Investigators

Dr. Ringel is a translational researcher with a clinical practice and laboratory emphasizing thyroid cancer. His laboratory is focused on mechanisms of cancer progression, regulation of metastasis and therapeutic resistance in thyroid cancer and other solid tumors.

Dr. Song directs the Microsystems for Mechanobiology and Medicine Laboratory, which applies microtechnology, principles from tissue engineering and quantitative engineering analysis for studying physical dynamics of tumor and vascular biology. He is also a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James.

Dr. Arafin has significant experience in the design, fabrication and characterization of semiconductor infrared diode lasers, photonic integrated circuits and the associated subsystems. His current research interests include the development of high-performance photonic devices.

The collaboration between the research groups of Dr. Castro and Dr. John Byrd seeks to develop targeted nanoscale devices for cancer drug delivery using DNA nanostructures. Their current research is focused on targeted drug delivery to AML cells and therapeutic anti-sense targeted delivery to AML and CLL cells.

Dr. Chalmer’s research aids in the development of fundamental understanding and applications of the interaction of hydrodynamic and magnetic forces and cells. This ranges from the establishment of mathematical relationships detailing physical phenomena to the development of simple, robust instruments for clinical use.

Jian Chen, PhD, is an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University. Her research centers around the fascinating interdisciplinary science of interactive visualization and virtual reality.

Dr. Cocucci’s laboratory combines live-cell imaging microscopy and single molecule detection, with gene-editing technologies and computational tools to study membrane trafficking processes in physiological and pathological conditions, such as cancer.

Dr. Fishel’s research interests includes DNA repair defects and genomic instability in cancer development, biophysical chemistry of DNA repair and single molecule imaging in vitro and in vivo. His laboratory studies the mechanisms, genetics, regulation and consequences of DNA repair and genome rearrangement in human cells.

Dr. Gallego-Perez's research is devoted to evaluating the dissemination patterns of cancer cells and other tumor-associated cells with single-cell resolution to identify specific cellular subpopulations responsible for driving disease onset and/or progression.

The major focus of Dr. Ganju’s lab is to elucidate mechanisms that regulate tumor growth and metastasis. His team is also developing immune-based therapies for solid tumors. They have identified signaling pathways that regulate tumor growth, chemo-invasion and metastasis of tumor cells, especially in breast cancer.

The Ghadiali Lab uses a novel combination of biological, engineering and mathematical tools to elucidate the biomechanical and immunological mechanisms of cancer metastasis and progression.

Dr. Grejner-Brzezinska’s research focuses on GPS/GNSS algorithms, GPS/inertial and other sensor integration for navigation in GPS-challenged environments, sensors and algorithms for indoor and personal navigation, image and terrain-based navigation, and mobile mapping.

Dr. Guo’s major research interest is to apply RNA nanotechnology for cancer therapy. His lab has developed multifunctional RNA nanoparticles harboring RNA aptamer, siRNA, anti-miRNA, drugs or ribozymes.

The Hansford Lab focuses on the manipulation and fabrication of biomaterials and the micro- and nano-scale to produce devices and substrates that allow us to study physiological systems. They have applied these to studying cancer in terms of the cellular behaviors, cell populations and cultures, and extracellular vesicle capture and study.

Dr. Jhawar serves as a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James. His current research interests focus on the interplay between cancer, microbes and the immune system, as well as the development of uses for machine learning algorithms in the assessment and treatment of cancer.

Dr. Kural's lab focuses on establishing the regulation of endocytosis pathways by mechanical forces. The lab uses high-resolution real-time fluorescence imaging to study dynamics of intracellular processes and mechanisms through which live cells interact with their environment. They also develop strategies to apply these analyses to complex three-dimensional organization of developing multicellular organisms.

The Leight Lab focuses on developing technologies that maintain human breast tumor tissue in three-dimensional hydrogels to mimic human disease while simultaneously providing outputs of cell function quickly and easily.

Dr. Marras’s research is centered on understanding the role of biomechanics in spine disorder causation and its role in the prevention, evaluation and treatment of spine disorders. His research includes epidemiologic studies, laboratory biomechanics studies, mathematical modeling and clinical studies.

Dr. McComb is director of the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS), a centralized, coordinated imaging facility where traditional boundaries between disciplines are eliminated. CEMAS collaborates with researchers at the OSUCCC and several colleges within The Ohio State University.

Dr. Miles' research seeks to identify mechanisms that enable cancer cells to overcome cellular stresses associated with oncogenic growth. In particular, he is focused on how the loss of the retinoblastoma 1 (pRB) tumor suppressor changes the transcriptome and proteome of cancer cells.

