GLIORESOLVE has recruited 10 doctoral candidates (DCs) of excellence who are pursuing PhD degrees in the field of cancer precision medicine. Meet them below!
DC1: Kevin Jimenez-Cowell (Erasmus MC)
Kevin Jimenez-Cowell is the PhD candidate based at Erasmus MC, supervised by Dr. Martine Lamfers. Within his project he seeks to develop and optimise oncolytic viral therapy in glioblastoma. Prior to moving to Rotterdam, Kevin was located in New York where he completed his studies at Fordham University with a Bachelors majoring in biological sciences and minoring in philosophy. During his time there, he became captivated by cancer research and worked under Dr. Qize Wei studying cell migration and division in breast cancer. This led to publications in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (2014) and Experimental Cell Research (2015) as well as being awarded both the Fordham College Rose Hill Undergraduate Research Grant (2015) and the E. Gerald Corrigan Scholarship (2016). After his undergraduate degree, Kevin split his time between working at Yale University School of Medicine and pursuing his masters at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) as a Helmholtz International Graduate School (HIGS) fellow. At Yale, under the supervision of Dr. Raimund Herzog and in collaboration with General Electric Research, Kevin was involved in the field of neuroendocrinology and took part in a pioneering study investigating the use of peripheral focused ultrasound (pFUS) as a non-pharmaceutical means to managing diabetes. At the DKFZ, Kevin studied neuro-oncology and spent the majority of his education within National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg under the supervision of Dr. Sevin Turcan. There he worked on combining 3D culturing methods with metabolomics and proteomics to better understand the tumour microenvironment of low-grade gliomas. His time at both institutes led to publications in Nature Biomedical Engineering (2022) and Acta Neuropathologica Communications (2023), respectively. Now Kevin is looking to combine these experiences to help increase our understanding of oncolytic viral therapy and its potential as a therapeutic option for GBM
DC2: Soumi Mukherjee (ICM Paris Brain Institute)
Soumi Mukherjee is from Bihar, India. She did her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from M.U.C Women’s College, affiliated with the University of Burdwan, India. She did her Master of Science in Molecular Medicine from the Central University of Punjab, India. There she was working on a review entitled ‘Targeting mitochondria as a potential therapeutic strategy against chemoresistance in cancer’, which was later published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. This project made her keen to explore more about cancer and motivated her to work in this field. Therefore, she joined the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research, and Education of Cancer as a project trainee. There she was working on the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in the Lung cancer tumour microenvironment. Being a PhD student in the GLIORESOLVE program will provide her with an excellent platform to explore more about the tumour microenvironment. Soumi will be researching on ultrasound-induced tumour microenvironment modulation in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors in glioblastoma, under the supervision of Dr. Ahmed Idbaih at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), France. Soumi loves traveling and cooking in her free time.
DC3: Krish Gopalan (VIB)
Krish is from the United States and has a Bachelor's in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master's in Biotechnology from the Johns Hopkins University. During his Master's degree, he worked as a research assistant at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Department of Neurosurgery, where he conducted multiomic analyses on publicly available glioblastoma datasets — an experience which cemented his decision to work in the field of cancer biology. As a GLIORESOLVE fellow, Krish will be working on the project "Targeting the Treg-macrophage axis to promote immune-stimulation and tertiary lymphoid structure formation in GBM TME subtypes" under the supervision of Dr Gabriele Bergers. Outside of research, he enjoys watching films, playing chess, and writing short stories.
