Current Students
Kelly Borges

Education: B.S., Physiology & Neurobiology, University of Connecticut; Master of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania
Advisor: Olga Savinova, Ph.D.
Research Interests:䲹徱DZܱ
Publications
- Won C, Damsky W, Singh I, Joseph P, Chichra A, Oakland H, Lu J, Vallabhajosyula P, Bardia A, Szabo C, Wang A, Borges K, Koff J, Rochester C, King B, Chun H. (2020).
- Nangia G, Borges K, Reddy KR. Use of HCV-infected organs in solid organ transplantation: An ethical challenge but plausible option. Journal of Viral Hepatitis. 2019; 00:1-10.
- Borges KA, Dai J, Parikh ND, et al. Rationale and design of the Hepatocellular carcinoma Early Detection Strategy study: A multi-center longitudinal initiative of the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network. Contemporary clinical trials. 2018; 76:49-54.
- Rajapakse CS, Leonard MB, Kobe EA, Slinger MA, Borges KA, Billig E, Rubin CT, Wehrli FW. The Efficacy of Low-Intensity Vibration to Improve Bone Health in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease is Highly Dependent on Compliance and Muscle Response. Academic radiology. 2017; 24:1332-42.
Navjot Guru

Education: B.A., Chemistry, magna cum laude (concentration in Biochemistry and Minor in Psychology), Hunter College, City University of New York
Advisor: Haotian Zhao, Ph.D., M.D.
Research Interests: Cancer Biology
Publications
- Navjot Guru, Paula Demétrio de Souza Franca, Giacomo Pirovano, Cien Huang Snehal Patel, Thomas Reiner. [18F]PARPi imaging is not affected by HPV status in vitro (2020). Molecular Imaging. In press.
- Paula Demétrio De Souza França, Navjot Guru, Sheryl Roberts, Susanne Kossatz, Christian Mason, Marcio Abrahão, Ronald A. Ghossein, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner. Fluorescence-guided resection of tumors in mouse models of oral cancer (2020). Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67958-8
- Paula Demetrio de Souza Franca, Navjot Guru, Abigail R. Kostolansky , Audrey Mauguen, Giacomo Pirovano, Susanne Kossatz, Sheryl Roberts, Marcio Abrahao, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner, Elizabeth Jewell. Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase1: A potential molecular marker to identify cancer during colposcopy procedures (2020). Journal of Nuclear Medicine. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.120.253575.
- Paula Demétrio de Souza França, Susanne Kossatz, Christian Brand, Daniella Karassawa Zanoni, Sheryl Roberts, Navjot Guru, Dauren Adilbay, Audrey Mauguen, Cristina Valero Mayor, Wolfgang A. Weber, Heiko Schöder, Ronald A. Ghossein, Ian Ganly, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner. A Phase I Study of a PARP1-targeted Topical Fluorophore for the Detection of Oral Cancer. medRxiv 2020.11.09.20228536; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.09.20228536
- Junior Gonzales, Javier Hernández-Gil, Thomas C Wilson, Dauren Adilbay, Mike Cornejo, Paula Demétrio de Souza Franca, Navjot Guru, Christina I Schroeder, Glenn F King, Jason S Lewis, Thomas Reiner. Bimodal Imaging of Mouse Peripheral Nerves with Chlorin Tracers. Mol Pharm. 2021 Jan 6. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.0c00946. Epub
- Junior Gonzales, Giacomo Pirovano, Jonathan Chow, Paula Demetrio de Souza Franca, Julie Kaae Klint, Navjot Guru, Glenn King and Thomas Reiner. Fluorescence labeling of Hs1a for near-infrared nerve visualization. EJNMMI research, 2020;10(1): 49. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13550-020-00630-4
- Giacomo Pirovano, Stephen Jannetti, Lukas Carter, Ahmad Sadique, Susanne Kossatz, Navjot Guru, Paula Demétrio De Souza França, Masatomo Maeda, Brian Zeglis, Jason Lewis, John Humm, and Thomas Reiner. Targeted brain tumor radiotherapy using an Auger emitter (2020). Clinical Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-2440
- Paula Demétrio de Souza França, Sheryl Roberts, Susanne Kossatz, Navjot Guru, Christian Mason, Daniella Karassawa Zanoni, Marcio Abrahão, Heiko Schöder, Ian Ganly, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner. Fluorine-18 labeled poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase1 inhibitor as a potential alternative to 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose positron emission tomography in oral cancer imaging. (2020). Nuclear Medicine and Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucmedbio.2020.01.004
- Thomas C. Wilson, Stephen A. Jannetti, Navjot Guru, Nagavarakishore Pillarsetty, Thomas Reiner, Giacomo Pirovano. Improved radiosynthesis of 123I-MAPi, an Auger theragnostic agent 2020 Jul 2. Int J Radiat Biol. 2020;1-7. doi:10.1080/09553002.2020.1781283
- Junior Gonzales, Paula Demétrio de Souza França, Yan Jiang, Giacomo Pirovano , Susanne Kossatz, Navjot Guru, Dimitry Yarilin, Akello J. Agwa , Christina Schroeder, Snehal G. Patel, Ian Ganly , Glenn King, Thomas Reiner. Fluorescence Imaging of Peripheral Nerves by a Nav1.7-Targeted 2 Inhibitor Cystine Knot Peptide (2019). Bioconjugate Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00612
- Christian A. Mason, Susanne Kossatz, Lukas M. Carter, Giacomo Pirovano, Christian Brand, Navjot Guru, Carlos Pérez-Medina, Jason S. Lewis, Willem J.M. Mulder, Thomas Reiner. 89Zr-HDL PET tracer monitors response to a CSF1R inhibitor. (2019) Journal of Nuclear Medicine. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.119.230466
Christopher J. Janton

