Graduate Students

Pilar de la Puente is an assistant scientist in the Cancer Biology and Immunotherapies Group at Sanford Research. She received her BSc in biology and master’s in animal medicine and surgery with a focus on biomedical engineering (BME) from University of Leon (Spain). During her PhD, she received a fellowship to perform research at the University of Salamanca and Tissue Bank San Francisco Clinic Foundation in Spain with a focus on tissue engineering. After being awarded her PhD, she continued her postdoctoral training in cancer biology at Washington University in Saint Louis School of Medicine in the laboratory of Dr. Azab, developing tissue-engineered cancer pre-clinical models and investigating localized drug delivery systems for hematological malignancies including multiple myeloma, lymphoma and breast cancer. In June 2018, she joined Sanford Research. Her lab’s interests are focused on the role of tumor microenvironment (TME) in cancer progression, drug resistance and cancer immunology.

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Steven Powell, MD, is a practicing medical oncologist and a physician scientist. His laboratory focuses on integrating novel immunotherapies into the management of head and neck cancer and concurrently developing predictive biomarkers. His primary goal is to comprehend how to best incorporate immunotherapy into the management of locally advanced and metastatic head and neck cancer.

Dr. Powell’s research has led to novel strategies to use immune checkpoint inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy and radiation to augment anti-tumor response. Additionally, his work has evaluated biomarkers of immune response. As a clinician, Dr. Powell seeks to bring what he finds in the lab to clinical trials, to directly impact patient care.

Learn more about the Powell Lab.

Dr. Chad Spanos is an assistant scientist in the Cancer Biology and Immunotherapies Group at Sanford Research. He is also a head and neck surgeon at Sanford Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic and an assistant professor in the department of surgery at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. His lab focuses on head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), specifically the incidence of a subset of HNSCC caused by the human papillomavirus, which is increasing rapidly. Dr. Spanos holds an MD from the University of Louisville Medical School, completed his residency in otolaryngology at the University of Iowa and served as a fellow at the University of South Florida.

了解更多关于Spanos实验室的信息。

Dr. Jianning Tao received his doctor of philosophy degree in biochemistry/developmental biology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN, where he performed his dissertation work in the laboratory of Dr. John Cunningham at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Subsequently, Dr. Tao performed postgraduate work in the laboratory of Dr. Brendan Lee and Dr. Dennis Roop at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, in the departments of Molecular and Human Genetics and Molecular and Cell Biology, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an assistant professor. Currently he is a principal investigator and primary faculty member in Cancer Biology and Immunotherapies group at Sanford Research and an assistant professor at the Department of Pediatrics of the University of South Dakota School of Medicine.

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Dr. Paola Vermeer obtained her BA in biology from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, in 1991, her PhD from Columbia University in New York City, NY, in 1998. She did a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Iowa with Dr. Michael J. Welsh. She stayed on as a research scientist with Dr. Welsh and then Dr. Joseph Zaber until 2008 when she joined the Cancer Biology Research Center at Sanford Research, Sioux Falls, SD.

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Kevin Francis博士获得马歇尔大学(Marshall University)生物学学士学位，佐治亚大学(University of Georgia)解剖学硕士学位，以及南卡罗莱纳医科大学(Medical University of South Carolina)神经病理学博士学位。他在尤尼斯·肯尼迪·施赖弗国家儿童健康和人类发展研究所海纳·韦斯特法尔和丹尼·波特(NICHD)实验室完成了博士后培训。在那里，Francis博士开发了儿童胆固醇合成和代谢紊乱的诱导多能干细胞(iPSC)模型，包括Smith-Lemli-Opitz综合征和Niemann-Pick病，C1型。2015年，Francis博士加入Sanford Research，在那里他继续使用患者衍生的iPSCs作为罕见儿科疾病建模和治疗干预靶点识别的工具。

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Indra Chandrasekar obtained her master’s degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. Her passion for cell biology took her to cytoskeletal research pioneer Dr. Brigitte M. Jockusch’s Lab in Germany, where she received training in basic cell biology concepts and techniques. After receiving her PhD (Dr.rer.nat) degree from Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, she moved to the U.S. Dr. Chandrasekar performed a short postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of renowned actin biologist Dr. John Cooper at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to continue her training in cytoskeletal research. After a baby break, she joined the lab of Dr. Paul Bridgman, an expert cellular neurobiologist and EM specialist at Washington University, where she received training in neuronal cytoskeleton, mouse models and advanced microscopy techniques. She is currently an assistant scientist in the Enabling Technologies Group at Sanford Research, establishing her lab that will study membrane trafficking in vertebrate systems.

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Kyle Roux received his BS in Biological anthropology/human biology at Emory University in 1998, and his PhD in neuroscience at the University of Florida College of Medicine in 2004. Subsequently, Kyle performed postgraduate work at the University of Florida College of Medicine in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, first as a postdoctoral associate and then as a research assistant professor. Currently he is a faculty member in the Sanford Enabling Technologies Group and principal investigator in the Roux Lab.

