Faculty | IGPBS | University of Nebraska Medical Center

Cancer Research Faculty

The Cancer Research doctoral program includes faculty members from the following colleges, departments and institutes: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, two College of Dentistry departments, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, four College of Public Health departments, Eppley Institute, Genetics Cell Biology and Anatomy, three Internal Medicine departments, Munroe-Meyer Institute, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Pathology and Microbiology, Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, Radiation Oncology, Radiology and Surgery.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

	Maher Abdalla, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and immune cells in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and prostate cancer.

	Yazen Alnouti, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Research focus: Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK), with a focus on the application of Bioanalytical Chemistry, in vitro and in vivo animal models to support ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity) and pharmacokinetic (PK) studies; Biomarkers for hepato-biliary diseases based on bile acid metabolism by sulfation.

Return To Top

	Lorena Baccaglini, DDS, PhD Associate Professor, College of Public Health - Epidemiology Research focus: Clinical research; evidence-based medicine; systematic reviews; epidemiological methods; genetic epidemiology, oral and systemic diseases; wound healing; growth factors; head and neck injuries.

	Hamid Band, MD, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Regulation of receptor signaling by endocytic traffic; Cbl-family and CHIP ubiquitin ligases; EHD-family endocytic recycling regulators; mouse genetic models; cancer and stem cell biology.

	Vimla Band, PhD Professor and Chair, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Delineate molecular mechanisms of early steps in transformation of mammary epithelial cells with the goal of identifying novel molecular diagnostic/prognostic markers and potential therapy targets of breast cancers.

	Janina Baranowska-Kortylewicz, PhD Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology Research focus: Radioimmunotherapy-related clinical studies in Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; molecular radiotherapy of peripheral T-cell lmphoma not otherwise specified using DNA-targeted agents.

	Surinder K. Batra, PhD Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Structure/function analysis of tumor-associated genes; cancer diagnostics, cancer vaccines; monoclonal antibodies, genetic engineering of antibodies.

	Ann Berger, PhD, APRN-CNS, AOCNS, FAAN Professor, College of Nursing Research focus: Symptom management, in particular fatigue and sleep/wake disturbances, in individuals with cancer; use of wrist actigraphy.

	Tadayoshi Bessho, PhD Associate Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Molecular mechanism of DNA interstrand crosslink repair in mammalian cells.

	Kishor K. Bhakat, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Mitotic gene bookmarking: A novel dimension of epigenetic memory in cancer for post-mitotic transcriptional reactivation; APE1 and its acetylation: A potential prognostic and predictive biomarker in cancer.

	Philip Bierman, MD Professor, Department of Internal Medicine – Oncology and Hematology Research focus: Hodgkin disease; non-hodgkin lymphoma; neuro-oncology.

	Adrian Black, PhD Assistant Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Tissue sciences; molecular biology; cell cycle; transcription; protein kinase C signaling in intestinal cells; endometrial cancer.

	Jennifer Black, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Colon cancer; endometrial cancer; pancreatic cancer; cell signaling (kinases and phosphatases) cell cycle regulation; control of protein translation in cancer; protein kinase C; PP2A.

	Gloria Borgstahl, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Structural biology, superoxide dismutase and double-strand DNA repair by homologous recombination.

	Shannon Buckley, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Utilize genomic and proteomic approaches to identify key ubiquitin ligases and their substrates that regulate mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal, differentiation, and malignant transformation (i.e. Leukemia and Lymphoma).

	Siddappa Byrareddy, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience Research focus: Understanding host-virus dynamics using molecular biology, virology, immunology, systems biology, and genomic tools to develop prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, such as Zika virus.

Return To Top

	W. Scott Campbell, MBA, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Health informatics and pathology informatics.

	Mark Carlson, MD, FACS Professor, Department of Surgery Research focus: Cancer; regenerative medicine; hemostasis; wound healing.

	Kishore Challagundla, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Role of extra cellular vesicles (EV's) and the non-coding RNAs in affecting immunotherapy and escaping immune surveillance in pediatric cancers, in particular neuroblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia.

	Pi-Wan Cheng, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Mechanism of altered glycosylation in cancer development/progression and alcohol abuse, and development of altered glycans-based markers for identification and targeted therapy of advanced cancers.

	Dahn Clemens, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine Research focus: Role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease; molecular mechanisms by which reactive oxygen species cause inflammation that leads to the initiation and profession of cardiovascular disease.

	Samuel M. Cohen, MD, PhD Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Urologic pathology, carcinogenesis and toxicology.

	Martin Conda-Sheridan, PhD Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Design of complex multifunctional biomaterials and bioactive small molecules for medicinal applications.

