Meet the Principal Investigator
Prasanna Alluri, M.D., Ph.D.
Prasanna Alluri, M.D., Ph.D. is a physician-scientist working at the interface of clinical oncology and translational breast cancer research. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Alluri received an M.D. from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in biological chemistry from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He completed a clinical residency in radiation oncology and a research fellowship in translational oncology in the laboratory of Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan, both at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Lab Members
SM Nashir Udden, Ph.D.
Instructor
SM Nashir Udden earned a Ph.D. in medical sciences from Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, where he investigated the functional interrelation between non-receptor tyrosine kinase c-ABL and tumor-suppressor protein p53 during DNA damage response. Before joining the Alluri Lab, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pathology at UT Southwestern where he investigated the functional interaction between the gut microbiome and pattern recognition receptors such as TLRs and NLRs, and their involvement in gastrointestinal disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.
Dr. Udden has extensive expertise in cancer biology, immunology, microbiology, cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, molecular genetics, and genomics, and has published his research findings in many high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS, Cell Reports, and Cellular Signalling. His current research focuses on the establishment of in vitro and in vivo models of treatment resistance in breast cancer and the development of novel targeted therapies to overcome treatment resistance. Nashir also plays a key role in mentoring trainees in the lab.
Ambrosia Simmons, M.D., Ph.D.
Clinical Fellow
Dr. Simmons received her M.D. and Ph.D. from Temple University where she studied cell cycle regulation and cell polarity in neural development. She earned her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. Simmons is currently a medical resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology. She is a Holman Pathway Scholar working jointly in the lab of Dr. Takashi Kitamura in the Department of Psychiatry and under the mentorship of Dr. Alluri. Her project is focused on better characterizing the effects of therapeutic radiation on normal tissue within the CNS.
Steven Montalvo, M.D.
Clinical Fellow
Steven Montalvo, M.D., is a radiation oncology resident and board-certified pediatrician who is interested in survivorship oncology with a special focus in the cardiotoxic effects of cancer-directed therapy. He received his M.D. from UT Southwestern Medical Center, completed a residency in general pediatrics at Stanford Health Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, and is currently in his final year of radiation oncology residency at UT Southwestern.
Neha Kalakuntla
Medical Student
Neha Kalakuntla is a medical student at UT Southwestern. She received her B.S. in biosciences and B.A. in social policy analysis from Rice University. During her time at Rice, she conducted neuroimmunology, microbiology, and health policy research. Her current project in Dr. Alluri’s lab is focused on characterizing the effects of thoracic radiation on cardiotoxicity.
Kamal Pandey, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Pandey received his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from CHA University, South Korea. He then carried out a post-doc term in his Ph.D. lab for a year. During his Ph.D. and post-doc periods, he focused on developing novel cancer therapeutics to enhance the efficacy of immuno-oncology drugs and overcome the resistance of targeted therapies in breast and ovarian cancers. Dr. Pandey is well trained in animal handling and has good skills in establishing humanized and PDTX mice models.
Dr. Pandey has published research and review articles in many peer-reviewed journals. His current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms involved in the development of drug resistance in breast cancer and possible therapeutic strategies that may overcome the resistance as well.
Taylor-Jade Higgins
Post-Baccalaureate Research Student
Taylor-Jade is a post-baccalaureate student in the Post-Baccalaureate to PhD (PB2PhD) program at UT Southwestern. She received her bachelor’s degree from Austin College in biology with a concentration in cell and molecular biology, where she studied the effects of epithelial to mesenchymal transition on PA28γ expression. Her research interests include cell biology, cancer, and translational science.
Sarah Elliott
Graduate Student
Sarah is a third-year graduate student at UT Southwestern. She received her Bachelor of Science from McGill University in Biology. Her research interests are strongly rooted in translational sciences, and she is a member of the MoDTS track at UT Southwestern. Her research in the Alluri Lab focuses on the detection and treatment of cardiotoxicity arising from radiation therapy.
Nicole McCuen
Graduate Student
Nicole is a graduate student in the Cancer Biology Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern. She received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied the effects of combination immunotherapy for multiple myeloma in hypoxia. Her current work in the lab focuses on developing a method to monitor and assess immune responses to treatment in both preclinical and clinical contexts.
Mihir Shah
Student Intern, Green Fellowship Program
Alumni
| Name | Alluri Lab Role |
| Jessica Nguyen | Summer Research Fellowship 2018 |
| Liliana Tinoco | Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) 2018 |
| Qian Wang, Ph.D. | Senior Scientist |
| Monira Obaid | Research Fellow |
| Elizabeth Zhang-Velten, M.D., Ph.D. | Clinical Fellow |
| Isabella Raicu | Student - Emperor Science Award recipient |
| Ev Kakadiaris | Medical Student |
| Brian Lue | Medical Student |