Jeffrey Ishizuka (principal investigator) earned his D.Phil. in immunology studying CD8+ T-cell immunodominance and cross-reactivity with Sir Andrew McMichael at Oxford University and Jon Yewdell at the National Institutes of Health. He completed medical school at Harvard, internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and medical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before doing a post-doc in Nick Haining’s laboratory. Following his post-doc he opened his own lab at Yale where he continues to see patients with melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. Outside of the lab, he and his wife, Jules, work to cultivate their chauffeuring and snack-provision skills in service of their two kids.

J.W. Allen (MD-PhD student) received a B.S. in Biology from Emory University in a bygone era (pre-pandemic 2019). He developed a keen interest in cancer biology as an undergrad, studying PI3K signaling in EGFR-driven GBM in Renee Read’s lab. Before starting medical school at Yale, he spent two years in Sean Stowell’s lab at Emory—and later Harvard—investigating immunological factors affecting incompatible blood transfusions. In the Ishizuka lab, he is interested in exploring how inflammatory mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment guide resistance to immunotherapies with the goal of identifying targetable pathways to help improve care. When not in lab, J.W. loves to spend his time playing/watching soccer, exploring the outdoors, and unsuccessfully convincing his partner to get a dog.

Sachin Bhagchandani (post-doc researcher) joined Yale School of Medicine as a National Cancer Institute K00 fellow after graduating from MIT in August 2023. His PhD work focused on prodrug-based approaches for safe, systemic delivery of small molecule immunomodulators. He is interested in targeting innate immune pathways for cancer immunotherapy. Outside of the lab, he and his wife, Kiran, enjoy playing tennis and hiking.

Josephine Burdekin (undergraduate research assistant) is a sophomore in Morse College studying Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. At Yale, she is a a Helix Fellow, through which she works for a health-tech startup. She is also involved in the Yale Collegiate Figure Skating Club, Yale Undergraduate Prison Project Healthcare Initiative, and Yale Undergraduate Research Association. In the Ishizuka Lab, Josephine is exploring methods to enhance the effectiveness of mRNA vaccines by improving their uptake by dendritic cells. In her free time, she enjoys playing volleyball, trying new restaurants, and watching Wes Anderson movies.

Philippos Costa (oncology fellow) graduated from Universidade Federal do Vale do Sao Francisco, Brazil. He completed his Internal Medicine at Universidade Federal de Uberlandia and the University of Miami before starting his Oncology Fellowship at Yale. He is interested in developing immunotherapy strategies at Ishizuka Lab. He loves to cook Brazilian dishes, cycle, and learn history.

Min Ding (lab manager) graduated from Dartmouth College with a PhD degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology. She has multiple years of research experience in biochemistry, molecular biology and vascular biology, and she also loves teaching. Fascinated by the mechanisms underlying acquired resistance of anti-checkpoint cancer immunotherapy, and eager to explore novel therapies that can overcome the resistance mechanisms, she decided to switch to the immuno-oncology research area. As a lab manager, she hopes to help Jeff build a fun and energetic lab where everyone loves to work, and she also wants to contribute to the scientific research in the Ishizuka lab. In her free time, Min loves traveling and hiking with her family.

Therese Cordero Dumit (graduate student) received her B.S. in Neuroscience and B.A. in Psychology from the Johns Hopkins University. During her time there, she joined a neuro-oncology lab where she explored the phenomenon known as the abscopal effect in a melanoma murine model. Her passion for cancer immunology deepened after a summer internship at MIT where she studied dendritic cells and their ability to cross-present tumor-derived peptides. Outside of lab, Therese enjoys cooking and baking, FaceTiming her 2-year-old brother, and working out.

Yuewei Fei (post-graduate associate) graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a master’s degree in computational biology. During her time there, she did an internship working on developing open-source bioinformatics software. In the Ishizuka lab, she is hoping to learn more about how immunotherapy works and aiming to apply the power of bioinformatics to muti-omics data in order to further explain and quantify the findings. Outside of the lab, Yuewei enjoys traveling, cooking or finding good restaurant and playing video games with her friends.

Asuka Koda (undergraduate research assistant) is a freshman in Davenport College majoring in Mathematics and Philosophy. At Yale, Asuka is a tour guide with the admissions office and is a staff reporter for the SciTech desk of the Yale Daily News. In the Ishizuka Lab, Asuka studies the role of the immunomodulatory cytokine Pleiotrophin in suppressing tumor cell response to type 1 interferon. Outside of the lab, Asuka is an avid museum goer and an average juggler (with the maximum of three objects).

Sasha Kyrysyuk (graduate student) graduated from Carleton College on his couch in 2020 (admittedly, the worst year to graduate) with a bachelor’s in ~Biology~. After Carleton, Sasha worked at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the beautiful city of Boston on pathways to sensitize tumor cells to cytokine-induced killing and some immunoregulatory T cell receptors, such as CD161. In the Ishizuka lab, Sasha is hoping to create the InflamMouse (MouseFlammation? MouseFlam??!): a system for continuous monitoring of inflammation in the TME to understand drivers of tumor resistance and tumor evolution. In his free time, Sasha enjoys designing experiments that would never work, hiking, and dabbling in scientific illustration.