	Leah Cook, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Investigation of immune interactions within the tumor bone microenvironment that contribute to bone metastatic prostate cancer; identifying novel immunotherapeutic targets for treating and curing metastatic cancer.

	Kenneth Cowan, MD, PhD Director and Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Tumor suppressor genes, breast cancer; mechanisms associated with development of multi-drug resistance and the regulation of expression of drug resistance genes in human tumor cells.

	Christine Cutucache, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biology (UNO) Research focus: Discipline-based education research, focused on the marriage of the cognitive sciences of human learning; utilizing bioinformatics-, and computationally-based research on immunological aspects of B-cell lymphomas.

Return To Top

	Kaustubh Datta, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Molecular mechanisms of cancer progression and metastasis.

	John S. Davis, PhD Professor, Director of Research and Development - Olson Center for Women's Health, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research focus: Reproductive endocrinology and oncology.

	Rebecca Oberley-Deegan, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Role of free radicals signaling to transform fibroblasts and inflammatory cells in normal tissue, which results in damage to these tissues; understanding the mechanisms by which ROS promote radiation induced fibrosis and prostate cancer progression.

	Punita Dhawan, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Development of novel therapeutic targets for Gastrointestinal Cancer progression and chemoresistance; Role of signaling pathways and cancer stem cells involved in this process using cell culture, mouse and organoid models.

	Jixin Dong, PhD Associate Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Hippo signaling and cancer.

	Bin Duan, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Cardiology Research focus: Integrate novel biomaterials, advanced biofabrication of tissue engineering to create multi-scale complexity within engineered tissue to understand the fundamentals of cell-material interactions and mimic the native tissue for tissue regeneration.

Return To Top

	Dalia Elgamal, PhD Assistant Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Lymphoid malignancies - pathogenesis of B-cell malignancies, evaluating novel targeted therapies for B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

	James Eudy, PhD Associate Professor, Director of UNMC DNA Microarray and Sequencing Core Facility, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Next Generation DNA Sequencing strategies for rare Mendelian disease gene identification and functional genomic technologies; biomedical interest in cancer, cardiovascular disease and virology.

Return To Top

	Kurt Fisher, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Basic and transitional research with the goal of identifying and evaluating novel targets for therapy in gastrointestinal tumors with K-Ras mutations; GI tract, liver, and solid organ transplant pathology.

	Kai Fu, MD, PhD Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Hematopathology, lymphoma research.

Return To Top

	Jered Garrison, PhD Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Targeted molecular imaging and radiotherapeutic agent design; development of cancer-specific prodrugs; polymer based drug delivery systems.

	Gargi Ghosal, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Understand the basic science underlying replication stress response in cancer and aging; identify new targets and bio-markers for cancer therapy and facilitate the development of strategies to overcome drug resistance and improve cancer therapies.

	Karen Gould, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Estrogen receptor alpha regulation of lupus; identification of the Mom5 modifier of intestinal tumorigenesis.

	Chittibabu (Babu) Guda, PhD Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Development and application of computational methods for genomic data analyses including cancer genomics, functional annotation of proteins, pathways, networks and systems in biomedical research.

Return To Top

	Kyle Hewitt, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy Research focus: Multidisciplinary approaches to identify gene regulation networks and cell signaling mechanisms that control blood production during development and/or regeneration following disease or injury. Transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms that cause hematologic disorders and mechanisms that regulate the function of hematopoietic stem and projenitor cells.

	Steven H. Hinrichs, MD Chair and Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Molecular pathogenesis and diagnostics of infectious organism, antimicrobial drug discovery and bioterrorism preparedness information technology.

	Michael A. (Tony) Hollingsworth, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Basic and transactional research in pancreatic cancer, including investigation of the biology of tumor progress, discovery and validation of biomarkers of early detection and disease progression, development and testing of novel therapeutics, including targeted therapies and immunotherapies.

	Sarah Holstein, MD, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Oncology and Hematology Research focus: Development of novel agents for the treatment of multiple myeloma and pancreatic cancer, with a particular focus on Rab inhibitors of the isoprenoid biosynthetic.

	Corey Hopkins, PhD Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research focus: Design, synthesis and optimization of biologically active small molecules as in vivo probes, drug discovery lead compounds and preclinical candidates.

	R. Katherine (Kate) Hyde, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Understand the mechanisms that regulate leukemia development; develop treatments for hematological malignancies.

Return To Top

	Javeed Iqbal, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Molecular signatures to improve diagnosis and outcome prediction in Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; gene expression profiling and pathway targeted therapy in peripheral T-cell lymphoma; characterization of key molecular signatures in natural killer cell malignancies.

