Faculty Collaborators
We work closely with many faculty members at Washington University and around the world to advance research. Ongoing collaborators include:
Dr. Cashen serves as the clinical PI of memory-like NK cell clinical trial adoptive immunotherapy trials from within our clinical lymphoma group. She has extensive experience in lymphoma, hematopoietic cell transplantation, and cellular therapy (including CAR T cells) for hematologic malignancies.
Dr. Bartlett is a long-standing collaborator on all lymphoma research projects. She is vice-chair of the Alliance lymphoma committee and working in lymphoma clinical trial development and science for >20 years and an international expert on lymphoma treatment and clinical trials.
Obi Griffith, PhD and Malachi Griffith, PhD
We have a long-standing and active collaboration for lymphoma sequencing with the Griffith Lab. These include discovery sequencing in follicular lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma, development of a lymphoma custom capture panel, neo-epitope identification and prediction, and evaluation of mutation correlations with clinical outcomes.
Dr. Gomez works on a collaborative project focused on lymphoma genomics in concert with the Obi and Malachi Griffith laboratories. She is currently studying recurrent mutations in follicular and Hodgkin lymphoma and their correlation with clinical outcomes.
Dr. Zhou completed her medical and graduate training at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Vanderbilt School of Medicine. She is developing various NK cell therapy approaches to target multiple myeloma and melanoma. In her free time, Alice enjoys cooking, hiking and painting.
Mentored Faculty
David Russler-Germain, MD, PhD (germaind@wustl.edu)
David did his undergraduate at Stanford University. He was trained here at Washington University School of Medicine for his MD, PhD. Lymphoma is David’s clinical interest, and in the lab he is interested in understanding and developing syngeneic mouse models of follicular lymphoma. He also serves as the Fellow Recruitment Leader for the Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program. Find him on twitter @dgermain21
Wilbur Song, MD, PhD (songwilbur@wustl.edu)
Wilbur is a clinical instructor in Medical Oncology with a focus on genitourinary cancers and prostate cancer in particular. He received his BS in biomedical engineering, and MD/PhD in immunology, followed by postgraduate training in internal medicine and hematology/oncology, all at WashU. His research is oriented toward translational immunology, with a focus on Alzheimer disease neuroimmunology during graduate school and now with a focus on developing novel solid tumor immunotherapy platforms.
Trainees
Post-Docs
Emily Phillips, MD (pemily@wustl.edu)
Emily Phillips is a pediatric oncology fellow. She works on developing CD123 CAR memory-like NK cell therapies against Acute Myeloid Leukemia in conjunction with CD33 TriKEs.
Samuel Ameh, PhD (amhes@wustl.edu)
Sam completed his PhD in Immunology at Washington University in the Schreiber investigating the cellular and molecular basis of CD4+ T cell help at the effector phase during immunotherapy of MHC-II negative tumors. He now works on engineering NK cells with enhanced therapeutic potential.
Graduate Students
Lyra Morina (l.morina@wustl.edu) MD/PhD Candidate (Immunology)
Lyra is a third-year PhD student in the DBBS Immunology program. She is working on engineering human CAR-Memory-like NK cells against Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Follicular Lymphoma. She advocates for the physician-scientist pathway through organizing Educational Workshops for the MSTP ACCESS Summer Internship, mentoring MD-PhD applicants, and sharing the day-to-day life of MSTP training on Instagram @mdeephdee. She loves yoga, running, spin classes, and traveling. Find her on Bluesky: @lmorina
Sadia Afrin (a.sadia@wustl.edu) PhD Candidate (Immunology)
Sadia is a third-year PhD student in the DBBS Immunology program. She is working on engineering human CAR-Memory-like NK cells against Multiple Myeloma.
Christy (Yeeun) Paik (c.paik@wustl.edu) PhD Candidate (Immunology)
Christy is a third-year PhD student in the DBBS immunology program. She is working on studying mechanisms of NK cell therapy using mouse models. She like to sing and make wooden puzzles in her free time!
