Principal Scientist

The focus throughout my research career has been in the identification and validation of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in variable drug response and disease susceptibility. I received my doctoral degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2009. My post-doctoral fellowship research at Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN, focused on identifying and characterizing dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase gene variants associated with severe 5-Fluorouracil toxicity. As a principal scientist within the University of Minnesota Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology department, I am responsible for the daily operations of our laboratory unit including experimental design and execution, equipment procurement and maintenance scheduling, generation of standard operating procedures, laboratory safety compliance and training, and supply and biospecimen inventory. My future research interests are in the application of modern genomic methods in the clinical setting to develop more effective molecular tests for disease prognosis and treatment prediction.

email: [email protected]

Postdoc

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela in 2013, following which I was enrolled into the PhD program in the dept. of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. My PhD thesis was focused on optimizing the formulation design and freeze-drying process parameters for the long-term preservation of protein formulations. Subsequently, I was inducted into the Parker lab in the Dept. of Biochemistry in 2017 as a Postdoctoral researcher wherein I was involved in the development of peptide-based fluorophore labeled probes that report kinase activity in live cells through Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy. In June 2020, I joined the Huang lab for a 2nd postdoctoral stint where my immediate goal is to develop and implement in vitro cell based assays to profile drug sensitivity in pooled cell populations using multi-color fluorophore labeling.

email: [email protected]

Postdoc

I received my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and am currently a graduate student in the Committee on Cancer Biology here at the University of Chicago. My research involves using drug screening and genomic data to predict drugs that may be effective in treating cancers that have limited treatment options, particularly triple-negative breast cancer. After generating these predictions, the compounds will then be tested for efficacy in appropriate cell lines and mouse models.

email: [email protected]

Postdoc

I received my undergraduate degree at Peking University Health Science Center, China. My major during undergraduate was Pharmaceutical Sciences. Now I am a PharmD student at the U and also a research volunteer in Dr. Huang’s lab. I am currently working on finding the relationship between lncRNAs and the response to certain anticancer drugs.

email: [email protected]

Graduate Student

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Program at the University of Minnesota. My research focuses on uncovering sex differences in the genetic, regulatory, and survival mechanisms of multiple myeloma. I integrate sex-stratified GWAS, somatic mutation, transcriptomic, and clinical outcome data to identify regulatory variants linked to disease risk and progression. I earned my B.A. in Biology from St. Olaf College and previously worked at an eye donor clinic and at 3M developing medical adhesives. Outside the lab, I enjoy playing sports and brewing makgeolli.

email: [email protected]

Graduate Student

I am a PhD student in the Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology program (ECP) at the College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota. I received my Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from China Pharmaceutical University. I am interested in applying and developing computational tools relating to drug sensitivity and subsequent experimental validation. In my free time, I enjoy playing tennis and exploring local cafés.  

email: [email protected]

Graduate Student

I am a PhD candidate in the Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology program at the University of Minnesota. My research will involve using pharmacogenomics, computational biology and pharmacometrics approaches to optimize therapy. Previously, I graduated with a BPharm from the Institute of Chemical Technology and later completed an MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, where I investigated the efficacy of combination therapy using proteasome inhibitors and HDAC6 inhibitors in multiple myeloma cells through experimental techniques, pharmacodynamic modeling, and Boolean network modeling.

Email: [email protected]

Thank you for your hard work!

Research Volunteer

I received my Bachelor's degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Egypt, in 2017. Following graduation, I served as a general practitioner with the Ministry of Health, Egypt. In 2019, I began working as a Teaching and Research Assistant of Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, where I completed my Master's degree in Pharmacology in 2024. Currently, I am a research volunteer in Dr. Huang's lab. My goal is to pursue a PhD in Pharmacology.

Research Volunteer

I am a PharmD student at the University of Minnesota. I received my Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2023. Currently, I am a research volunteer in Dr. Huang's lab, driven by my interest in learning about pharmaceutical research.

