OUR TEAM:
Xiaofeng Wang, PhD
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Cancer Biology and Molecular Therapeutics
Xiaofeng obtained his PhD from Tsinghua University, China, where he studied chaperon proteins in tumor malignancy. After that, he went to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School and worked in Charlie Roberts lab as a postdoctoral fellow studying chromatin remodeling SWI/SNF complex in pediatric cancers. From there, he developed strong interest in cancer epigenetics. Outside the lab, he likes hiking and cooking (especially hosting hot pot).
Luke Deary
Luke previously studied the contributions of adult intestinal stem cells to tissue homeostasis and regeneration in the Breault Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. He then worked at Minerva Biotechnologies developing a CAR-T therapy, which is now in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Luke is primarily interested in the epigenetic control of stem cell identity and lineage determination. In the Wang Lab, he is investigating how SWI/SNF complexes maintain and direct gastrointestinal cell lineage and how alterations in SWI/SNF subunits dysregulate gene regulatory networks to drive disease. Away from the lab, Luke enjoys hiking, skiing, ice hockey, brewing beer, and gardening.
Ruoyun Wang
Ruoyun went to Nanjing University where she studied Biological Sciences. She is very interested in cancer epigenetics, and loves both benchwork and coding. She is now struggling but having fun doing NGS experiments and data analysis.
Andrew McCray
Andrew recently graduated from Colby College in 2020 with a major in Biochemistry. Prior research was focused on the effects of organic content in atmospheric aerosol chemistry. Andrew’s interest in epigenetics brought him to the Wang lab in June 2020 where he has begun work to better understand the consequences of SWI/SNF subunit mutations in disease. Andrew’s other interests include soccer, skiing, and generally enjoying the outdoors.
Sophia Arana
Sophia is a senior at Dartmouth College studying neuroscience and biology. She joined the lab as part of the Dartmouth Opportunities in Oncology Research (DOOR) program. In the lab she has assisted in creating knockout lines of relevant proteins, in cell culturing, and in running Western Blots. She is currently working on using virtual screening tools to identify possible inhibitors for selected SWI/SNF targets. Sophia is a member of the Dartmouth equestrian team and enjoys skiing on her free time.
Nicholas Sugiarto
Nick is a junior from Dartmouth College who is currently pursuing a biomedical engineering degree, with the ultimate goal being medical school. At the Wang lab, he is currently helping with the bioinformatic analysis. When free, he enjoys reading, basketball, and writing for the Dartmouth Jack-o-Lantern and DCN.
Cameron Pigeon
Cameron graduated from University of Leeds in 2020 with a degree in genetics. Previous research has been exploring the molecular pathology of neurodegenerative conditions as well as exploring new therapeutic agents in PARP-sensitive myeloma. Cameron’s interested in exploring how SWI/SNF and its various complexes work with other regulatory elements in the epigenome to determine cell lineage and drive disease. Outside of the lab, Cameron enjoys skiing, hiking, traveling and cooking.
Alex Breslav
Alex is a freshman at Dartmouth College currently studying biology on a tentative pre-medical track. At the Wang Lab, he works with Andrew on researching SWI/SNF subunit mutations. Outside of the lab, Alex enjoys playing chess and is on the powerlifting team.
Gone, But Not Forgotten:
Huijuan Yang (2021 Winter Term)
Huijuan recently received a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania. She previously studied the mechanism of vascular formation and immunotherapy for glioblastoma. She is now a first-year student in the MCB program, doing a rotation in the Wang lab. She looks forward to learning more about SWI/SNF complex and data analysis in cancer epigenetics. In her spare time, she enjoys playing ping pong, baking, hiking, and traveling.
Tyler Boone (2021 Winter Term)
Tyler is an MCB graduate student that’s interested in epigenetics. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 2021 with two majors and one minor – Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Biology, and Chemistry respectively. As an undergraduate he completed research on gene regulation and epigenetics in Dr. McAlear and Dr. Holmes’ yeast labs. He did a winter term rotation in Dr. Wang’s lab, and enjoyed working on understanding the relationship between SWI/SNF and cancer. Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing piano and guitar, video games, Harry Potter and Coldplay.
Hanxu Lu (2020 Winter Term)
Hanxu just got her Master’s degree from Case Western Reserve University where she worked in Dr. Jonathan Smith’s lab focusing on HDL’s influence on prostate cancer. She is part of the MCB graduate program and did a winter rotation in the Wang Lab. She is interested in cancer biology, immunotherapy, and wants to learn more about biostatistics. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies, discovering new restaurants, and skating.
Bernice Leung (2020 Winter Term)
Bernice recently graduated from UC San Diego where she worked in a lab focusing on mechanisms of eukaryotic transcription-coupled DNA repair. She is in the PEMM program and did a winter rotation in the Wang lab in 2020. She is interested in bridging her interests between cancer biology and drug development. Outside of lab, she is learning how to survive in the New England weather.
Ben Wolf (2018-2020)
Ben studied biochemistry and computer science at Bowdoin College, where he worked in an organometallic chemistry lab that created catalysts for Carbon-Hydrogen bond activation. During his time in the Wang lab, Ben studied the biochemical and epigenetic consequences of SWI/SNF mutations across pancreatic cancer and malignant rhabdoid tumors. He is now a graduate student in George Church's lab in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard, and hopes to work on directed evolution and bioengineering.
Harrison Hawk (2018-2020)
Harrison studied biology and government at Bowdoin College with a concentration in genetics. As a member of the Wang Lab, he studied the biochemical and epigenetic consequences of SWI/SNF mutations in a variety of cancer types. He is now working in the life sciences consulting industry. Off the clock, he enjoys ripping his moped to new fly fishing spots.
Stephan DeCarlo (2018-2020)
Stephan studied biochemistry and mathematics at Bowdoin College, where he worked in a peptoid chemistry lab designing a catalyst for enantioselective trifluoromethylation of aldehydes. Stephan then went on to work at Adimab, a biotechnology company that specializes in antibody discovery. During Stephan's internship in the Wang lab, he sought to elucidate structure-function relationships in the SWI/SNF complex that drive characteristic phenotypes found in select rhabdoid tumors. He is now a graduate student in David Liu's lab in the Chemical Biology program at Harvard University, where he hopes to learn more about disease mechanisms and drug discovery & development.
Madeline Ragland (2018-2019)
Madeline graduted from Vanderbilt University and worked as Research Assistant in the lab working on SMARCD1's function in regulating SWI/SNF complex assembly. She is currently an MD/PhD student at UAB.
Jacob Gonzalez 20' (2018-2019): Undergraduate Researcher; currently MD student at Columbia.
Chenhui Deng (2019): MCB Rotation Student
Haleema Malik (2019): MCB Rotation Student
Leela Abdullah (2019): MCB Rotation Student
Madeline Chrupcala (2020): MCB Rotation Student
Gil Assi 22' (2020): Undergraduate Researcher
Jason McFadden 22' (2020-2021): Undergraduate Researcher