Texas Tech University

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TC3R Team and Members

Leadership Team

Klementina Fon Tacer, DVM, PhD

Director

Expertise: Stem cells, Spermatogenesis, Cancer-Testis Antigens, Cancer Metabolism, Stress

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Wei Li, PhD

Associate Director

Expertise: Responsive LbL nanofilms, Cell microenvironments, Soft materials, Exosomes, Cell capture and release, Biomedical microdevices

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering

Fernanda Rosa MS, PhD

Co-leader

Expertise: Metabolism, Nutrition, Immune system

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Heidi Villalba, Ph.D.

Co-leader

Expertise: Cancer cell lines and primary cultures

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Stephanie Myers, DVM, PhD, DACVP

Co-leader

Expertise: Anatomic pathology, Pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Jenny Wilkerson, PhD

Co-leader

Expertise: Cancer pain, natural products, neuron to glia

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Mahmoud Salama Ahmed, PhD

Co-leader

Expertise: Metabolism, Signaling casade, Cancer, Drug development

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Advisory Board Members

Laszlo M. Hunyadi, DVM, MS, DACVIM (LAIM)

Advisory Board Member

Expertise: Equine medicine, Equine tumors

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Nancy Zimmerman, DVM, MS, CCRT, DACVS

Advisory Board Member

Expertise: Companion animal surgeon

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Lauren Gollahon, PhD

Advisory Board Member

Expertise: Breast cancer, Cancer metabolism, Natural cancer therapeutics

Affiliation: Texas Tech University College of Arts and Sciences

Constantinos Mikelis, PhD

Advisory Board Member

Expertise: Cancer angiogenesis, RhoA GTPases, Metastasis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Nadezhda German, PhD

Advisory Board Member

Expertise: Medicinal chemistry

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Andrey Karamyshev, PhD

Advisory Board Member

Expertise: Protein translation, Protein biochemistry

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Members

Annelise Nguyen, PhD

Member and Associate Dean for Research

Expertise: Cancer biology, Hormonal carcinogenesis, Toxicology Organoids

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Emily Sundman, DVM, DABVP

Member

Expertise: Clinical Trial Design, Equine Therapeutics, and Diagnostics

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Guy Loneragan, DVM, PhD

Member and Dean

Expertise: Epidemiology

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

John Gibbons, MS, PhD

Member

Expertise: In vitro fertilization, bovine, embryo

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Jon Thompson, MS, PhD

Member and Assistant Dean

Expertise: Analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Marcelo Schmidt, PhD

Member

Expertise: Sharepoint, data management, data analysis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Michael Cruz Penn, DVM, PhD

Member

Expertise: Pathology

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Nanny Wenzlow, DVM, MRCVS, PhD, Dipl. ACVP

Member

Expertise: Forenisc veterinary pathology

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Prasanth K. Chelikani, BVSc, MVSc, PhD, FTOS

Member and Assistant Dean

Expertise: Physiology, Nutrition, Obesity, Diabetes

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Clarissa Strieder-Barboza, DVM, PhD

Member

Expertise: Obesity

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Department of Veterinary Sciences and School of Veterinary Medicine

Amanda Brown, PhD

Member

Expertise: Microbiome

Affiliation: Texas Tech University College of Arts and Sciences

Kuan-Hui (Ethan) Chen, PhD

Member

Expertise: Tumor stem cells, Immune regulation, Hormones, Tumor metabolites

Affiliation: Texas Tech University College of Arts and Sciences

Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa, PhD

Member

Expertise: Metabolism

Affiliation: Texas Tech University College of Human Sciences

Beverly S. Chilton, PhD

Member

Expertise: Helicase-like transcription factor, colorectal cancer, pancreatic beta cell

