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

	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.

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	Lorena Baccaglini, DDS, PhD Associate Professor, Collge 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.

	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: Auger electron emitters in therapy and diagnosis of cancer; radioimmunotherapeutics and radiolabeled nucleic acid precursors for cancer therapy; imaging agents; investigational new drugs.

	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; cell signaling; cell cycle regulation; protein kinase C.

	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: Molecular mechanisms regulating stem cell fate decisions that may also be linked to cancer.

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	W. Scott Campbell, MBA, PhD Assistant 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.

	Pi-Wan Cheng, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Regulation of mucin glycan biosynthesis in lung diseases and cancer metastasis; Golgi structure and function: Golgi targeting and retention, and recycling of glycosyltransferases; mechanism of stress-induced Golgi fragmentation.

	Dahn Clemens, PhD Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research focus: The effects of ethanol metabolism on liver and pancreas cellular functions and replications.

	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: Metastasis-associated bone disease; prostate cancer; role of immune system in bone metastasis and tumor-bone microenvironment; in-vivo and in-silico models of tumor progression.

	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.

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	Kaustabh 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 Assistant 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: Role of TJs in colorectal cancer progression and metastasis.

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

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	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.

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

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

	Gargi Ghosal, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: Replication stress response in cancer and premature ageing.

	Karen Gould, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy Research focus: The role of estrogen receptor alpha signaling in autoimmunity and 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.

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	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: The molecular biology and genetics of MUC1 glycoproteins in pancreatic cancer.

	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 with a particular focus on Rab inhibitors and inhibitors of the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway.

	R. Katherine (Kate) Hyde, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Control of gene expression in leukemia and normal hematopoiesis.

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	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.

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	Maneesh Jain, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Targeted therapy of pancreatic cancer - tumor vaccines, antibody engineering and modulation of tumor microenvironment.

	Donald R. Johnson, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Immunology and tumor biology. The effect of major depressive disorder on the innate immune system.

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

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	Adam R. Karpf, PhD Associate Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Cancer epigenetics and DNA methylation, 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.

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	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.

	David Wan-Cheng Li, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Research focus: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular disease (cataract and retina degeneration) and cancer.

	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.

	Oksana Lockridge, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Mass spectrometry to diagnose exposure to organophosphates; production of human butyrylcholinesterase.

	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.

	Jiangtao Luo, PhD Assistant Professor, College of Public Health - Biostatistics Research focus: Statistical genetics and genomics; statistical methods in clinical genetics and genetic epidemiology; statistical and mathematical modeling; optimal treatment in clinical trials, esp. application of optimization and optimal control; longitudinal data analysis and functional data analysis; Bayesian statistics.

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

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

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	Richard G. MacDonald, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Transmembrane signaling and regulation of cell growth.

	Muzafar Macha, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Awaiting information.

	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.

	Parmender P. Mehta, PhD Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Connexins and cell-to-cell contact-dependent intercellular communication.

	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 Assistant 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 Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: MicroRNA regulation of apoptosis in liver cancer or alternatively, bile duct injury in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

	DJ Murry, PharmD Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice Research focus: Development of analytical techniques for the determination of diethylcarbamize, albendazole and ivermectin, along with pharmacokinetic data analysis.

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	Amarnath (Amar) Natarajan, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Chemical probes for protein-protein interactions and kinases.

	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.

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	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: Nanomedicine with emphasis on the development of novel approaches to deliver drug combinations to better treat various diseases; design of multifunctional nanoparticles with application in the treatment of metastatic cancer and inflammatory conditions like Crohn’s disease.

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	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.

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	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: Metabolic activation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and catechol estrogens to form DNA adducts, generate oncogenic mutations and initiate cancer.

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	Karen Schumacher, PhD, RN Professor, College of Nursing Research focus: Family caregiving during cancer treatment with a focus on the transition into the family caregiving role at the beginning of cancer treatment, how the role changes over the course of treatment and what health effects caregivers experience over time; management of cancer pain by oncology outpatients and family caregivers.

	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 Associate 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.

	Simon Sherman, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Carcinogenic modeling, cancer informatics.

	Amar Singh, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Molecular mechanisms of mucosal inflammation and associated cancer; and Ciliogenesis, autophagy and renal diseases; understanding the causal role of the epithelial barrier in the regulation of mucosal inflammation and associated cancer; regulation of renal tubular epithelial cell morphogenesis and renal cancer.

	Pankaj Singh, PhD Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Signal transduction in cancer, tumor-microenvironment interactions, therapy resistance, cancer metabolism and systems biology.

	Rakesh K. Singh, PhD Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Research focus: Host-tumor interaction in tumor progression, angiogenesis and metastasis, tumor immunology.

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

	Ghada Soliman, MD, PhD, RD, LMNT Associate Professor, College of Public Health Research focus: A nutrient-sensing protein termed the mammalian Target of Rapamycin (m TOR) as a master regulator of metabolism, cell growth and proliferation; obesity, and related metabolic disorder, as well as the impact of micronutrient deficiencies among individuals, across populations and globally; optimal nutrition as an integral part of global health promotion and disease prevention; public health and social burdens of malnutrition.

	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.

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	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 biology, metastasis, immunotherapy, molecular and cellular immunology, hematology and oncology.

	Melissa Teoh-Fitzgerald, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research focus: Redox signaling in cancer epithelial-fibroblast interactions.

	Sarah Thayer, MD, PhD Professor and Chief, Department of Surgery - Surgical Oncology Research focus: Investigation of the genes that may contribute to the initiation, progression and regulation of pancreatic cancer.

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

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	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.

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	James Wahl, PhD Associate 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: Biomolecular NMR; structural biology; signal transduction; antimicrobial peptides.

	Jing (Jenny) Wang, PhD Associate Professor, Eppley Cancer Institute Research focus: Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets of colon cancer metastasis and chemoresistance.

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

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	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.

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	Ying Yan, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology Research focus: Rho family of GTPases in cancer therapy resistance; Serine/Threonine phosphatase 2A in tumorigenesis and metastasis.

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