Message From The Director

Current Students and Alumni

Graduates of the Molecular Pathology Program (degree obtained, year of graduation, advisor, thesis title and last known position)

Lisa Armitage, M.D. 1998, Ph.D. 2002 (A. Wanger Ph.D.). Disruption of genes encoding fibronectin binding proteins of M. tuberculosis and their role in virolence. Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, Houston.

Christopher Beachdel, MS 1999 (J. Actor Ph.D.) TDM-induced cytokine, chemokine and chemokine receptor mRNA in granuloma formation in C57BL/6 mice.

Elizabeth Bruckheimer, Ph.D. 1999 (T. McDonnell M.D.) The contribution of Bcl-2 oncoprotein to multistep prostate carcinogenesis. Staff Scientist, Targeted Genetics Corporation, Seattlle, WA.

Robert Copenhaver, MS 2001 (C. Jagannath Ph.D.) Induction of the immune memory in response to M. tuberculosis using in vitro macrophage cultures and a mouse model. Technology License Associate, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX

Vicky Estrera, Ph.D 2001 (S-H Lin Ph.D.) The study of C-CAM interacting proteins involved in its tumor supression activity. University of Houston-Downtown, Houston,TX

Rebecca Hamm, Ph.D. 2003 (T. McDonnell M.D.) The role of the sonic hedgehog signaling pathway in epidermal homeostasis. Postdoctoral Fellow, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Shreveport LA.

Elizabeth Hileman Ph.D. 2003 (P. Huang Ph.D.) Intrinsic oxidative stress in cancer cells: a biochemical basis for therapeutic selectivity Using ROS-generating agents. Project Director, External Collaboration office of Technology Discovery, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

Edgar Hudson, Ph.D. 1995 (J. McMillin Ph.D) Insulin-associated changes in carnitine palmitoyltransferase acitivity are mediated through the insulin-like growth factor pathway. Postdoctoral fellow, Cardiac Energetics Laboratory, NIA-NIH, Washington DC.

Shen-An Hwang, Ph.D., 2006 (J. Actor Ph.D.) Evaluating bovine lactoferrin as an adjuvant to enhance the efficacy of the BCG (Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette Guerin) vaccine. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

Jessica Indrigo Ph.D. 2003 (J. Actor Ph.D.) Contribution of trihalose-6,6-dimycolate to virulence in acute mycobacterial infections. Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri.

Bin Liu Ph.D. 2000 (D. Young M.D.) Determining the effect of antiidiotypic antibody production on production of a transgenic myelin-reactive autoantibody from a patient with Guillain-Barres syndrome. Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX

Mary Anne Mashruwala; Ph.D. 2006 (C. Jagannath Ph.D) Regulation of T cell function by complement C5A in mice during mycobacterial infection.

Meredith Moore Ph.D. 2002 (J. McMillin Ph.D.) Transcriptional control of mitochondrial nuclear-encoded isoform targeting to the heart. Research fellow, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA.

Stacey Mueller Ph.D. 2001 (A. Wanger, Ph.D.) A protein of mycobacterium tuberculosis that binds human complement component C3 and the role this protein plays in the interaction of m.tuberculosis with human mononuclear phagocytes. Postdoctoral fellow, Brown Foundation Institute for Molecular Medicine, Houston TX

Dillon Thanh Phan Ph.D. 2002 (S-H Lin Ph.D.) Identification of C-CAM1 regulation element. Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas TX.

Joye E. Purser Ph.D. 2002 (S. Norris Ph.D.) Elucidation of the plasmid-encoded virulence genes present in infectious Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme Disease. Congressional Aid, Washington DC.

Usman Qazi Ph.D. 1999 (J. Stoops Ph.D.) Structural studies of the transformation of human alpha-2 macroglobulin using three-dimensional electron microscopy. Postdoctoral fellow, University of California at Berkeley, CA

Kevin Spurgers Ph.D. 2006 (T. McDonnell M.D.) Postdoctoral fellow, MDACC, Houston, TX

Ryan von Lindern MS 2002 (M-J Hung Ph.D.) Induction of tumor cell specific gene expression via a suicide hammerhead ribozyme.

Virginia Watson MS 1999, M.D. (J. Actor Ph.D.) The host's immune response to acute mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in susceptible and resistant mouse strains. Surgical Resident, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX.

Yun Wu M.D. Ph.D. 1999 (R. Arlinghaus Ph.D.) The role of Bcr in Bcr-Abl positive cells (recipient of the Knudson prize for best thesis at MDACC). Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

Qing Xia MS 2003 (H. Zhou Ph.D.) Structural studies of cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus. Student in Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate Sch of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA.

Yang Xia Ph.D. 1998 (J. McMillin Ph.D.) Transcriptional control of nuclear genes encoding cardiac mitochondrial proteins. Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston TX.

Hong Zhang Ph.D. 2000 (H. Zhou Ph.D.) Structural studies of a plant virus cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus by using electron cryomicroscopy and computational image processing techniques. Pathology resident, University of Texas Medical School, Houston TX.