Lab Members
Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology
CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
American Cancer Society Research Scholar
Dr. Wen Jiang earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Toronto and his M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed his radiation oncology residency at MD Anderson. Clinically, he is a practicing radiation oncologist who cares for patients with primary and secondary CNS tumors. In research, his laboratory has received funding from NCI, NINDS, CPRIT, the Department of Defense, American Cancer Society, Susan Komen Foundation, among others. Dr. Jiang’s work has been recognized and critically acclaimed numerous times. His laboratory focuses on developing therapeutic strategies to enhance immune clearance within the tumor microenvironment, discovering mRNA-based therapeutics for cancer treatment and elucidating the effects of aging on the efficacy of cancer nanotherapeutics.
Yifan Wang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
ywang45@mdanderson.org
Dr. Wang earned his B.S. from China Agricultural University in 2013 and his Ph.D. from the MD Anderson Graduate School of Biomedical Science in 2018. Dr. Wang’s graduate research focused on the development of therapeutic strategies to enhance the radio sensitivity of lung cancer. He joined Dr. Jiang's lab as a postdoc after graduation. His current research interests are developing novel cancer immunotherapy agent delivery methods via bio-engineering approaches. He has published several peer-reviewed papers as leading author in journals such as Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Wang’s research accomplishments have been recognized by several awards and scholarships, including the Marie Curie Award from the Radiation Research Society, the President’s Research Scholarship, the Odyssey Outstanding Research Publication Award, the Thomas H. and Mayme P. Scott Fellowship in Cancer Research, the Scholarship for Excellence in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the T.C. Hsu Memorial Scholarship from MD Anderson. He was selected as one of the Wunderkinds by STAT News in 2022.
Weiye Deng, M.D., M.P.H.
Postdoctoral Fellow
wdeng2@mdanderson.org
Dr. Deng completed her medical training in China and obtained her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health in 2018. She completed postdoctoral research training at UT Southwestern Medical Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center under the mentorship of Dr. Wen Jiang. Her research interest is population-based study and bioinformatics with the focus on clinical and genetic factors in the prognosis of cancer patients. She has published several research papers in journals such as JAMA Network Open, JNCI and Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
JongHoon Ha, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
jha1@mdanderson.org
Dr. Ha received his B.S. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Yonsei University in Korea, followed by his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the same field from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He joined Jiang lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral fellow. He is actively engaged in two different projects in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The first project revolves around blocking multiple phagocytosis checkpoints, aiming to enhance phagocytic clearance and promote sequential antitumor immune responses against glioblastoma. In the second project, he is investigating epigenetic alterations associated with immunosenescence.
Minjeong Kang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
mkang4@mdanderson.org
Dr. Kang obtained her Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. She previously conducted research on RNA biology in several disease models such as cancers and autoimmune diseases. Since joining the Jiang lab, her research interests are in improving radiosensitivity with immune checkpoint blockade in solid tumors and demonstrating age-related disparity in T cell immunity.
Benjamin Schrank, M.D., Ph.D.
Resident Physician, Radiation Oncology
brschrank@mdanderson.org
Dr. Schrank earned his M.D. from Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and a Ph.D. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in New York. Dr. Schrank’s graduate work was first to demonstrate the contribution of nuclear actin polymerization to DNA double-strand break mobility and repair. His work was published in Nature, and he was awarded the Titus Munson Coan Prize for excellence in translational biology research. In addition to completing his residency training, Dr. Schrank focuses on understanding the immunogenic potential of the cGAS-STING pathway and DNA damage response.
Adam Grippin, M.D., Ph.D.
Resident Physician, Radiation Oncology
agrippin@mdanderson.org
Dr. Grippin completed his medical and doctoral training at the University of Florida, where he developed a personalized mRNA-nanoparticle platform that is currently in first-in-human clinical trials for treatment of brain tumors. He has published several peer-reviewed papers, including in ACS Nano and Nanoletters. Dr. Grippin’s research accomplishments have been recognized by several awards and scholarships, including the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award and induction into the University of Florida Hall of Fame. His research interest is in the development and translation of novel cancer immunotherapy agents.
Mengyu Chang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
mchang4@mdanderson.org
Mengyu Chang obtained her Ph.D. at University of Science and Technology of China in 2021 before moving to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as a postdoctoral fellow in 2022. She joined Dr. Jiang’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2023. So far, she has published several peer-reviewed articles, in journals such as Angewandte Chemie International Edition and Advanced Materials, and these articles have been cited more than 1700 times. Her main research interests are nanomedicine and immunotherapy.
Shiyan Dong, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
sdong@mdanderson.org
Dr. Dong earned his Ph.D. in microbiology and biochemical pharmacy from Jilin University. He joined the Jiang lab in 2020 as an exchange student and now works as a postdoctoral fellow. His research focuses on mRNA-loaded exosomes for targeted immunotherapy of cancer. His projects involve drug delivery and the production and purification of exosomes. Outside of the lab, he is an aviation aficionado.
Abin Antony
Research Assistant
aantony3@mdanderson.org
Abin received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and cell biology from Rice University in 2022. After joining the Jiang lab in the same year, he has been deeply involved in several projects, actively managing the laboratory and organizing several collaborations. His research focuses on the treatment of gliomas and breast tumors, understanding age-related immunity effects and developing nanotherapeutics to augment immunotherapy.