Dr. Nahar investigates the potential of terahertz spectroscopic imaging for assessment of malignant tissues in the human lung and small intestine using a reflection-mode, time-domain spectroscopy system spanning the 60 GHz–2 THz band. These two tissue groups are among the few that can be reached via an endoscopic sensor.

The Palmer Lab develops hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers that can make chemotherapies more effective in treating triple-negative breast cancer by delivering oxygen to the tumor under hypoxic conditions. The resulting materials are able to decrease hypoxia, reduce tumor growth and increase the effectives of chemotherapies.

Dr. Parwani is the vice chair and director of anatomic pathology, focusing on automation and standardization of anatomical pathology operations, including the implementation of bar coding and tracking solutions within the laboratory information system.

The Peterson laboratory of The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy synthesizes and evaluates small molecules as probes of cancer biology and tools for drug discovery. They extensively use confocal microscopy and related fluorescence technologies to analyze small molecule – protein interactions in living cells.

Dr. Pollock's research focuses on the molecular drivers underlying soft tissue sarcoma, a cancer of connective tissues that occurs throughout the body. His current studies include the role of MDM2 in dedifferentiated liposcaroma, circulating miRNA in soft tissue sarcoma and genetic determinants of desmoid tumor progression.

Dr. Prakash's project alongside Dr. Raphael Pollock is focused on developing new diagnostic technologies using innovative microfluidic and nanofluidic devices for cancer detection. Specifically, their handheld, chip-scale device aims to isolate, capture and purify extracellular vesicles for analysis of their molecular cargo.

Dr. Reategui's research group focuses on the development of microtechnologies, biomaterials and molecular-imaging methods for high-throughput sorting and molecular profiling of circulating cancer biomarkers. Their work primarily centers on circulating tumor cells and tumor-specific extracellular vesicles.

Research in the Sizemore Lab integrates in vitro and in vivo modeling of the brain metastatic tumor microenvironment (TME) to provide mechanistic insight into how the brain metastatic TME contributes to breast cancer metastatic progression.

Dr. Skardal’s research program leverages development and implementation of extracellular matrix-based biomaterials and 3D biofabrication technologies (hydrogel bioinks and 3D bioprinting) to create bioengineered tissue and tumor models such as organoids, tissue chips and tumor-on-a-chip systems.

Dr. Sommerich's team recently completed the funded period (two years) of a project that has a goal of providing enhanced ergonomics and mindfulness yoga training to radiation therapy students (and radiography students) at The Ohio State University and Kent State University.

Dr. VanKoevering is a head and neck cancer surgeon with a particular interest in sinonasal malignancies and investigating novel treatment approaches for these complex tumors. This includes chemoselection protocols and minimally invasive techniques for oncologic resection.

Dr. Vilgelm is a cancer biologist with experience in basic and translational studies. Her research team is engaged in pre-clinical research to develop novel effective strategies for therapy of melanoma and metastatic breast cancer.

The Weinberg Lab is focused on developing multiscale computational models of physiological systems. One primary focus area is modeling mechanical and chemical signaling between and within tumor cells that occurs during cancer metastasis.

Dr. Winter has several projects in the cancer field through her extensive collaborations with the OSUCCC – James. Her research develops new imaging agents for cancer diagnostics, including support of personalized medicine approaches, and materials systems for researching the migration of invasion of glioblastoma brain tumors.

Dr. Yang's group has been working on stem cell and cancer cell engineering for studying/screening potential cancer drugs in a bioreactor. They are also developing a 3D tumor model for cancer drug evaluation.

Dr. Yoder’s lab is using single molecule microscopy, biochemistry and cellular assays to investigate the dynamics of integration complexes from a variety of retroviruses. This information is fundamental to determining the degree to which integration may be targeted and identifying an effective targeting strategy.

Dr. Admadian-Ahmadabad is the postdoc on a project led by Drs. William Marras, Dukagjin Blakaj and Eric Bourekas to develop predictive algorithms to better assess cancer treatment impact and improve the quality of life for metastatic cancer to the spine.

Dr. Chmielewska studies additive manufacturing processes to determine what is best for the production of resorbable magnesium alloy skeletal fixation hardware for the treatment of oral cancer, which often requires surgical removal of the tumor and portions of the jaw bone.

Dr. de Araújo Fernandes Júnior will work with Drs. Jessica Winter and José Otero to develop imaging technologies that will enable pathway analysis in cell and whole organism models. This includes the development of imaging agents, super-resolution microscopy technology and image analysis methods for cancer biology testbeds.

A postdoctoral fellow at Nationwide Children’s Hospital since 2018, Dr. Goulard will work with Drs. Jennifer Leight and Dhvanit Shah to develop off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapies for blood cancers and beyond using 3D bioprinting and lab-on-a-chip methods.