WEIDHAAS LAB

• B.S., Yale University, 1990.
• M.D./Ph.D., Tufts University School of Medicine, 1999.
• Resident, Internal Medicine, Carney Hospital, 2000.
• Resident, Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2004.
  
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Sunitha is our labmanager and keeps the research running in our lab. Not only is she the master of clonogenic assays and many other techniques, but also cares for the cells, maintains the equipment and prevents Elcie and Daniel from starving by driving them to Costco whenever it is possible.

Amrit is the administration hub of our lab. She manages all the orders and takes care of all the paperwork in the Weidhaas Lab. Hence, her role is crucial for Joanne's mental health, since Amrit keeps her from drowning in even more paperwork.

David studied chemistry and biology at the University of Hartford. David's undergraduate research focused on the chemical synthesis of Imperanene, an anti-thrombotic compound. He did his Ph.D. with Henry Furneaux at the University of Connecticut Health Center, studying the mechanism by which microRNAs are formed and loaded into an Argonuate2 ribonucleoprotein silencing complex. David completed his Ph.D. in July 2009 and has been a postdoctoral fellow in the Weidhaas Lab since August 2009. He is working on the mechanism by which the microRNA, miR-34 regulates gene expression following exposure to radiation.

Jessica studied biochemistry at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Jess's undergraduate research focused on cloning and characterizing a putative caspase from the fungus Schizophyllum commune. She did her Ph.D. with Christopher Heinen at the University of Connecticut Health Center, studying the role of the DNA mismatch repair pathway in adult stem cells of the planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea. Jess completed her Ph.D. in July 2011 and has recently joined the Weidhaas Lab as a postdoctoral associate. She is working on understanding the mechanism by which a cancer-associated germline SNP in the 3'-UTR of KRAS may contribute to tumorigenesis.

Trupti studied Pharmaceutical Sciences earning a Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Pune, India in 2000. She did her Ph.D. in Pharmacology with Dr. Girish Shah at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (2002-2008). Trupti is currently a Postdoc in the Weidhaas Lab studying the role of microRNAs and microRNA associate single nucleotide polymorphisms as predictors of risk and/or outcome and also as therapeutic targets in various cancers using different profiling techniques as well as DNA capture and high throughput sequencing.

Imran completed his B.A. in Biology at Carleton College (2000-20004). Before starting his Ph.D., Imran participated in research projects at the University of MN under Dr. Sagar Goyal; Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Dr. Tyler Jacks; and the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases under Dr. Steve Porcella. Imran is a Gilliam Fellow (HHMI) and a Harvey Fellow (Mustard Seed Foundation), and investigated the role of microRNAs in cancer with a focus on understanding their role in the radioresponse. Imran is currently a biotechnology analyst at Cowen Inc. and executive team member at the Rare Genomics Institute.

Katie received a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia. Her undergraduate thesis was an empirical analysis of the impact of state - specific tort reforms on malpractice premiums for obstetricians. Following college she worked at the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the NIH. Katie's research focused on Neisseria gonorrhoeae, specifically on the development of methods to identify antibiotic - resistant strains in mixed gonococcal infections. She was a MD student at the Yale University School of Medicine and graduated in May 2011. Her research in the Weidhaas lab has focused on the KRAS-variant, a SNP in the binding site of let-7 on the 3' UTR of KRAS, and its application as a biomarker of outcome in ovarian cancer and response to therapies in lung cancer.

Phong did his undergraduate studies in public health at UC Berkley (1993-1998). He did his graduate work with Dr. Fenyong Liu at UC Berkeley where he worked on utilizing RNase P as a therapeutic for HCMV. Phong completed his Ph.D. in 2004 and joined the Weidhaas lab in 2006. He worked on the mechanism by which let-7 functions in lung cancer and on developing microRNA based cancer therapeutics.

Elcie studied Biology at the University of Bath, and completed her PhD at Imperial College London in the laboratory of Nick Dibb in Sept 2009. There she studied microRNA expression in human embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells undergoing differentiation. Elcie has been a Postdoc Associate in the Weidhaas lab since Nov 09, and generated a KRAS-variant mutant cell line to study the mechanisms involved in the KRAS-variant as a marker of increased cancer risk.

Cory did her undergraduate studies in biology at Brown University (1999-2003). Her undergraduate work focused on human fertility.  Cory joined the Genetics Graduate Program at Yale University in 2005.  During her time as a Ph.D. student in the Weidhaas Lab she was working on discovering genetic markers that identify women at a higher risk for developing breast cancer.  Cory completed her graduate work in the summer of 2010.

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