Daniel Lee (internal medicine resident) received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Rice University and his M.D. from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he studied interferon signaling in the context of CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors in the Minn lab. In the Ishizuka lab, he plans to continue studying how interferon signaling impacts immunotherapy response and resistance. He plans to pursue a fellowship in hematology/oncology after finishing residency. In his free time, Daniel enjoys playing tennis, cooking, disc golf, and spending time with his fiancée Paige and cat Margo.

Quinlin Dixon-Lim (postgraduate associate) graduated from Scripps College with a B.A. in Biochemistry. During her time there, she joined a physical chemistry lab with a focus on protein structural analysis using NMR and worked on developing a robust expression and purification procedure for the S. cerevisiae form of Ornithine Decarboxylase (ODC). During her time at Scripps, she was involved in many extracurriculars, focusing on her passions in science, literature, and education. Outside of lab, Quinlin enjoys traveling, reading, consuming copious amounts of carbohydrates, and being outdoors (bonus points for doing all simultaneously!).

Lotus Lum (graduate student) received her B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology from UC Berkeley. Before coming to Yale, she was working at UCSF studying tumor heterogeneity and how it impacts efficacy to immunotherapies. Now, she is interested in understanding how the myeloid compartment dictates and responds to the tumor microenvironment and its impact on tumor progression. Outside of lab, she likes to rock climb, go on long backpacking trips, and exploring all of nature!

Yunan Nie (hematology/oncology fellow) received her B.A. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University and her M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College. She completed her internal medicine residency and was a chief resident at the University of Colorado before starting her hematology/oncology fellowship at Yale. She is interested in resistance mechanisms to immunotherapy in solid tumors and novel strategies to overcome acquired resistance. In her free time, she enjoys baking, traveling, and teaching her food motivated rescue cat new tricks.

Thamara Nishida (Postdoc Associate) holds a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy and a Master's degree in Experimental Pathology from the State University of Londrina, Brazil. She recently completed her PhD in Biomedicine at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany, where her research focused on ferroptosis and its interplay with resistance mechanisms in melanoma. She is deeply interested in exploring the complex interactions between cellular stress responses, metabolism and immune functions, and how these interconnected pathways can be exploited to improve the efficacy of cancer therapies. Her current research aims to elucidate the role of Adar1-null tumor mechanisms in stimulating NK immunity. Outside of the lab, Thamara enjoys cooking and trying new foods, as well as exploring different restaurants to try new culinary experiences.

Alex Pan (MD student) received his B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Reed College. In a previous life, he was a software engineer before making the switch into medicine. Before coming to Yale, he studied liquid biopsies for cancer detection at the NIH. In the Ishizuka lab, he plans to study metastatic organotropism in melanoma. Outside of lab, Alex likes to climb rocks and bake things!

Curt Perry (oncology fellow/post-doc) graduated from the Yale School of Medicine MD/PhD program in 2018 after studying immunotherapies targeting T cells and myeloid cells in mouse models of chronic viral infection and melanoma with professor Susan Kaech in Immunobiology. He plans to continue to study mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy as a medical oncologist. He and his wife Rachel Perry, a professor who studies tumor and exercise physiology, enjoy learning about dinosaurs and kindness from their daughter.

Frankie Scallo (graduate student) received a B.S. in Biology and Psychology from The College of New Jersey in Spring 2020. Before coming to Yale, he worked in the lab of Alexander Valvezan at Rutgers University studying how mTORC1 activity is regulated throughout cell cycle progression in non-malignant and tumor models. Now, he is interested in discovering new therapeutics leveraging the immune system that can be implemented in the clinic. Ongoing projects involve developing an mRNA-based vaccine against HPV-associated tumors, unraveling how ERV expression can act as antigen targets, and determining how the metabolic composition of the TME can influence immune cell phenotype. Frankie spends his time camping, hiking, and finding the nearest bar trivia when not in the lab.

Zaki Siraj (undergraduate research assistant) is a freshman in Grace Hopper college looking to study Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. At Yale he is studying to become an EMT and plays for the club frisbee team. In the Ishizuka lab, Zaki plans to study mechanisms of immunosuppression in the tumor microenviornment. Outside the lab, Zaki loves to explore national parks, workout, and play video games with friends.

Jason Wang (undergraduate research assistant) is a sophomore in Morse College majoring in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. At Yale, he works for Yale EMS and volunteers at the HAVEN Free Clinic. He also chairs the Yale Magic Society and is a member of the Yale Climbing and Club Tennis teams. In the Ishizuka lab, Jason is using computational pipelines to explore multiomics data and define resistance mechanisms in patient response to immunotherapy. Outside of lab, Jason volunteers with Echo Hose Ambulance Corps as an EMT, and also likes to embark on outdoor climbing trips, perform street magic, and capture aerial drone photography.

Maxim Yaskolko (undergraduate research assistant) is a rising sophomore in Berkeley College and a prospective molecular, cellular, and developmental biology major. At Yale, he is co-president of the Yale Chess Club and volunteers at the HAVEN free clinic. In the Ishizuka lab, Maxim is helping investigate mechanisms by which tumors may modulate DC migration, maturation, and function. Outside of the lab, he is usually playing chess, walking around New Haven, and playing low-quality basketball.