People
Liron Bar-Peled
Liron received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Georgia in 2004. Liron received his PhD in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he used advanced cellular and molecular techniques to uncover how nutrients are sensed by the mTORC1 pathway in the laboratory of David Sabatini. In 2013 as a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral fellow, he joined the laboratory of Ben Cravatt at the Scripps Research Institute to understand how cancer cells respond to oxidative stress. Employing chemical, proteomic and biochemical approaches, Liron revealed new druggable components of the NRF2 antioxidant response pathway uncovering new mechanisms by which NRF2 regulates metabolic pathways. In early 2019, Liron joined the Center for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Cagri Cakici
Cagri received his Bachelor's in Chemistry in 2012 from Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey. Then, he pursued his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry from Istanbul Medipol University in 2016 and 2021, respectively. His doctoral research interests involved the Warburg effect and EMT in prostate cancer. He also worked as an Assistant professor in Biochemistry at the Istanbul Medipol University-Turkey. In Bar-Peled lab, he will work on the reductive stress mechanisms in cancer cells. He enjoys swimming, playing basketball, watching movies, and classical music.
Junbing Zhang
Junbing received his PhD from National Institute of Biological Science and Institute of Biophysics, China. He studied membrane trafficking in C.elegans and mammalian cells during his PhD. Now he is interested ROS signaling in cancer and will employ powerful genetic and chemical proteomic approaches to identify local ROS sensors involved in NRF2 activation. During his free time, he likes playing online games, watching movies and swimming.
Maolin Ge
Maolin grew up in Wuhan, where he received his Bachelor of Science and Master’s degrees from Wuhan University. Maolin received his PhD in biology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where he focused on the pathogenesis and drug resistance of hematologic cells during his doctoral research. Now, Maolin’s research program aims to study signaling pathways regulated by oxidative stress using next-generation proteomics and sequencing technologies. In his spare time, Maolin enjoys watching movies, soccer, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.
Md Yousuf Ali
Yousuf received his PhD from The University of Iowa where he worked in Dr. Corinne Griguer’s lab studying how cellular and mitochondrial iron metabolism regulates redox homeostasis in radioresistant gliomas. In Bar-Peled lab, he will be studying redox metabolism in cancer cells, by utilizing high throughput genomic and proteomic techniques, to decipher vulnerabilities that can be exploited as druggable targets to develop novel cancer therapeutics. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer.
Neha Khandelwal
Pei-Chieh Tien
Neha Khandelwal received her PhD from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune in Plant Molecular Biology where she was working on proteins and peptides involved in plant immunity. She joined Dr. Siddhesh Kamat’s Lab at IISER-Pune, India as a postdoctoral fellow where she was involved in understanding the fatty acid-driven immunomodulatory role of a lipid signaling molecule, lysophosphatidylserine. In the Bar-Peled lab, she works on the characterization of the druggable targets involved in the Multiple Myeloma progression. She enjoys her free time playing with her kid and exploring new places.
Pei-Chieh (Patrick) Tien comes from Taiwan. As a child, he was interested in science and liked to explore science by breaking down his toys. Patrick received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and his Master of Science degree in biochemistry from the National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan. He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Department of Animal Science at Purdue University, U.S.A., in the field of cancer biology. In the Bar-Peled lab, Patrick is interested in understanding oxidative stress in tumorigenesis using a comprehensive mass-spectrometry based approach. During his free time, he likes to play basketball.
Siwen Zhang
Siwen received her Ph.D. in Medical System Biology from the Fudan University, where she developed methods to monitor 4-hydroxynonenal protein modification using proteomics. Siwen is interested in developing and applying chemical proteomic approaches to discover newly druggable proteins in cancer. In her free time, she enjoys yoga and reading.
Stefan Harry
Stefan was raised in the crossroads of rural America – Parker City, Indiana. He received his bachelors in Chemistry from Ball State University and performed his graduate research in Johns Hopkins University under Prof. Thomas Lectka, researching radical-based fluorination reactions while developing several directed methods for functionalizing complex natural products. Currently, he aims to develop and use small molecules inhibitor to target critical cancer drivers traditionally considered ‘undruggable’.
Research Technicians
Harrison Chong
Harrison earned a degree in mathematics from the University of Georgia and conducted undergraduate research on plasmonic metamaterials and nanoparticle-enabled cancer radiotherapy. He currently works on computational challenges in the analysis of proteomic data.
Matthew Lazarov
Matthew grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. He received a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of Georgia. During his time at UGA, he worked to identify glycans involved in Paenibacillus sporulation and biofilm production. Matthew is interested in developing a new class of inhibitors for key oncogenic drivers in melanoma. During his spare time, he enjoys watching movies, playing guitar, fishing, hiking, camping, and spending time with friends.
Graduate Students
Jay Fonticella
Kim Emonds
Nicholas Chen
jaym_fonticella@dfci.harvard.edu
Jay received his B.S. in Biology from Tufts University in Medford, MA. As a postbaccalaureate fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he characterized the therapeutic role of lipid metabolism in H3-K27M diffuse midline gliomas. In the Bar-Peled lab, Jay is excited to help delineate the role of OxPhos machinery and NADH levels in lung neoplasm models. During his free time, he enjoys traveling, gaming, and anime.
Kim is from Germany, and received her Bachelors in Life Sciences from HAN University in the Netherlands. She completed her B.Sc. with an undergrad thesis at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Kim is now following the Master's program Medical Biology at Radboud University in the Netherlands. In the Bar-Peled lab, she is employing chemical proteomics to uncover novel binding sites. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with friends.