Graduate 2025

I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in 2018. Since then, I have been conducting pediatric neuroimaging research under the supervision of Dr. Igor Nestrasil with a primary focus on neurodegenerative diseases. I am currently in the process of obtaining my M.S in pharmacology at the University of Minnesota and studying under the direction of Dr. Stephanie Huang. My research interest includes the implementation and application of pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics in therapeutic treatment. My work is related to understanding the relationship between selective nuclear export inhibitors and its’ impact on triple negative breast cancer.

email: [email protected]

Master's Student

Graduate, 2025

I am a Master's student in the Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Program (MPaT). In 2023, I graduated from Zhejiang Gongshang University with a bachelor's degree in finance. My current research direction involves developing computer models to predict drug sensitivity in patients using proteomics data. Additionally, I am also interested in imputing adverse drug reactions in different GTEx tissues.

Research Volunteer

I am a Junior at Wayzata High School. Currently, my research interests include the interaction between drug response and the tumor microenvironment. In my free time, I love dancing, listening to Indian Classical music, and reading murder mysteries. 

Research Volunteer Spotlight

Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellow

I received my undergraduate degree in biological sciences and chemistry at DePaul University in Chicago. I then graduated medical school from Virginia Commonwealth University, and I am currently a pediatric hematology/oncology fellow at the University of Minnesota. My areas of interest are neuro-oncology and neuro-immunology. I have recently joined Dr. Haung's lab to receive training on bioinformatics and hope to explore the genomic and transcriptomic features of brain tumors.

email: [email protected]

Currently: Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Graduate, 2024

I received my BS in Pharmaceutical Science at China Pharmaceutical University and my MS at the University of the Pacific, major in Drug Targeting and Delivery. I am studying in the ECP program at the College of Pharmacy. I am interested in developing in vitro and in vivo translational models for cancer research, specifically in bridging the molecular features of cancers and the drug response together. Currently, my research is focusing on analyzing sex differences on genomic & transcriptomic levels of both malignant and healthy tissue and exploring the pharmacogenomic relevance of these differences.

Currently: Dana-Farber Post-Doc

Graduate, 2024

I started my PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BICB) in Fall 2019, and I graduated from the UMN with a BA in Biology, Society, and Environment. In my free time I enjoy teaching code and AI, and nurturing my creative side through painting and photography. My current research is focused on applying a computational lens to glioblastoma to identify novel therapeutics.

Graduate, 2024

I am a PhD student in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology program at the U of Minnesota. I received my M.S. degree in Biostatistics from the School of Public Health here at the U of Minnesota too. I did my undergraduate study in biological science at Zhejiang University. I am currently working on using computational methods to predict drug combination sensitivities. In my spare time I am a fan of geography and maps. 

Currently: Moderna

Graduate, 2024

Mei-Chi (Judy) Su is a graduate student in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology. She received her Bachler degree in Pharmacy at Taipei Medical University and Master degree at National Taiwan University. After graduation, she worked in a pharmaceutical company in Taiwan for about 3 years. Her current research is finding efficacious drugs for prostate cancer based on the corresponding cancer progression mechanism.

Currently: BioNTech SE

Additional Past Lab Members!

Paul Geeleher - Postdoc - Associate Professor at St Jude        
Aritro Nath - Postdoc - Assistant Professor at City of Hope        
Alex Ling - Graduate Student - Instructor at Harvard        
Morgan Arnold - Undergrad Student - EMT         
Sai Kumar - Graduate student - Northwestern bioinformatician        
Amber Rudenick - Graduate student   

Thank you for your hard work!

Visiting Scholar

Shuqin Zhou 

Technicians

Dana Ziliak (Goodman) - Clinical Project Manager at Cook Medical

Bonnie LaCroix - Duke Research Analyst at Duke University

Divya Lenkala

Fan Wang

Postdocs

Liming Weng - University of Florida

Gladys Morrison

 Paul Geeleher

Aritro Nath

Siddhika Pareek

Feng Li

Alex Ling

PharmD Students

Lauren Lemke

Medical Students

Steven Bhutra

William Chapin

Alice Lee

Chester Kao

Rotating Graduate Students

Larischa de wet

Jessica Fessler

College Students

Ann Ryu - UCSF

Yarden Fraiman - John Hopkins

Stephanie Joseph - Project assistant at Urban GIS

Kurtis Anthony

Jean Lee - University of Chicago

Jeremy Chang - University of Chicago

Viren Makhijani - UCLA

High School Students

Aaratrika Mondal - Wayzata High school