DC4: Clara Tejido (Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg)
Clara is from Spain and has a Bachelor’s in health biology, a Master’s in Biomedical sciences and a Master’s in Bioinformatics. She has been involved in various internships in KU Leuven, VIB and DKFZ research centres, where she gained hands-on experience in both wet lab experiments and bioinformatics work. Her main focus of interest is tumour immunology, so she is very excited to investigate targets for T-cell therapies in Glioblastoma. Clara sees GLIORESOLVE as a great opportunity to conduct meaningful research and learn from a network of multidisciplinary expertise. Clara is working at Medical Faculty Mannheim and University of Heidelberg, Germany, on the project “Targetability of IDHwt GBM TME subtype – specific T cell and GBM associated endothelial cell interactome” under the supervision of Prof Dr Michael Platten and Dr Lukas Bunse. In her free time, she enjoys film festival movies, listening to music and traveling
DC5: Marta de Lucas Sanz (Luxembourg Institute of Health)
Marta is from Spain and completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Alcala de Henares in Madrid. After a year as an exchange bachelor student at Umeå University in Sweden, she joined the Master’s in Molecular Techniques in Life Science, a collaboration program between Karolinska Institutet, KTH, and Stockholm University at the Science for Life Laboratory in Stockholm. During her master’s, Marta expanded her knowledge in molecular biology and bioinformatics at the same time she participated in several research internships. Most recently Marta worked as a bioinformatician analysing high-content images for a Dutch company specialized in 3D models-based drug screening experiments. During the GLIORESOLVE program, Marta will be based at the Luxembourg Institute of Health researching into “Patient-derived screening platform for probing personalized therapies in GBM subtypes” under the supervision of Prof. Anna Golebiewska. In her free time, she enjoys reading historical and crime books as well as hiking and traveling
DC6: Promise Emeh (Mimetas BV)
Promise, from Kogi state, Nigeria, has a diverse educational background in the field of biomedical engineering and technology. She holds a bachelor's degree in biotechnical systems and technology from the Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University in Russia. After completing her undergraduate studies, she pursued a master's degree in biomedical technology, with a focus on cell technology. During her master's program, Promise gained valuable experience working with neuronal differentiation and angiogenesis. Her interests in disease modelling and personalised medicine led her to join the GLIORESOLVE consortium. She is excited about being part of the project and looks forward to the experience and personal growth that it will bring. Currently, Promise is working at Mimetas BV in the Netherlands on the project titled "Establishment of GBM TME subtypes-on chip models." She is under the supervision of Dr. Karla Quieroz and Dr. Todd Burton, who provide guidance and support for her work. Outside of her professional life, Promise enjoys various activities in her free time. She has a passion for singing and dancing, and loves traveling and spending time with friends
DC7: Mohannad Dabbour (RCSI)
Mohannad is from Jordan. During his Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, obtained at Jordan University of Science and Technology in 2019, he developed an interest in cancer research motivating him in taking part in an in vivo pharmacokinetic study in a murine model at the department of Pharmaceutical Technology. Following on from that, he was granted with the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship to study Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (MSc) at the University of Pecs, Graduating in 2022. Mohannad worked on a research project aiming to develop a 3D co-culture in vitro model for a rare type of lung cancer. During the GLIORESOLVE programme, Mohannad will be based in RCSI, Dublin, researching into ‘Identifying novel TME subtype-specific treatments for GBM’. under the supervision of Prof. Annette Byrne and Prof. Jochen Prehn. In his free time, Mohannad enjoys reading, hiking and travelling
DC8: Aleksandr Kalmykov (GeneXplain GmBH)
Aleksandr is from Novosibirsk, Russia. He obtained his bachelor degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at the Novosibirsk State University. While completing and thereafter of his undergraduate studies Aleksander was working in biotech company Biosoft as a junior software developer and research fellow and he was involved in multiple bioinformatics training and research programs. By combining theory and practice he deepened his knowledge in bioinformatics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Aleksander sees GLIORESOLVE project as a great opportunity to apply his skills in machine learning and receive further trainings in computational biology. Aleksander is working in geneXplain GmbH, Germany on the project ‘Modelling therapeutic resistance in GBM TME subtypes using multiomics computational models’ under the supervision of Prof. Alexander Kel. In his free time, he enjoys travelling, taking part in hackathons and reading
DC9: Jayesh Telang (KU Leuven)
Jayesh is from India. He completed his Bachelor of Technology in Genetic Engineering from the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, in 2021. During his undergraduate studies, he was exposed to a plethora of wide-ranging streams, from engineering to core biology, allowing him to discover his forte that resonated with his persona. He further completed his Master of Technology in Biological Sciences and Bioengineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 2023. During his master's, he gained ample experience in the analysis of single cell-omics data and R programming language. Currently, he is employed as a doctoral student at the Laboratory of Cancer Precision Medicine, KU Leuven, Belgium, under the supervision of Prof. Fredrick De Smet. His doctoral project revolves around mapping the therapeutic potential of a novel drug, Ag5 and understanding its effects on the tumour microenvironment using a multi-omics approach in glioblastoma patient-derived models. In his free time, he enjoys chess, music and movies
DC10: Vahid Khaki (Bayer AG)
Vahid is from Iran and completed a BSc degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences and an MSc degree in Medical Immunology. He is so passionate about studying cancer immunology. During his master thesis, he investigated the mechanisms resulting in increasing the efficacy of immunotherapy approaches in breast cancer. Vahid sees the GLIORESOLVE consortium as a wonderful opportunity for himself to gain more experience concerning developing personalized therapies for the people suffering from cancer. He is working at Bayer AG, Germany, researching into "identifying novel IDHwt specific GBM targeted alpha therapies targets and establishing a novel precision medicine combinatorial TAT approach based on the TME subtypes". Vahid loves traveling, is a football enthusiast and a big fan of Liverpool football club.