Lab Members
Gabriel O. Sawakuchi, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Email: GSawakuchi@MDAnderson.org
Gabriel received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Oklahoma State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Radiation Physics at MD Anderson. Then, Gabriel spend three years in the Physics Department at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. Gabriel joined Radiation Physics at MD Anderson as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in February 2013. He is a clinical medical physicist at Physics Gastrointestinal group and a regular member of the MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Gabriel's research interests include radiation-induced DNA damage response, development of new radiation detectors for applications in radiotherapy and radiobiology and Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations.
Scott J. Bright, Ph.D.
Instructor
Email: SJBright@MDAnderson.org
Scott completed his B.Sc. in biomedical sciences and Ph.D. in cell biology at Oxford Brookes University. His Ph.D. investigated the effects of ionizing radiation on subcellular structures and the potential implications for non-targeted effects of ionizing radiation. This work evolved to look at the role of exosomes in radiation induced intercellular signaling. Scott then moved to MD Anderson as a Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2020) and since 2020 he is an Instructor. His research at MD Anderson is to understand the interplay of radiation LET and biology and its implications for radiotherapy.
Poliana Marinello, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Email: PCMarinello@MDAnderson.org
Mandira Manandhar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: MManandhar@MDAnderson.org
Mandira received her B.S and M.S in microbiology from Idaho State University and Ph.D. in molecular carcinogenesis from MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Her doctorate research was focused on DNA repair mechanisms and proteins involved in repair of crosslinks in human cells. She then did a year of postdoctoral research in Wake Forest Baptist Health, North Carolina where she studied the mechanism of a novel drug modified from 5FU in decreasing the survival of cancer cells through inhibition of Topoisomerase I, in vitro and in vivo. Currently as a postdoctoral fellow in the Sawakuchi-Shaitelman Lab, she is interested in studying enhancing radiation therapy using various DNA repair inhibitors and the mechanisms involved.
Mariam Ben Kacem, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: MBen@MDAnderson.org
Mariam received her master's degree in physiology, physiopathology and metabolism and her Ph.D. in radiobiology at Sorbonne University (Paris, France.) During her Ph.D., she focused on multiparametric radiobiological parameters to predict radiation-induced adverse effects on healthy tissues. Her research at MD Anderson focuses on the effect of PARP inhibitors combined with radiation (proton and photon) in breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.
David Martinus, B.S.
Ph.D. Student (Medical Physics)
Email: DMartinus@MDAnderson.org
David Martinus received his B.S. in physics from Purdue University. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Medical Physics at MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Houston, TX). His project is focuses on the effects of alpha particles in cancer cells.
Marco Tulio Reis
Ph.D. Student (BioSciences, Rice University)
Email: MTReis@MDAnderson.org
Rishab Kolachina
Undergraduate Student
Email: RKolachina@MDAnderson.org
Rishab is an undergraduate student in biosciences at Rice University. He is interested in the development of new radiosensitizers and radiation-induced immune stimulation. Rishab’s research at MD Anderson focuses on understanding the mechanism behind radiosensitizers and their significance to radiation response.
Emma Moran
Undergraduate Student
Email: EMoran1@MDAnderson.org
Ilsa Qureshi
Undergraduate Student
Email: IQureshi@MDAnderson.org
Ben Kohler
Undergraduate Student
Email: BMKohler@MDAnderson.org
Former Lab Members
- Sachita Guthula, MD Anderson Summer Experience Undergrad Student from June to August 2022. Medical student.
- Tiatong (Thomas) Zhang, visiting M.S. student from 2021-2022. PhD student in Medical Physics at Louisiana State University.
- Broderick X. Turner, Research Assistant II from 2020-2021. Ph.D. Student at the University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
- Conor H. McFadden, Senior Research Engineer from 2011-2020. Ph.D. Student at UT Southwestern.
- Sharmistha Chakraborty, Research Scientist from 2017-2020. Research Scientist in Integrative Medicine, MD Anderson.
- David S. Yoon, Research Assistant II from 2017-2019. School of Health Professionals Student.
- Sathvik Aithala, Research Assistant I from 2018-2019. Business Analyst at TechnipFMC.
- Zachary Metzler, AAPM Summer Undergrad Student from Jun-Aug 2018. Undergrad Student at Loyola University.
- Sruthi Sivabhaskar, MD Anderson Summer Experience Undergrad Student from June to August 2017. Undergrad Student at Texas A&M University.
- Hatim Amiji, Rice University Undergrad Student from 2017-2018. Undergrad Student at Rice University.
- Daniel O'Brien, Postdoctoral Fellow from 2015-2018. Physicist at Elekta Inc.
- Dhanatcha Sadetaporn, Rice University Undergrad Student from 2015-2017. Medical Student.
- Keerti Thallapureddy, MD Anderson Summer Experience Undergrad Student from June to August 2017. Medical Student.
- Felisberto A. Ferreira, Postdoctoral Fellow from 2014-2015. Assistant Professor at Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- Dal Granville, Ph.D. student from 2011-2015. Medical Physicist at The Ottawa Hospital, Canada.
- Mark Leibensperger, AAPM Summer Undergrad Student from June to August 2014. Clinical Data Coordinator at UPenn.
- Timothy Hallacy, Rice University Undergrad Student from 2013-2015. Ph.D. student in Biophysics at Harvard University.
- Grant Emery, AAPM Summer Undergrad Student from June to August 2013. Currently a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Graduate Fellow.
- Michelle Mathis, Postdoctoral Fellow from 2013-2014. At Rice University.
- Azeez Omotayo, M.S. student from 2010-2012. Clinical Researcher Associate at CancerCare Manitoba, Canada.
- Mathew Chequers, Undergrad Student from 2011-2012. Ph.D. Student in Astrophysics at Queen's University, Canada.
- Andrew Scullion, Undergrad Student from 2010-2011. Ph.D. Student in Material Sciences at McMaster University, Canada