Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Andrea Viale, M.D.
Associate Professor, Genomic Medicine

I earned my medical degree from the University of Turin in Italy, where I also completed a residency in clinical oncology. Following this, I pursued advanced research training as a postdoctoral fellow at the European Institute of Oncology under Pier Giuseppe Pelicci. My postdoctoral journey then took me to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where I trained under Ron DePinho. After joining The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as an instructor in Giulio Draetta’s group, I began my independent research career in 2016 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genomic Medicine.

Sergio Attanasio, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, Italy
Originally from: Salerno, Italy

Research Interests:

• Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC)
• Tumor resistance
• Clonal tracking
• Clonal lineage functional characterization
• Molecular signatures
• Spatial heterogeneity
• Cancer metabolism

Luca Cecchetto, M.S.
Graduate Student
M.S. Università Degli Studi di Trieste
Originally from: Italy

Research Interests:

• Tumor heterogeneity
• Clonal tracking
• Drug resistance

Francesca Citron, Pharm.D., Ph.D. (co-mentored by Dr. Draetta)
Instructor
Pharm.D. and Ph.D., University of Trieste (Italy)
Originally from: Italy

Research Interests:

• DNA replication dynamics in normal and cancer cells
• Therapeutic opportunities in DNA repair-defective tumors
• Mechanisms of chromosomal instability and response to immunotherapy

Charles Alex Dyke, B.S.
Research Assistant
B.S., University of Houston Clear Lake
Originally from: Houston, TX

Research Interests:

• Clonal tracking
• High content imaging

Elisabetta Granato, Ph.D. (co-mentored by Dr. Draetta)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Originally from: Napoli, Italy

Research Interests:

• Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC)
• Lung adenocarcinoma
• Inflammation
• Tumor resistance
• Tumor initiation

I-Lin Ho, Ph.D.
Instructor
Ph.D., The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Originally from: Taiwan

Research Interests:

• Clonal tracking
• Tumor initiation
• Tumor metastasis
• Tissue regeneration

Hyuk Jean Kwon, B.S.
Graduate Research Assistant
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
B.S., John Hopkins University
Originally from: South Korea

Research Interests:

• Inflammation
• Epigenetic reprogramming

Zhaoliang (Leon) Liu, Ph.D.
Associate Data Scientist
Ph.D., Texas A&M University Health Science Center
Originally from: Harbin, China

Research Interests:

• Cancer multi-omics
• Sequence analysis

Sara Sainani, B.S. (co-mentored by Dr. Draetta)
Graduate Research Assistant
B.S., Shiv Nadar University
Originally from Mumbai, India

Research Interests:

• Tumor heterogeneity
• Tumor initiation
• Resistance to traditional therapies

Rutvi Shah, M.S.
Graduate Research Assistant
M.S., Ahmedabad University
Originally from: Ahmedabad, India

Research Interests:

• Inflammation
• Pancreas regeneration
• Tumor initiation
• Chemoresistance

Er-Yen (Nick) Yen, M.S
Graduate Research Assistant
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
M.S., National Taiwan University
Originally from: Taiwan

Research Interests:

• Tumor microenvironment
• Spatial heterogeneity
• Clonal lineage tracing