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Meet the Team
Sameek Roychowdhury, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
Goal: Beat Cancer
No Such Thing as a No Win Scenario
Click here for Dr. Roychowdhury's CV
Julie Reeser, PhD
Technical Supervisor - Cancer Genomics Laboratory,
Clinical Research Coordinator
Julie grew in up Cincinnati, Ohio, studied at Miami University of Ohio and completed her PhD in Genetics at The Ohio State University. In 2013, she joined the Roychowdhury Team where she has been implementing genomic testing for patients and developing novel diagnostics tests to offer our patients.
Quote: “Through my dedication to research, I hope to see a day where no one dies from cancer.”
Jharna Miya, MS
Team Lead - Computational Biology,
Biomedical Informatics Specialist
Jharna grew up in Delhi, India, and came to the U.S. to further her studies in bioinformatics. She joined the Roychowdhury Team in 2013 to help develop and implement computer-based analyses to provide gene testing for patients.
Quote: “There's one feeling I treasure the most, which is being able to give back, try my best and help the ones with suffering. Cancer research fuels my motivation to keep the drive going."
Michele Wing, PhD
Research Scientist
Michele grew up in Cortland, Ohio, studied at The College of Wooster, and completed her PhD in Neurobiology at The University of North Carolina. In 2013, she joined the Roychowdhury Team to help develop clinic grade genomic testing for advanced cancer. She has also trained as a Certified Nurse Practitioner.
Quote: “I feel grateful to work with such an amazing team of professionals to combine our distinct skillsets for one goal: to end cancer.”
Hui-Zi Chen, MD, PhD
Medical Oncology Fellow
Hui-Zi grew up in Sweden and Ohio, studying at Cornell University followed by MD and PhD training at The Ohio State University. She is training as a medical oncologist and physician scientist, and joined the Roychowdhury Team in 2016 to study and develop clinical trials involving novel smart drugs for cancer using genetics.
Quote: “My role as an oncologist is to provide the best evidenced-based care available for cancer patients regardless of age, class, gender or ethnicity. My hope as a scientist is to help discover knowledge that will one day lead to a cancer-free world.”
Melanie Krook, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Melanie grew up in Michigan, studied at Miami University of Ohio, and completed her PhD in Cancer Biology at University of Michigan. In 2015, she joined the Roychowdhury Team as a post-doctoral researcher to study and develop novel smart drugs for cancer using genetics.
Quote: "I am passionate about cancer research so that one day our findings can provide hope to patients and families affected by cancer.”
Eric Samorodnitsky, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Computational Biology
Eric is a post-doctoral fellow in computational biology, and is involved in clinical cancer sequencing utilizing integrative DNA and RNA sequencing approaches. Eric’s future work will entail making software to model all the different cancer pathways in order to assist physicians in choosing courses for treatment when a patient’s cancer becomes resistant to a particular targeted therapy.
Russell Bonneville
Graduate Student
Russell is a graduate student in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program (BSGP). His research interests are in computational biology and translational research, and in applying computational methods to improve cancer detection and treatment.
Anoosha Paruchuri, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Anoosha grew up in India and received her PhD in Protein Bioinformatics at Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M). In 2018, she joined the Roychowdhury Team as a post-doctoral researcher. Her research interests are to study tumor heterogeneity and evolution in different cancers and develop computational methods to assess heterogeneity and find distinct cancer cell populations in a tumor.
Dorrelyn Martin, MS
Research Associate
Dori has several years of experience in cancer genetics and the ENCODE project, she joined the lab to help translate cancer genomic sequencing approaches to patient care. She focuses on the development of novel DNA and RNA sequencing approaches for evaluating patients with advanced cancer, including the analytic and clinical validation of these assays.
Amy Smith
Lead Clinical Lab Technologist
Amy is a Medical Laboratory Scientist certified by the American Society for Clinical Pathology. She has been working in clinical laboratories for over 10 years, with the last five years focused on molecular techniques. Her current duties involve processing blood and tissue samples, extracting nucleic acids, and preparing libraries for next generation sequencing. Her goal is to utilize her skills to help the team improve treatment options for cancer patients.
Thuy Dao
Clinical Lab Technologist
Thuy received her B.A in Molecular Genetics Technology in School of Health Professions at MD Anderson. Thuy worked in a clinical lab for a year after graduation. Thuy joined the lab in 2016. Her duties involve processing blood and tissue samples, extracting nucleic acids and preparing libraries for sequencing.
Karan Naik
Student
Karan is a 3rd year honors student at Ohio State studying Biomedical Science. He has been with the lab since the fall of his freshman year and plans to pursue an MD degree following graduation.
Mikayla Dantuono
Student
Mikayla is a third year student who is working on microsatellite instability within cancer cells as well as the development of novel DNA sequencing approaches for clinical detection of fusions in cancer. She is looking to go to graduate school to pursue a degree in translational plant biology with a focus on using plant systems for potential applications in human medicine.
Allie Lenyo
Student
Allie is a second year student at The Ohio State University who is pursuing an honors degree in Biomedical Science. She plans to attend medical school following her undergraduate education and would like to specialize in medical oncology and hematology.
Hannah Barker
Student
Hannah is a second year student at The Ohio State University. She is part of the College of Arts and Sciences honors program pursuing a major in biology. Her goal is to attend medical school post graduation. Hannah has been apart of the lab since spring of freshmen year, and looks forward to her experiences to come.
Eli Gardner
Student
Eli is a second year honors student at The Ohio State University. He is studying Microbiology and English and hopes to attend medical school after he completes his undergraduate career.