Education: B.A., Biology (Biochemistry Concentration), College of the Holy Cross
Advisor: Michael Hadjiargyrou, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Musculoskeletal System
Publications
- Young CJ, Caffrey M, Janton C, Kobayashi T. Reversing the miRNA -5p/-3p stoichiometry reveals physiological roles and targets of miR-140 miRNAs. RNA. 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35332065
- Nishimori S, O’Meara MJ, Castro C, Noda H, Cetinbas M, da Silva Martins J, Ayturk U, Brooks DJ, Bruce M, Nagata M, Ono W, Janton CJ, Bouxsein ML, Foretz M, Berdeaux R, Sadreyev RI, Gardella TJ, Jüppner H, Kronenberg HM, Wein MN. Salt-inducible kinases dictate parathyroid hormone receptor action in bone development and remodeling. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2019 Aug 20. PMID: 31430259.
- Exconde, Patrick M., Janton CJ, Makkay AM, Papke RT, Gomez AV, and Mills KV. “Fitness Cost of Two INTEINS in Halobacterium Salinarum.” The FASEB Journal 33.S1 (2019).
- Janton CJ, Gomez AC, Makkay AM, Papke RT, and Mills KV. “Salt‐dependent Protein Splicing: In Vitro Enzymology and in Vivo Physiological Relevance.” The FASEB Journal 32.S1 (2018).
Christine Lee

Education: B.S./D.O. Program, New York Institute of Technology
Advisor: Nathan Thompson, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Integrative Anatomy
Publications
- Lee, C. J., Woo, W., Kim, A. Y., Yon, D. K., Lee, S. W., Koyanagi, A., Kim, M. S., Tizaoui, K., Dragioti, E., Radua, J., Lee, S., Smith, L., & Il Shin, J. (2022). Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 breakthrough infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of medical virology, 94(9), 4234–4245.
- Grine, F. E., Lee, C., Mongle, C. S., Billings, B. K., Wallace, I. J., & Mngomezulu, V. (2020). Secular trends in cranial size and shape among black South Africans over the late 19th and 20th centuries. Annals of human biology, 47(5), 446–456.
Ashwin Ragupathi

Education: B.S., Honors, Emory University
Advisor: Dong Zhang, PhD
Research Interests: Cancer Biology
Publications
- Pereira, P. M. R., Ragupathi, A., Shmuel, S., Mandleywala, K., Viola N. T., Lewis, J. S., HER2-targeted PET imaging and therapy of hyaluronan-masked HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, Molecular Pharmaceutics 17, 327-337, 2020
- Pereira, P. M. R., Mandleywala, K., Ragupathi, A., Carter, L., Goos, J. A. C. M., Janjigian, Y., and Lewis, J. S. Temporal Modulation of HER2 Membrane Availability Increases Pertuzumab Uptake and Pretargeted Molecular Imaging of Gastric Tumors. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 60, 1569–1578, 2019.
- Kozlowski, R., Ragupathi, A., and Dyer, R. B. Characterizing the Surface Coverage of Protein–Gold Nanoparticle Bioconjugates. Bioconjugate Chemistry 29, 2691–2700, 2018.
- Pereira, P. M. R., Sharma, S. K., Carter, L. M., Edwards, K., Pourat, J., Ragupathi, A., Janjigian, Y. Y., Durack, J. C., and Lewis, J. S. Caveolin-1 mediates cellular distribution of HER2 and affects trastuzumab binding and therapeutic efficacy. Nature Communications 9, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07608-w, 2018.
- Poty, S., Membreno, R., Glaser, J. M., Ragupathi, A., Scholz, W. W., Zeglis, B. M., and Lewis, J. S. The inverse electron-demand Diels–Alder reaction as a new methodology for the synthesis of 225Ac-labelled radioimmunoconjugates. Chemical Communications 54, 2599–2602, 2018.
Leah Wachsmuth

