Elizabeth was born and raised in northeast of China. She graduated from Qiqihar Medical University in Clinic Medicine and practiced in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 2007, she received her Ph.D. degree in Molecular and Developmental Biology at Howard University, followed by postdoctoral training at Northwestern University and cancer research at Mass General Hospital Cancer Center. She is interested in dissecting the mechanism of drug resistance as well as the interaction of cancer cells with microenvironment to identify new targets for combination chemotherapies. Her hobbies include running, cooking and spending free time with her family.

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Favorite food: dumplings and spicy food

Hannah is an MD-PhD student in the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD program. She grew up in Bethesda, Maryland and graduated from MIT with a BS in Biological Engineering in May 2024. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer, cooking new recipes, and biking around Boston.

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Fun Fact: Hannah was a NCAA D3 diver in college.

Willa grew up in Tianjin, China. She completed her undergraduate study in Chemical Engineering at University of Toronto before starting her MEng in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. She is passionate about researching and developing treatments for cancers and has a particular interest in computational genomics. She loves hiking and exploring nature in her spare time. 

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Favorite dog breed: Samoyed. Not only are they nicknamed "the Smiley Dog", but they also love singing and dancing to music!

Deniz grew up in quiet Southwest Virginia and is currently a sophomore at UVA majoring in Neuroscience and Computer Science. He is interested in multiomics and computational imaging analysis of tumor-nerve invasion. Outside the lab, he coaches a youth robotics team and in his free time, he enjoys playing poker, pool, baking, and kayaking around Shenandoah.

Favorite desserts: künefe and chocolate mousse

Carina hails from Houston, Texas and graduated from Cornell University with a major in Biology, a concentration in Computational Biology, and a minor in Biometry & Statistics. She currently works on developing computational methods for understanding the single-cell spatial transcriptomic landscape of pancreatic cancer. Carina is an avid enthusiast of 18th century fashion trends, art, and watered-down matcha lattes. 

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Favorite animals: dogs and pigs!

Jimmy grew up in sunny Los Angeles. He graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Biological Sciences before starting his MD/PhD at Harvard/UCSF. He currently works on dissecting malignant subtypes in pancreatic cancer, and he's particularly interested in characterizing the novel neural-like progenitor subtype. His hobbies include eating salad, taking unflattering photos of his labmates, and showering three times a day. 

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Favorite food: the roasted duck from Hong Kong Eatery if indulging, otherwise a custom bowl from Sweetgreen

Ashley grew up in Shanghai, she graduated from UCL with a BSc in Biomedical Sciences, before starting her PhD in UCL. She currently works on dissecting the role of mtDNA copy number in cancer, and developing 3D in vitro biomimetic breast cancer models. Her hobbies include (only recently) trying to cook Chinese food, listening to podcasts, and true crime documentaries. 

Fun fact: Ashley is a secret candy crush master, currently sitting at level 7703. 

Saifur is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the City University of Hong Kong, where his research area focuses on cancer genomics and bioinformatics. He is also an assistant professor (on study leave) at IIUC. He grew up in Chittagong, the port city of Bangladesh. He graduated from the University of Chittagong with a BS and MS in Computer Science and Engineering. He currently works on early cancer detection using single-cell multi-omics data of pancreatic precursor lesions/early-stage invasive disease, integrated biomarker development using matched blood and tissue specimens, and combined single-cell DNA and RNA sequencing of different malignant cell subtypes to reveal the genetic determinants of malignant cell state. His hobbies include cooking, movies, and weekend outing. 

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Favorite food: Indian and Bangla halal cuisine and biriyani. Drink: matcha latte with extra milk and sugar or espresso and milkshake.

Jennifer grew up in the Bay Area. She graduated from UCLA with a major in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. She currently works on identifying the transcriptional mediators involved in tumor-nerve crosstalk. Her hobbies include eating and sleeping.

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Favorite drink: Matcha latte with less ice, regular sugar, and whole milk because she's not lactose intolerant (yet)

Hannah is a trainee with the Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program and HST. She graduated from Dartmouth in 2019 and worked as a research associate at the Koch and Broad Institutes with Dr. Hwang before starting med school. She is broadly interested in applying single-cell and spatial technologies to identify therapeutic vulnerabilities in tumor-peripheral nerve interactions. In her free time, she enjoys playing Wordle, mentoring underserved STEM students, and taking very slow jogs around Boston.

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Fun fact: her grandmother holds a world record and two US records in sprinting!

Zack grew up in Tennessee and graduated from Vanderbilt University with a major in Molecular Biology and minors in Chemistry and Literature. His graduate work combined genome-editing and bioinformatics to study cancer genetics and tumor immunology, with an aim toward identifying new immunotherapy strategies for pancreatic cancer. At the Hwang Lab, Zack worked to understand the composition of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors at high resolution. Outside of work, Zack likes to hike, and he closely follows the NBA, especially LeBron James.

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Fun fact: Zack pioneered a super-loaded two-taco ordering method that maximizes calorie:dollar ratios for orders at Chipotle

Steven grew up in the tropical city of Shanghai, went to boarding school in freezing New Hampshire, and is now studying in New York where the climate is relatively reasonable. At the Hwang Lab, Steven is working on creating PDAC co-culture models of fibroblasts and malignant cells, and he's applying this model to investigate tumor microenvironment-induced drug resistance. Steven likes to game on his oversized laptop, and prefers cost-efficient food options. Steven does not like French food because he never had a good experience eating it.

Favorite food: stir-fried pea shoots and gyudon

Ryan is currently faculty at the MD Anderson Medical Center, and was a radiation oncology resident and postdoctoral fellow in Nir Hacohen’s lab. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and spent part of his childhood in Seoul before moving to the Northeast for high school. He earned a BS and MS in biophysics and biochemistry at Yale, where he conducted research in neuronal cell biology. He then attended Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program, where he applied molecular biology and genomics approaches to the study of T-cell biology and HIV in the laboratory of Bruce Walker as an HHMI fellow. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is currently a resident in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program in the ABR Holman Research pathway. 

Diana grew up in Morgantown, WV. She graduated from Princeton University, followed by Harvard Medical School. She is interested in understanding the biology of IDH-mutant glioma brain tumors and developing new treatments for this disease. Her hobbies include cooking/eating, rock climbing, playing violin, and rooting for Rafael Nadal.

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Favorite food: carbs

Aman is a radiation oncology resident. He was born and raised in Fresno, California. His upbringing taught him the importance of community and instilled within him the drive to create change, which ultimately led him to a career in medicine. He attended UCLA for his undergraduate studies, Yale for medical school, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for internship, and is currently a resident in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. While not in the hospital, he enjoys being outdoors, exploring new restaurants, traveling, fitness, and anything tech related.

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Favorite drink: dirty iced chai latte (even in the winter!)