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Dr. Michelle Baack obtained her BS in pharmacy from South Dakota State University (SDSU) in 1991, her MD from the University of South Dakota-School of Medicine (USD) in 1995, and her pediatric residency training from the University of Nebraska Medical Center-Creighton Joint Pediatric Residency Program in 1999. She practiced as a general pediatrician in rural South Dakota for 10 years and later returned to academics to obtain her fellowship in neonatal and perinatal medicine at the University of Iowa in 2008. She completed her neonatology training in 2011 and joined Sanford as a physician – scientist. She is board certified in pediatrics and neonatal and perinatal medicine. She is a clinical neonatologist at Sanford Children’s Hospital; an assistant professor through the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota; a principal investigator at the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota; and a principal investigator in Sanford Research’s Environmental Influences on Health and Disease Group in Sioux Falls, SD.

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Mike Kareta is an associate scientist in the Genetics and Genomics Group at Sanford Research. He earned his bachelor of science in molecular and cellular biology at Texas A&M University where in the lab of Dr. Flora Katz he investigated the role of Abelson in the development of retinal neurons is Drosophila. He earned his PhD in the lab of Dr. Frédéric Chédin at the University of California, Davis where he investigated the biochemical mechanisms which underlie DNA Methyltransferase (DNMT) function. He then completed his postdoctoral studies at Stanford university in the labs of Drs. Julien Sage and Marius Wernig. It was at Stanford that he utilized iPS reprogramming to investigate Rb function and identified Sox2 as a key player in tumor formation. In September 2016 he joined Sanford Research.

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吉尔是美国桑福德医学院儿科和罕见病组的副科学家和儿科系的助理教授。在加入桑福德儿科和罕见病团队之前，Weimer博士在罗切斯特大学完成了神经科学学士和博士学位，并在北卡罗莱纳大学教堂山神经科学中心获得博士后奖学金。

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Dr. Warnhoff is an Assistant Scientist at Sanford Research and his work focuses on the role of molybdenum cofactor in health and disease. He has broad training in genetics, genomics, molecular biology, and biochemistry with specific expertise in gene discovery and characterization using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. During his PhD research at Washington University he used C. elegans genetics and biochemistry to elucidate novel pathways promoting zinc tolerance and homeostasis. As a Damon Runyon fellow, Dr. Warnhoff worked in the lab of the world-renowned geneticist Gary Ruvkun (Harvard Medical School) to establish C. elegans as a premier animal model for discovery of novel molybdenum cofactor biology.

Learn more about the Warnhoff Lab:https://research.sanfordhealth.org/researchers-and-labs/warnhoff-lab

首席研究员Lance Lee于1995年获得波士顿学院生物化学学士学位，1997年获得康涅狄格大学遗传学硕士学位，2004年获得石溪大学细胞与发育生物学博士学位。随后，他在波士顿儿童医院/哈佛医学院做博士后研究，在那里他研究了小鼠模型中原发性纤毛运动障碍的遗传原因。他目前是桑福德研究中心儿科和罕见病组的一名教师，在那里他监督Lee实验室的研究项目，持续关注纤毛生物学和原发性纤毛运动障碍遗传学。

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Dr. LJ Pilaz received his PhD in Lyon, France, and then moved to the United States where he trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Duke University. He studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the development of the cerebral cortex and how their disruption can lead to neurodevelopmental diseases such as autism and microcephaly.

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Bustos博士在智利天主教大学获得细胞和分子生物学博士学位，在Hugo Olguin的指导下，他的工作重点是通过泛素化调节肌肉干细胞。他的博士后工作是在Greg Findlay的实验室进行的，该实验室位于苏格兰邓迪大学的MRC蛋白磷酸化和泛素化研究组。在那里，他的研究确定了一个信号模块，该模块在智力障碍的发育障碍中被中断，涉及SR-rich蛋白激酶(SRPK)，它调节E3泛素连接酶RNF12/RLIM来控制神经发育基因的表达。



Dr. Bustos is an assistant scientist at Sanford Research and an assistant professor at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, where he studies the role of ubiquitin system in developmental disorders, including but not limited to Tonne-Kalscheuer syndrome and Dyskeratosis congenita. Via a combination of stem cell biology, proteomics, gene editing and transcriptomic and biochemical approaches, the Bustos Lab seeks to understand how the disruption of signaling pathways involving ubiquitylation underlies human development disorders”.



Learn more about the Bustos Lab:https://research.sanfordhealth.org/researchers-and-labs/bustos-lab

Kamesh is an associate scientist in the Pediatric and Rare Diseases Group at Sanford Research, and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota. He has been involved in studying the Wnt, TGF/BMP, and Notch signaling pathways, three evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways, in various aspects of kidney development and disease during his doctoral thesis and post-doctoral work at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. His current research interests are: (i) to understand the cellular and molecular abnormalities that result in childhood cystic kidney diseases and (ii) to determine the molecular regulators of cell fate patterning in the collecting ducts of the kidney.

Learn more about the Surendran Lab.

“Dr. Masuho has a broad background in molecular biology, with specific expertise in biochemcia, pharmacological, computational and cell biological research on physiological and pathophysiological aspects of G protein – coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling and its regulation. Using a systems biology approach, his study aims to understand the principle of the GPCR signaling system. He earned his PhD from Chiba University in Japan.



Learn more about the Masuho Lab:https://research.sanfordhealth.org/researchers-and-labs/masuho-lab