Kunal Shetty (k.p.shetty@wust.edu) PhD Student (Cancer Biology)
Kunal is a third-year PhD student with an interest in improving NK cell therapy efficacy against solid tumors. He enjoys making memories with NK cells.
Elizabeth Juarez-Diaz (e.juarezdiaz@wustl.edu) MD-PhD Candidate (Immunology)
Elizabeth is a third-year PhD student in the Immunology program. She is working to engineer human CAR-Memory-like NK cells against Glioblastoma targeting novel intracellular epitopes expressed on MHC Class 1. In her free time she likes trying new restaurants and spending time with her family who also live in town.
Summer Interns
Julia Foster (julia.f@wustl.edu)
Julia Foster is an undergraduate student at SIUC studying Biomedical science, currently gaining hands-on research experience at WASHU. She is preparing for a future in medicine, with plans to attend medical school and pursue a career within patient care and or scientific research.
William Thomas (thomaswn@wustl.edu) ACCESS Program
Will is a rising senior currently participating in the WashU MSTP ACCESS program. He is attending Virginia Commonwealth University for undergrad and plans to do a post-baccalaureate program for research experience upon graduating. Afterwards he plans to attend an M.D/Ph.D. program
Staff
Timothy Schappe (tschappe@wustl.edu)
Tim has worked in the Fehniger Lab for over 10 years as lab manager and senior technician. He has more than 15 years of research expertise in cell biology, mouse husbandry, flow and mass cytometry, and GMP-based cellular therapy. Tim is the general contact for all lab questions and the best lab manager ever.
Michelle Becker-Hapak (mbecker-hapak@wustl.edu)
Michelle has substantial experience in cell biology, immunology, and GMP-based cellular therapy. She leads the NK cell production and correlative science on clinical trials in the Fehniger Lab. In addition, she is working on NK cell responses to solid tumors, and correlative T cell studies in follicular lymphoma. Outside the lab, Michelle loves hiking and traveling! She also shares tomato seedlings from her garden with the lab 😀
Lynne Marsala (marsalal@wustl.edu)
Lynne has extensive experience in cellular and molecular biology and whole animal imaging using bioluminescence (BLI). She is working on many projects evaluating the role of specific microRNAs and genes in NK cell development and function. When she is not in lab, she judges college gymnastics and competes in Iron Man triathlons!
Mark Foster (markfoster@wustl.edu)
Mark has years of experience in molecular biology and biochemistry, and recently returned to the laboratory research full time. He contributes to many studies that utilize mass cytometry to better understand the immune response to cancer and as correlative immunomonitoring on clinical trials. When he is not in lab, he enjoys spending time with his family, especially on the golf course.
Joseph Rueve (jrueve@wustl.edu)
Joseph is a research technician who has been working in the lab since 2022. He is a member of the clinical correlates group and the NK cell production team.
Sushanth Pureti (pureti@wustl.edu)
Sushanth is a research technician who has been working in the lab since 2023. He is a member of the clinical correlates group and the NK cell production team, where he assists in producing CIML NK cells. Additionally, he works on CAR NK, studying their function, proliferation, and survival. If not at the lab, he can be found in his kitchen, where he likes to experiment with new cuisines and recipes, or on his bike, capturing the sights and sounds of the city with his camera.
Yoojin Ahn (a.yoo-jin@wustl.edu)
Yoojin is a research technician within the clinical correlates group and additionally works on CAR NK cell production and function. In her free times she loves dancing, trying new cafes/restaurants, and doing puzzles!
Hana Do (dohana@wustl.edu)
Hana is a research technician working on lymphoma transgenic mouse models and helping with correlates for the Hodgkin Lymphoma clinical study. In her free time, she enjoys working out and exploring different types of workout such as HIIT and strength conditioning using weights, Pilates and calisthenics. She also loves to watch movies, eat yummy food and enjoys going hiking/long walks and exploring nature. She hopes her experience working in the lab will train her to develop independence and decision making skills to become a good physician in the future.