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Betty Giannias

Laboratory Manager

I am Dr. Ferri’s Lab Manager since the inception of his lab in 2005. Amongst my administrative duties, I am responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of his highly productive lab while ensuring that students work in a safe lab environment following established protocols and guidelines. I also perform wet lab techniques where the goal is to characterize gastroesophageal cancer and ultimately revolutionize and develop personalized therapy for Dr. Ferri’ patients suffering from this poor outcome disease.

France Bourdeau

Animal Health Technician

As an animal health technician, my tasks are related to the welfare and maintenance of the mouse colony. This includes breeding, weaning and keeping records of each mouse strain and inventory, ensuring that we have enough animals for each experiment. I also take part in ongoing projects and experiments, perform surgeries and take care of pre- and post-operative care, treatments, necropsies, follow-up and data collection.

Wotan Zeng

PhD, Research Assistant

Within the dynamic research environment of Dr.Ferri’s lab, I am involved in several groundbreaking projects centered on advancing our understanding of esophageal and gastric cancers. Our multifaceted endeavors aim to revolutionize the way we approach esophageal and gastric cancers. Our ultimate mission is to drive progress in cancer research and improve patient outcomes by leveraging sophisticated models and cutting-edge techniques.

Sanjima Pal

PhD, Scientific Research ManagerÌý

Dr. Pal’s research focused on to translating complex preclinical datasets into clinically actionable insights.

She integrates experimental data from patient-derived organoids, cancer-associated fibroblasts, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and patient-specific, stoma-inclusive organ-on-chip platforms with computational analyses generated through single-cell RNA sequencing and AI-based algorithms. This multidisciplinary methodology facilitates advanced modeling of tumor biology, cellular heterogeneity, and therapeutic responses. She also systematically validates these preclinical findings with corresponding clinical datasets to ensure their biological relevance and to improve their predictive value for patient outcomes.

She is dedicated to creating data-driven frameworks based on the 3Rs principles (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) to reduce animal usage, enhance the reliability of preclinical models, inform future trial design, and advance personalized oncology therapeutics.

In addition to her research activities, she supervises master's, graduate, and postdoctoral fellows, overseeing their projects to ensure timely and goal-oriented completion. She is also responsible for overseeing the biobank, ensuring it operates efficiently as a crucial component of all research activities.

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Shuyuan Sharon Wang

Postdoctoral researcher

My research project focuses on characterization of patient-derived organoids via omics approaches and testing of new treatment strategies to overcome chemotherapy resistance in gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma

Qian Qiu

Research Associate

I perform computational techniques to define novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers and to characterize tumor evolution. I also analyze and interpret large sequencing datasets by applying and developing bioinformatics and statistical methods of whole genome sequencing, RNA-seq, and single cell data.

Ruo Yu Ma

PhD Candidate

My study is to determine the genomic and transcriptomic alterations associated with therapy-resistant microsatellite instability-high esophageal adenocarcinoma and to identify variant-guided therapeutic strategies.

Ece Ozmen

PhD student

The main goal of my research is to dissect the stromal contributors of chemoresistance in gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma by interpreting the single-cell RNA and whole genome/exome sequencing data, and validation of target markers with the use of co-culture models.

Ashraf Ba-Adheem

Master's student

In my current project, I am exploiting the metabolic vulnerabilities to reverse the immunotherapy resistance in microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA) patients. My work focuses on understanding how metabolic stress reshapes the tumor microenvironment and influences the efficiency of immunotherapy. Using both in vitro models and translational approaches, I aim to identify biologically rational strategies to enhance therapeutic outcomes. My ultimate goal is to contribute to more effective personalized treatment for MSI-H GEA patients.