Current Lab Members

Post-Doctoral Scholars

Xiaopei Zhang, PhD

Full description coming soon!

Graduate Students

Breanna Mann, BS

DPMP PhD candidate. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2020. Her research focuses on finding more effective ways to treat pediatric brain cancer using brain slices to assay for patient specific drug sensitivities. Hobbies: reading, baking, and hiking.

Lauren Kass, BS

DPMP PhD candidate. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2020. She is interested in combining biomaterial engineering with cell therapies to enhance glioblastoma treatment. Hobbies: paddleboarding, weightlifting, reading, and playing with her dogs.

Morrent Thang, BS

BBSP Neuroscience PhD candidate. He received his B.S. in Neuroscience from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in 2017 before working as a Research Tech at IUPUI until 2020. His research includes utilizing engineered induced neural stem cells and modulating neuroimmune cells to target glioblastoma and enhance TRAIL therapy in glioblastoma. Hobbies: Netflix and Hulu.

Yu (Annie) Zhang, BS

DPMP PhD candidate. She received her B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from a joint program with China Pharmaceutical University (China) and University of Michigan (US) in 2020. Her research focuses on utilizing biomaterials for cell therapy delivery for ovarian cancer treatment. Hobbies: playing with her cat Veggi, Youtube, and cooking.

Caroline Stockwell, BS

DPMP PhD Student. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2022 before completing a Fulbright Predoctoral Research Fellowship in Spain in 2022-2023. She is interested tumor microenvironment modulating therapies and radiotherapy for brain tumors. Hobbies: cooking and hiking.

Research Scientists and Technicians

Adebimpe Adefolaju, BS

Research Specialist. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Troy University in Alabama. Her research focuses on precision medicine approaches to cancer treatment. Hobbies: dressmaking.

Andrew Buckley, PhD

Research Specialist. He received his B.A. in Biology from Assumption College and his MS and PhD from University of Rochester in Microbiology and Immunology. He worked as a post-doc in the Teske Lab at UNC Chapel Hill before joining the Hingtgen Lab as a post-doc. He is interested in understanding the interplay between microbial systems in the human-microbiome, human, and the environment. He currently works on increasing tumor-homing capabilities of induced neural stem cells, and is working with collaborators to generate an artificial human chromosome for therapeutic purposes. Hobbies: skiing, hiking, and dogs.

Rajaneekar Dasari, PhD

Research Associate. He received his Bachelor’s of Pharmacy in 2002, Master’s of Pharmacy in 2007, and PhD in Pharmacy in 2018 from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad, India. He then worked as a research associate at the Medical College of Georgia. He is interested in working on brain tumors, studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms of brain injury, and studying the pathophysiology of CNS disorders and interested in behavioral testing in animal models (rodents). Hobbies: playing games, watching TV, and reading books.

Alain Valdivia Acosta, MS, RLAT

Research Scientist. He earned a Bachelor’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2003 and Master of Science degree in Pharmacology in 2008 from the School of Pharmacy of Havana University, Cuba. He was certified by the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations, in Utrecht University, Netherlands, in 2008. He worked as a Research Specialist at the Animal Study Core in the Division of Comparative Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before accepting a position as a Research Scientist in the Hingtgen Lab. He is currently involved in creating an ex-vivo drug screening platform that would enable functional readouts for cancer patients. Hobbies: spending time with his family, playing tennis, basketball (Tarheel fan!), chess, hiking, traveling, and going to the beach.

Undergraduate Students

Rami Darawsheh – Public Health
Clara Mellows – Neuroscience
Ike Keku – Biomedical Engineering

DOGtoral Students and PhD CATidates

Tesla

Owner: Andrew B.

Job: Dishwashing

Zoey

Owner: Lauren

Job: Guarding precious samples

Roscoe

Owner: Lauren

Job: Cheering you up after your failed experiment

Betty

Owner: Morrent

Job: Judging your failed experiments

Veggi

Owner: Yu (Annie)

Job: Catching runaway mice

Seed