Alumni

Catherine Landers, B.A.

Kiki was a Research Associate working with Dr. Tothova between 2016-2018. She was instrumental in developing different model systems of myeloid malignancies using CRISPR genome engineering and explored potential therapeutic vulnerabilities of cohesin mutant leukemias. Kiki is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Nutritional Sciences at University of Connecticut.

Anastasia Tishena

Anastasia was a recipient of the Williams-Whitehead scholarship to work in the Tothova lab during the summer of 2018. She investigated therapeutic vulnerabilities of cohesin-mutant leukemias in the context of combination treatments. Anastasia has since graduated from Williams College and is applying to medical school.

Liana Tellez, B.A.

Liana was a research associate in the Broad Genomics Scholar program. She received her BA in biological sciences from Northwestern University, where she worked on elucidating mechanisms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the context of C9orf72 and NEK1 mutations using iPSC-derived motor neurons. In the Tothova lab, Liana performed super-resolution microscopy of cohesin complexes.

Mounica Vallurupalli, M.D.

Mounica was a hematology/oncology fellow in the Tothova lab prior to her chief medical residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Mounica's work in the lab was focused on understanding the role of DNA damage repair as a therapeutic vulnerability in cohesin-mutant cancers. She was instrumental in the development of new models of cohesin-mutant MDS and AML using syngeneic transplants and patient-derived xenografts.

Ben Maron

Ben was a Williams-Whitehead fellow during the summer and winter of 2019-2020. He is a rising senior at Williams College majoring in biology and mathematics, where he also studies the role of ASAP1 in regulating integrin adhesion complex dynamics. His project in the Tothova lab focused on understanding the effect of cohesin complex mutations on nascent transcription. Ben is originally from Sudbury, MA. In his spare time, he is an on-call firefighter in Williamstown, plays the viola, and enjoys hikes and long distance running.

Rebecca Gorelov, B.A.

Rebecca Gorelov was a Research Associate in the Tothova Lab from 2018-2020. Prior to joining the Tothova lab, Becca graduated from Williams College where she majored in biology. At Williams, she was a biology teaching assistant as well as a tour guide at the Williams College Museum of Art. In the lab, Becca made significant contributions to our team's investigation of the basic biology of cohesin complexes and their role in transformation of hematopoietic stem cells. Becca started in the PhD program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School in the fall of 2020.

Florence Verbeek, B.A.

Florence Verbeek was a visiting graduate student from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. She completed her masters degree in Biomedical Sciences in our lab and is currently in the process of completing her degree in medicine in the Netherlands. Her work in the lab focused on therapeutic targeting of cohesin-mutant MDS and AML.

Marisa Winkler, M.D., Ph.D.

Marisa joined the lab as an internal medicine resident at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She grew up in Western Pennsylvania and completed her undergraduate work at Bryn Mawr College. She completed her MD/PhD at Case Western Reserve University where she studied antibiotic resistance mechanisms in multi-drug resistant Gram-negative rods. In the lab, Marisa was interested in evaluating the relationship between chromatin mutations and the development of leukemia as well as the response to therapy.

Margaret Zimmer, B.S.

Margaret was a second-year Harvard BBS PhD rotation student whose general scientific interests include cancer biology, immunology, and genetics. Outside of the lab, she is a proud dog mom of an Australian cattle dog mix named Ace and an avid sports fan.