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Jannette Dufour, PhD

Member

Expertise: Sertoli cells, Immune regulation, Diabetes

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Igor Ponomarev, PhD

Member

Expertise: Single-cell RNA sequencing

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Josee Guindon, PhD

Member

Expertise: Cannabinoids, Ovarian cancer, Breast cancer

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Srinivas Nandana, PhD

Member

Expertise: Prostate cancer, exosomes, cell-cell signaling in cancer

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Zemfira Karamysheva, PhD

Member

Expertise: Protein translation, CRISPR

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Indrajit Srivastava, PhD

Member

Expertise: Diagnostics, drug delivery, nanoparticles, biomimicry

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering

Sun Hee Yim, PhD

Member

Expertise: Proteomics, Metabolomics, Mass spectrometry, Data analysis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering

Hiranmoy Das, PhD

Member

Expertise: Stem cells, CAR-T cells

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Ulrich Bickel, MD, PhD

Member

Expertise: Blood-brain-barrier

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Junior Members

Barbara Breznik

Junior Member

Expertise: Cancer biology, glioma, therapeutic targets

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Brooke Foster

Junior Member

Expertise: Melanoma, MAGEs, equine cancer

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Denis Stepihar

Junior Member

Expertise: Neurobiology, Proteomics, Molecular biology

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Farzana Popy

Junior Member

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Juan Diego Tejeda Echeverry

Junior Member

Expertise: Predictive Analytics,Process Optimization, AI Integration

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Luciana Mayer Klüppel

Junior Member

Expertise: Therapy, diagnostic, genotyping

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Maria Camila Hoyos Sanchez

Junior Member

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Rafaela Rodrigues dos Santos

Junior Member

Expertise: Immunology, colostrum, nutrition

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Rebecca Florke Gee, PhD

Junior Member

Expertise: Cancer, research, biology

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

SaraBeth Boggan

Junior Member

Expertise: Parasitology, wildlife, one health

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Sarah Cate Hyde

Junior Member

Expertise: Genotyping, PCR, DNA gel electrophoresis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Sima Tozandehjani

Junior Member

Expertise: Cancer microenvironment, cancer metabolism, cancer therapy

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Stephanie D. Miller

Junior Member

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Tara Bayat

Junior Member

Expertise: Prader-Willi Syndrome, Hormonal Regulation, Translation

Affiliation: Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine

Cristian Camilo Rodriguez Almonacid

Junior Member

Expertise: Molecular biology, bioinformatics, drug resistance

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Melissa McHann

Junior Member

Expertise: Ovarian & breast cancer, cannabinoids, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Robert Barnes

Junior Member

Expertise: Ovarian & breast cancer, cannabinoids, pain

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Andriana Plevriti

Junior Member

Expertise: Vascular physiology, angiogenesis, metastasis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Antonia Marazioti

Junior Member

Expertise: Animal models of disease, thoracic migraines, oncogenes

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Elias Liolis, MD, MSc, cPhD

Junior Member

Expertise: Medical oncology, molecular biology, PK/PD

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Margarita Lamprou

Junior Member

Expertise: Tumor microenvironment, angiogenesis, metastasis

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Rayna Bandy

Junior Member

Expertise: Combination therapy, mechanistic studies, structural activity relationship studies

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Sadisna Shahi

Junior Member

Expertise: Medicinal chemistry, synthesis, discovery

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Yuma Ortiz

Junior Member

Expertise: Natural products, peripheral neuropathy, chemotherapy

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy

Asma Harun

Junior Member

Expertise: Fluorescence, multimodality, tumor targeting

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering

Isabella Vasquez

Junior Member

Expertise: Nanoparticles, biomimetic, tumor-targeting

Affiliation: Texas Tech University Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering

Become a Member/Join Us

Eligibility

Membership is open to all active faculty at the Texas Tech University or Texas Tech University Health Science Center interested in applying their expertise in collaborative projects addressing cancer-related questions.

Junior membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows whose mentors are TC3R members.

Associate membership is open to collaborators from external institutions interested in applying their expertise in collaborative projects addressing cancer-related questions.