May, 2023 – We are very grateful for the Siteman Solid Tumor Therapeutics Program (STTP) Catalyst award to investigate some new mechanisms in melanoma!
December 9, 2022 – Postdocs Sarah and Phyo representing the lab at the 3rd Annual Siteman Cancer Center Research Symposium with a poster and oral presentation. (apologies, someone forgot to take a picture of Phyo, it was really early in the morning)
November, 2022 – We are very excited and grateful to have received research funding from the Concern Foundation. Thank you for your support!
October 11, 2022 – We are very excited for the lab’s first official publication in the journal Oncogene. This work was lead by postdoc Sarah Zimmerman who found some interesting interactions between Ezh2 and Stat3 with significant consequences on the melanoma anti-tumor immune response. Check it out here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41388-022-02492-7
June 22nd, 2022 – Another presentation for Phyo at the Hematopoietic Development and Heme Malignancies Program retreat at WashU!
May 23rd, 2022 – Phyo was selected to present his work at the 2nd Annual WashU Physician Scientist Symposium. Nice work Phyo!
February 15, 2022 – And its a hat-trick! Pei-Yu successfully defended her qualifying exam. Congrats Pei-Yu! Now let’s all get back to the bench and get stuff done!
December 8, 2021 –Sofia successfully defended her qualifying exam and is also officially a PhD candidate! Congrats Sofia!
November 18, 2021 –Rachel is now officially a PhD candidate! Congrats Rachel for passing your qualifying exam!
May 24, 2021 – Sofia Smith, graduate student from the Molecular Genetics and Genomics program is joining the lab for her thesis work! We are very excited to welcome Sofia back to the lab!
May 2021 – We are very excited to receive a Career Development Award from The Harry Lloyd Charitable Trust Foundation for melanoma research. This award will help continue our work on the role of EZH2 in melanoma. We are very thankful and grateful to the foundation for its support and all it donors for their contributions!
April 10th, 2021 – Sarah is presenting her work at this year’s AACR meeting, go check out her poster!
March, 2021 – Pei-Yu Chen, graduate student with the Cancer Biology program has joined the lab for her thesis work! We are very excited for the lab’s second graduate student! Welcome Pei-Yu!
February, 2021 – Rachel Paolini, MGG graduate student, has joined the lab for her thesis work! We are very excited for the lab’s first graduate student! There are so many things to work on, where do we start? Welcome back Rachel!
February, 2021 – The lab is now fully vaccinated!
January 18th, 2021 – Pei-Yu Chen and Jessica Devenport, both of the Cancer Biology Program, join the lab for a rotation. Welcome Pei-Yu and Jess!
January 4th, 2021 – We are very excited to welcome the newest member of the lab, Phyo Nay Line, as a Research Associate. Welcome Phyo!
November 1st, 2020 – Congratulations to our postdoc, Sarah Zimmerman, who has been selected for an oral presentation during the Annual Siteman Cancer Research Symposium on November 20th! Tune in via Zoom to listen to a great story on Ezh2 and the tumor immune response in melanoma.
October 1st, 2020 – We are very excited to welcome Dr. Aris Alexandrou to the lab as a Staff Scientist. Aris received his PhD at UC-Davis and most recently worked at the Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame. Welcome Aris!
July 15th, 2020 – We are very excited to have received a New Investigator grant from the Leukemia Research Foundation (LRF) to investigate the oncogenic mechanisms of EZH2 mutations and chromatin interactions in lymphoma.
July, 2020 – After becoming a Master, Sammi decided to apply her new wisdom and skills towards a new (computational) direction and is leaving our lab. Sammi was the lab’s Employee #1 and was instrumental in helping set up the lab and get the first projects going! We are sad to see her go but wish her all the best in her new position at WUSTL Genetics!
May 10th, 2020 – Maybe you didn’t know, but our research tech, Sammi, has been working on a Master’s in Data Science on the side. She used a lab-generated dataset for her thesis project and she successfully defended this month! Congratulations Sammi! Now, follow the words of another great Master:
Pass on what you have learned.