Return To Top

	Maneesh Jain, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Development of genetically engineered antibody fragments for improved radioimmunotherapy for solid tumors; development of serum assays for the early diagnosis of lethal pancreatic cancer.

	Keith R. Johnson, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: The role the cell adhesion molecules (cadherins) play in metastasis.

Return To Top

	Adam R. Karpf, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Ovarian cancer biology and therapeutics; Cancer epigenetics.

	So-Youn Kim, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research focus: Oncofertility, cachexia, ovarian cancer.

	David Klinkebiel, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Dynamics associated with changes in the genome and epigenome of human disease.

Return To Top

	Robert Lewis, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Identification and targeting of Ras-driven, tumor-specific pathways; molecular mechanisms controlling cellular and organismal energy balance.

	Ming-Fong Lin, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Mechanism of cell growth regulation by steroids via cross-talk of ROS and tyrosine phosphorylation signaling.

	Yutong Liu, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Radiology Research focus: Neuroimaging and image processing.

	Matthew Lunning, DO Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine – Oncology and Hematology Research focus: Rare hematologic malignancies with a focus on early drug development and experimental correlates that leads to enhanced knowledge of how to treat hematologic malignancies.

	Xu Luo, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Regulation of mitochondria-dependent cell death.

	Quan Ly, MD, FACS Associate Professor, Department of Surgery Research focus: Study of the role of cadherins in metastatic cancer cell signaling and effect of cadherin mutations on cell adhesion and cell motility. Evaluate NBL1 function by re-expressing NBL1 in cancer cells. Develop novel therapies for pancreatic cancers. Study the role of survivin in pancreatic cancers.

	Yuri Lyubchenko, PhD, DrSc Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Nanoscale structure, dynamics and interactions – seeing and manipulating biomolecules.

Return To Top

	Richard G. MacDonald, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Signal transduction/biological effects of the insulin-like growth factors with emphasis on structure-function relationships of the IGF-II/mannose 6-phosphate receptor.

	Luis Marky, PhD Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Biophysical chemistry and molecular forces that control the conformational stability and flexibility of nucleic acids, including Okazaki fragments, hairpin loops, intramolecular triplexes, G-quadruplexes, C-quadruplexes, and three- & four-arm DNA junctions and their interaction with drugs.

	Benita McVicker, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Gastroenterology-Hepatology Research focus: Alcohol liver injury and mechanisms.

	Jane Meza, PhD Professor, College of Public Health - Biostatistics Research focus: Statistical issues related to small-area estimation. These methods have been extended to disease mapping applications and combining national and state data to estimate the probability of a rare event.

	Aaron Mohs, PhD Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Development of new florescent imaging contrast agents to guide surgical removal of tumors; developing new drug delivery systems that target tumor metabolism.

	Justin L. Mott, PhD, MD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Receptor tyrosine kinase and microRNA regulation of apoptosis in liver cancer and bile duct injury.

	DJ Murry, PharmD Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice Research focus: Ways to individualize drug therapy using pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenomics information; from in vitro metabolism and transport studies, animal pharmacokinetic studies, to clinical studies evaluating drug therapy in patients.

Return To Top

	Wasim (Mohd) Nasser, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Research focus: Cancer metastasis; brain metastasis; tumor microenvironment; microRNA's; cytokines/chemokines.

	Amarnath (Amar) Natarajan, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Developing novel target and mechanism specific therapeutics.

	Ali Nawshad, PhD Associate Professor, College of Dentistry Research focus: Transforming Growth Factor (TGF) ß signaling during palate development; mechanisms of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) by TGFß in HNSCC; role of TGFß signaling during dentinogenesis.

Return To Top

	Gregory Oakley, PhD Associate Professor, College of Dentistry – Oral Biology Research focus: DNA damage and repair involving signal transduction pathways that regulate the cellular response to DNA damage and how alterations in these pathways contribute to mutagenesis and, ultimately, carcinogenesis.

	Michael M. Ouellette, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research focus: Molecular mechanisms that determine the lifespan of human cells, including telomeres and telomerase. Role of the small GTPases K-Ras and Rac1 in the development of pancreatic cancer and its response to conventional therapies.

	David Oupicky, PhD Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Design on multifunctional nanoparticles and polymers withe applications in the treatment of metastiatic cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and acute kidney injury.

Return To Top

	Youri Pavlov, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Cellular systems of mutagenesis and antimutagenesis.

	Aimin Peng, PhD Associate Professor, College of Dentistry Research focus: Cell cycle regulation and the DNA damage response (DDR); cellular recover process from DNA damage; protein phosphatase-dependent cell cycle and DDR regulation and its implication for cancer progression and therapy.