Education: Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Dickinson College
Advisor: Haotian Zhao, Ph.D., M.D.
Research Interests: Cancer Biology
Publications
- Frankowski KJ, Patnaik S, Wang C, Southall N, Dutta D, De S, Li D, Dextras C, Lin YH, Bryant-Connah M, Davis D, Wang F, Wachsmuth LM, Shah P, Williams J, Kabir M, Zhu E, Baljinnyam B, Wang A, Xu X, Norton J, Ferrer M, Titus S, Simeonov A, Zheng W, Mathews Griner LA, Jadhav A, Aubé J, Henderson MJ, Rudloff U, Schoenen FJ, Huang S, Marugan JJ. Discovery and Optimization of Pyrrolopyrimidine Derivatives as Selective Disruptors of the Perinucleolar Compartment, a Marker of Tumor Progression toward Metastasis. J Med Chem. 2022 Jun 23;65(12):8303–8331. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00204. Epub 2022 Jun 13. PMID: 35696646.
- Sun H, Coussens N, Danchik C, Wachsmuth LM, Henderson MJ, Patnaik S. Hall M, Molinaro A, Daines D, Shen M (2022). Discovery of VapC1 small molecule nuclease inhibitors by virtual screening and scaffold hopping from an atomic structure revealing protein-protein interactions with native VapB1 inhibitor. J Chem Inf Model.
- Wachsmuth LM, Johnson MG, Gavenonis J (2017). Essential multimeric enzymes in kinetoplast parasites: A host of potentially druggable protein-protein interactions. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 11(6): e0005720.
John Yarbro

Education: B.S., Biology, University of Memphis; M.Sc., Nutrition Science, University of Memphis
Advisor: Qiangrong Liang, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests:䲹徱DZܱ
Publications
- Pingili AK, Chaib M, Sipe LM, Miller EJ, Teng B, Sharma R, Yarbro JR, Asemota S, et al. Immune checkpoint blockade reprograms systemic immune landscape and tumor microenvironment in obesity-associated breast cancer. Cell Rep. 2021 Jun;35(12):109285. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109285
- Cory TJ, Emmons RS, Yarbro JR, Davis KL, BD Pence. Metformin Suppresses Monocyte Immunometabolic Activation by SARS-CoV-2 and Spike Protein Subunit 1 (In review). Preprint available at bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2021.05.27.445991
- Pence BD, Yarbro JR, Emmons RS. Growth differentiation factor-15 is associated with age-related monocyte immunosenescence. Aging Medicine, September, agm2.12128. doi: 10.1002/agm2.12128
- Yarbro JR, Emmons RS, Pence BD. Macrophage Immunometabolism and Inflammaging: Roles of Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Cellular Senescence, CD38, and NAD. Immunometabolism. 2020;2(3):e200026. doi: 10.20900/immunometab20200026.
- Yarbro JR, Pence BD. Classical monocytes from older adults maintain capacity for metabolic compensation during glucose deprivation and lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Mech Ageing Dev, 183 (2019), Article 111146, 10.1016/j.mad.2019.111146
- Pence BD, Yarbro JR. Classical monocytes maintain ex vivo glycolytic metabolism and early but not later inflammatory responses in older adults. Immunity & Ageing 16: 3, 2019. doi: 10.1186/s12979-019-0143-1
- Yarbro JR, Pence BD. Monocytes in aging and exercise. Exercise Medicine 2: 15, 2018. doi: 10.26644/em.2018.015 Pence BD, Yarbro JR. Aging impairs mitochondrial respiratory capacity in classical monocytes. Experimental Gerontology 108: 112-117, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.04.008