Yoda
Do or do not. There is no try
April 9th, 2020 – New ChIP-seq data! I feel that these two nice peaks are going to make our story a lot more interesting. Our favorite protein has found a new best buddy. Sorry, can’t say more about this now… 🙂 – G
April 3rd, 2020 – The recent COVID outbreak has changed lab life significantly. We cannot hang out in the lab like before, but Zoom meetings help us stay connected and in good spirits!
November 6th, 2019 – More than a year ago, in collaboration with Tanner Johanns and Charles Kaufman, also of WashU, we put together an LOI for a Phase I clinical trial through the NIH/CTEP program. The proposal is based on our preclinical data on the interaction between EZH2 and BRAF in melanoma. The LOI has been approved and the drug company has committed to provide the drug for the trial! One of our goals as a cancer research lab is to carry out robust and thorough basic science and always try to translate and apply those findings to the clinic… this gives us tremendous motivation to keep going!
November 5th, 2019 – Gejae Jeffers, graduate student in DBBS Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program, joins the lab for a rotation. Welcome Gejae!
October 14th, 2019 – Rachel Paolini, graduate student in DBBS Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program, joins the lab for a rotation. Welcome Rachel!
September 23rd, 2019 – Look at that, our first FACS analysis! We knocked down some genes, grew some cells, injected them into mice, harvested tumors and analyzed the tumor immune response… looks like we are doing some real science!
September 3rd, 2019 – Leela decides to extend her summer research and keep working in our lab for the rest of the academic year. We are glad to have her back!
June 24th, 2019 – Jessica Harrison, graduate student in DBBS Human and Statistical Genetics Program, joins the lab for a summer rotation. Welcome Jessica!
May 20th, 2019 – Leela Raj, a WashU undergraduate, joins the lab for the summer. Welcome Leela!
May 1st, 2019 – OMG, it’s been a year since we started! Celebratory picture by the Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza Fountain on the WashUMed campus! (we always forget to take pictures during lunch)
March 15, 2019 – Our lab is now officially a member of the Siteman Comprehensive Cancer Center and part of the Solid Tumor Therapeutics Program. We are very excited to be part of this amazing scientific community and look forward to working with our colleagues and contribute towards the Center’s goals! You can learn more about the different research programs at Siteman here.
February 12, 2019 – George’s last paper from his postdoc was recently published in PNAS. Most of this work was done by “the best graduate student ever”, Jie-Yu Liu. If you want to learn more about a new p16 reporter, check it out here.
January 10th, 2018 – DBBS-DB student Laura Fischer has joined the lab for a rotation. Laura will be shearing chromatin, IP’ing methylated histones and figuring out some interesting chromatin dynamics in the EZH2 Y641F mutants! Welcome Laura!
December 2018 – Sarah Zimmerman joined our lab as a postdoctoral research associate. Welcome Sarah!
November 2018 – George is very excited and grateful to the Cancer Research Foundation (CRF) for the Young Investigator Award! Thank you for supporting our research!
October 30th, 2018 – DBBS-MCB student Kent Lin has joined the lab for a rotation. He will be working on some cool epigenetic stuff! Welcome Kent!
August 10th, 2018 – We are very excited to receive a Notice of Award for the Transition Career Development Award from the NCI!
July 11th, 2018 – We are in business! We might not have a direct view of the Arch, but we have lots of space and we love it.
Our new assistants, Eppi and Nano, are already hard at work!
June 4th, 2018 – Samantha Nixon joins the lab as a Research Technician. Sammi recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She was brave enough to move to St. Louis, with her dog Kona, and be the lab’s first employee! Welcome Sammi!
May 24th, 2018 – As promised, some fresh coat of paint… we are almost there…
May 1st, 2018 – Day 1. Empty lab waiting for some TLC
May 1st, 2018 – George’s first day at work. Lots to do and lots to learn, but taking a moment to take it all in. First things first, found the coffee machine!