	Thomas Petro, PhD Professor, College of Dentistry Research focus: Using molecular immunobiology approaches to explore intrinsic pathways to or novel therapeutics for expression and control of cytokines to prevent chronic viral infections, autoimmune disease and/or inflammatory diseases.

	Armen Petrosyan, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Mechanism of Golgi alteration in advanced prostate cancer: focus on aberrant glycosylation; role for non-muscle Myosin IIA in alcohol-induced Golgi fragmentation.

	Larisa Poluektova, MD, PhD Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience Research focus: Pathogenesis and treatment of HIV-1 associated dementia; translational mouse models for human-specific diseases.

Return To Top

	Prakash Radhakrishnan, PhD Assistant Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Glycobiology of pancreatic cancer; autocrine and paracrine cell signaling mechanisms; developing therapeutics for pancreatic cancer.

	Angie A. Rizzino, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Molecular mechanisms that regulate the proliferation of cancer stem cells and pluripotent stem cells.

	Kerry Rodabaugh, MD Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research focus: Gynecologic oncology.

	Eleanor G. Rogan, PhD Professor, College of Public Health Research focus: Investigation of the possible role of contaminants, especially agrichemicals, in various waterways in the etiology of adverse health effects, including pediatric cancer, birth defects and Parkinson's Disease.

Return To Top

	John (Graham) Sharp, PhD Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Research on stem cells in normal tissue and tumors, particularly pediatric tumors.

	Polina Shcherbakova, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Mechanisms controlling genome stability in eukaryotic cells, particularly the functions of DNA polymerases, DNA replication fidelity and the relationship between DNA polymerase defects and cancer.

	Amar Singh, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Molecular mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer; renal pathobiology.

	Pankaj Singh, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Cancer metabolism, immuno-metabolism, signal transduction in cancer, tumor-microenvironment interactions, therapy resistance, metastasis, cancer cachexia, personalized cancer medicine, and multi-omics systems biology.

	Rakesh K. Singh, PhD Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Tumor growth and metastasis, angiogenesis, tumor immunology, cytrokine biology.

	Joyce Solheim, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Mechanisms regulating the immune response to tumors and infectious pathogens, and development of new immunotherapies.

	Paul Sorgen, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Advancing our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of gap junction regulation in the heart, with particular interest and expertise in protein-protein interactions mediated by the carboxyl terminal domain of connexins.

Return To Top

	Tahir Tahirov, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Reveal the structure basis of the mechanisms covering the key stages in the expression and duplication/repair of genes and to learn how the disease-related mutations in proteins disrupt these key processes.

	James E. Talmadge, PhD Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Tumor progression and metastasis; immune intervention in cancer using cytokines, vaccines, adoptive cellular therapy and molecular therapeutics; regulation of MDSCs; molecular and cellular immunology, hematology and stem cell transplantation; oncology; gene therapy; translational research.

	Melissa Teoh-Fitzgerald, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Role of oxidative tumor microenvironment in regulating the reciprocal tumor-stroma interactions.

	Austin Thompson, MD Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Research focus: Pulmonary hypertension and clinical therapeutic investigations.

Return To Top

	Joseph Vetro, PhD Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy Research focus: Developing novel synthetic targeted drug and gene delivery nanocarriers for the anti-angiogenesis treatment of cancer; improving development paradigms for targeted bioimaging and drug delivery nanocarriers; developing subunit vaccines based on the novel adjuvant, EP67.

	Saraswathi Viswanathan, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Research focus: Determine the role of obesity in modulating the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, alcohol-associated liver injury, and pancreatic cancer.

Return To Top

	James Wahl, PhD Professor, College of Dentistry Research focus: Understand the role of desmosomes play in maintaining the normal phenotype of squamous epithelial tissues and to determine if their alteration during tumorigenesis influences cell motility, metastasis and signaling.

	Guangshun (Gus) Wang, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Host defense antibicrobial peptides; structural bioinformatics; biomolecular NMR.

	Nicholas Woods, PhD Assistant Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Systems biology based analysis of cancer signaling pathways.

	Ashley Wysong, MD, MS Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology Research focus: Skin cancer treatment and epidemiology.

Return To Top

	Jingwei Xie, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery-Transplant Research focus: Synthesis, surface modification, self-assembly of materials at nanometer scale to address problems in the field of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and drug/gene delivery.

Return To Top

	Ying Yan, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology Research focus: Rac1 as a therapeutic target in triple negative breast cancer; protein phosphatase 2A in pancreatic cancer.

Return To Top

	Chi (Kevin) Zhang, MD, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology Research focus: Development of novel strategies for delivery of therapies to brain tumors.

Return To Top