Bindra, M.D., Ph.D.

Favorite Gene: DNA-PKcs
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Bentara
Favorite Movie / Show: The Wire
Prateek Bhardwaj

Favorite Gene: H3F3A
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Lazeez
Favorite Movie / Show: Infinity War or Vampire Diaries
Bio

I am a postdoctoral associate working on finding novel synthetic lethal DNA alkylator and DDR inhibitor combinations for refractory and relapsed AML. In addition, I am also interested in studying the role of H3K27M mutation in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

Amrit Dhawan

Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Geronimo’s
Favorite Movie / Show: Shrimad Bhagwad Gita
James Elia

Favorite Gene: ALKBH
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Sally's
Favorite Movie / Show: Breaking Bad
Bio

I am a graduate student in the Bindra Lab. My research focuses on the design of novel alkylators that leverage tumor-specific DNA repair deficiencies.

Susan Gueble, M.D., Ph.D.

Favorite Gene: FANCD2
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Mamoun's Falafel
Favorite Movie / Show: Lost
Bio

I am a Yale radiation oncology resident interested in developing therapeutic strategies targeting DNA repair deficiencies within cancers.  My research currently focuses on understanding the biological mechanism of action of novel alkylating compounds for the treatment of temozolomide-resistant gliomas.  I am studying the DNA damage and repair pathways engaged by these compounds and characterizing their effects in different genetic contexts and in combination with DNA repair inhibitors.

Collin Heer, Ph.D.

Favorite Gene: NAMPT
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: September in Bangkok
Favorite Movie / Show: 28 Days Later
Bio

My project focuses on selectively enhancing NAD+ consumption or inhibiting NAD+ production to exploit NAD metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells.

Spenser Johnson

Favorite Gene: FANCM
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: One 6 Three
Favorite Movie / Show: Better Call Saul
Bio

I am a postgraduate researcher working on comparing the efficacy of unique alkylating agents in various cancer genetic backgrounds.

Kingson Lin

Favorite Gene: MGMT
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: L'Orcio
Favorite Movie / Show: How I Met Your Mother
Bio

My research aims to characterize how clinically used DNA alkylators damage DNA on the molecular level using chemical analytical techniques such as LCMS and NMR. Furthermore, I am interested in the DNA damage response (DDR) pathways responsible for repair of specific types of damage with the goal of developing novel alkylating agents that preferential target cancers with intrinsically deficient DDR pathways.

Matt Murray

Favorite Gene: DNMT2
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Bonchon
Favorite Movie / Show: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Bio

My research focuses on the novel epigenetic role of
PPM1D. We previously identified mutant or genetically amplified PPM1D (a phosphatase that regulates cell cycle proteins and p53/p38 signaling) causes a CpG Island Hypermethylation Phenotype (CIMP)-like phenotype which results in the silencing of many genes. The goal of my work is to understand the mechanisms in which PPM1D imposes these epigenetic changes and how we can use this knowledge to drive the development of novel therapeutics.

Katelyn Noronha

Favorite Gene: POLQ
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Miya's Sushi
Favorite Movie / Show: Chef's Table
Bio

My research aims to determine how oncometabolites affect
nonhomologous end joining and alternative end joining pathways. Our goal is to use this information to identify and evaluate molecular targets for the treatment of tumors that produce oncometabolites due to mutations in TCA cycle enzymes.

Sateja Paradkar

Favorite Gene: PARG
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Anaya Sushi and Ramen
Favorite Movie / Show: The Newsroom Season 1
Bio

My research aims to understand the mechanism underlying the synthetic lethal interaction between mutations in a metabolic gene, IDH1/2, and DNA repair inhibitors and DNA damaging agents. This will support the development of novel therapeutic strategies and drug combinations for IDH1/2-mutant cancers such as glioblastomas.

Ranjini Sundaram, Ph.D.

Favorite Gene: APP
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Istanbul Cafe
Favorite Movie / Show: Jungle Book
Juan Vasquez, M.D.

Favorite Gene: Hackman
Favorite Restaurant in New Haven: Zinc
Favorite Movie / Show: The Sopranos
Bio

I am a faculty member in the Yale Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology interested in developing immunotherapies for pediatric tumors. My research is focused on (1) characterizing the impact of oncometabolite-induced homologous recombination defects on the anti-tumor immune response and (2) exploiting oncometabolite-induced homologous recombination defects with different DNA damaging agents to make tumors more sensitive to immunotherapies.


Alumni

Ahmed Salem, Ph.D.
Amrita Sule, Ph.D.
Aravind Nambiar Kalathil
Bert Geng
Bettina Harris
Chris Corso M.D., Ph.D.
Christopher Hong, M.D.
Christopher Jackson, M.D.
Greg Breuer, M.D,. Ph.D.
Jaime Ko
Jason Beckta, M.D., Ph.D.
Jennifer Garbarino, Ph.D.
Jillian Eckroate
Jinny Van Doorn
Jiayu Liang, M.D.
John Soong, Ph.D.
Jonathan Bezney
Joseph Edmonds
Karen Purshouse, M.D.
Karo Takasaki, M.D.
Kriteeka Dahal
Monica Niger, M.D.
Nalin Leelatian, M.D., Ph.D.
Namrata Chandok, M.D.
Nathan Fons, Ph.D.
Nate Robinson, M.D.
Ranjith Menon Muraleedharan, Ph.D.
Ryan Hannon
Ryan McLean
Rytis Sidabras
Sachita Ganesa, Ph.D.
Sarah Gao
Seth Noorbakhsh
Savina Kim
Teresa Lee, Ph.D.
Vikram Jairam, M.D.
William Sullivan
Yuhang Jiang, Ph.D.

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