Nicholas is from Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Northwestern University for a B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology, Chemistry, and Integrated Science Program (ISP). At Northwestern, he worked for Richard Silverman on neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibitors. In collaboration with Dr. Brian Liau at Harvard Dept. of Chemistry, Nicholas is developing chemical probes against traditionally ‘undruggable’ cancer targets. In his free time, Nicholas enjoys playing tennis and eating hot pot.
Undergraduate Students
Anica Bischof
Anica is doing her Bachelor of Life Science in Cell Biology and Bioanalytics at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. She's investigating which domain of complex 1 of the mitochondrial electron transport chain is related to the profiling ability of cancer cells and chemotherapy resistance using CRISPR-based technologies. In her free time, she works as a figure skating coach, travels, and spends time with friends.
Chau Le
Chau is a sophomore at Harvard College, majoring in Neuroscience on the pre-med track. In the lab, she assists in exploring redox metabolism in cancer cells to discover druggable targets. During her free time, she enjoys cooking, lifting, traveling, and spending quality time with friends and family.
Farah Makram
Farah is currently a senior at Northeastern University, pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and a minor in business administration. Her laboratory work focuses on identifying chemical probes that target ovarian cancer drivers. During her free time, she enjoys traveling and exploring new cities, going to the beach, and spending time with family and friends.
Herman Xin Yang Leong
Herman is a sophomore studying Chemistry at Harvard University. His lab work involves proteomics and chemical synthesis. When he is free, he plays chess (chess.com username: hlxy) and listens to game OSTs.
Hector Martinez Luna
hectormartinezluna@college.harvard.edu
Héctor is a freshman at Harvard College studying Molecular and Cellular Biology. His research focuses on chemo proteomics as a means to detect off-target small molecule interactions. In his free time, he enjoys reading, going to museums, and bowling with friends.
Janice Wong
Janice is currently a junior at Harvard University and studying Molecular and Cellular Biology. In the lab, she works on exploring the mechanism of reductive stress in cancer cells. In her free time, she enjoys doing graphic design, baking, and walking along the Charles River.
Magdy Gohar
Magdy is a senior at the University of Massachusetts Boston, pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. His research focuses on exploring the role of ROS signaling in cancer cell proliferation. In his free time, he enjoys lifting, running, and spending time with family and friends.
Samay Trivedi
Samay is currently a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His research is centralized around chemoproteomics, and investigating small covalent staple molecules. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing with his dog, and trying out new food spots.
Seungjun Lee
Seungjun is an undergrad at Boston University and studying medical science. He assists in research to target 'undruggable' cancer drivers. In his free time, he enjoys lifting and cooking for the family.
Yingfei Huang
Yingfei is currently a senior at Zhejiang University and studying basic medicine. In the lab, she works on using chemical proteomic approaches to identify local ROS sensors in cancer cells. In her free time, she enjoys singing, hiking and reading.
Yuchen Huang
yuchenhuang@college.harvard.edu
Yuchen is a sophomore at Harvard College studying Molecular and Cellular Biology and Psychology. In the lab, she focuses on studying the effects of redox stress on the metabolism of cancer cells. In her free time, she likes to read, take walks, and dance.
Zander Chearavanont
zander_chearavanont@college.harvard.edu
Zander is an undergraduate at Harvard University studying Chemistry. His research revolves around the synthesis of a variety of small molecules such as molecular staples or probes for chemoproteomics. In his free time, he enjoys judo, lifting, hiking, and exploring abandoned man-made structures and vehicles.
ALUMNI
Christine Lee, Undergraduate Student, Harvard University
Mariko Hara, Senior Scientist, University of Tokyo
James Woods, Master’s Student, Harvard University
Lina Fellah, Master’s Student, Radboud University
Zhuanglin (Eileen) Dai, Master’s Student, University of Michigan
Gess Kelly, Computational Scientist, Brandeis University
George Popoola, Undergraduate Student, Harvard University
Jonathan Assaad, Undergraduate Student, Tufts University
Nicolò Vivori, Master’s Student, University of Verona
Atharva Mahale, Master’s Student, IISER Kolkata
Tommy Weiss-Sadan, Postdoctoral Fellow, The Hebrew University
Jacqueline Berner, Master’s Student, University of Tübingen
Marianne Richter, Research Technican, University of Georgia
Peiwen Shi, Rotation Student, Harvard University
Sanne van den Ouweland, Master’s Student, Radboud University in Nijmegen
Alexander Carlin, Research Technician, University of Georgia
Tzu-Yi Yang, Senior Research Scientist, Purdue University
Himani Patel, Research Technician, University of Georgia
Ricardo Pinto, Senior Research Scientist, Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany
Tristan Vornbäumen, Master’s Student, University of Tübingen
Tevis Vitale, Rotation Student, Harvard University
Kira Vordermark, Medical Student, University of Bonn
Hanna Griesshaber, Master’s Student, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
Ramon Ranka, Master’s Student, TUM
Franzi Bemmmann, Master’s Student, TUM
Adriaan De Groot, Master’s Student, Radboud University Nijmegen
Bennedikt Dürr, Master’s Student, LMU
Jiafeng Fang, GI Surgeon, Sun Yat-Sen University, China
Hannah Fischer, Master’s Student, LMU
Tobias Hosp, Medical Student, University of Heidelberg
Ben Jiang, Master’s Student, TUM
Dominick Riken, Master’s Student, University of Heidelberg
Marion Schweiger, Master’s Student, TUM
Abby Smith, Research Technician, University of Georgia
Nina Wichmann, Master’s Student, TUM
Konstantin Wolf, Master’s Student, ETH Zürich
Mengyao Xu, Graduate Student, Nankai University School of Medicine
