Meet the Principal Investigator
Jerry Shay, Ph.D.
Professor
Endowed Title: Distinguished Teaching Professor; The Southland Financial Corporation Distinguished Chair in Geriatrics
Department: Cell Biology
Graduate Programs: Cancer Biology, Genetics, Development and Disease
Current Lab Members
Enzo Tedone, Ph.D.
Silvia Siteni, Ph.D.
Mohammad E. Sayed, Ph.D.
Karoliina Stefanius, Ph.D.
Sabrina Freeman, Ph.D.
Anthony Grichuk
Kimberly Batten
Crystal King
Summer Barron
Alessandra Ahmed
Lab Alumni
Michael Clark 1975-1981, Ph.D., 1981 (Professor, University of Kentucky)
Lamont Weide 1975-1981, Ph.D., 1981; M.D., 1985 (Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center)
Andrew Crenshaw 1976-1979, M.D., 1982 (Private practice)
Cheryl Walker 1979-1984, Ph.D., 1984 (Professor, University of Texas Cancer System, Houston)
William Rainey 1981-1985, Ph.D., 1985 (Professor, University of Michigan, School of Medicine, Conn Professorship)
Deborah Iman 1984-1988, Ph.D., 1988 (High School science teacher, Albuquerque, NM)
Dennis Pierce 1985-1989, Ph.D., 1989 (Associate Professor, University of Utah)
Ruben Ramirez 1995-2000, Ph.D., 2000 (Assistant Professor, Veterans Administration, Dallas, Faculty, UT Dallas)
Patricia McChesney 1997-2001, Ph.D. 2001
Dara Aisner 1997-2001, Ph.D., 2001 (Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Health Center, Denver)
Joseph Baur 1999-2003, Ph.D., 2003 (Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania)
Ying Zu 2000-2004, Ph.D., 2004 (Director of Clinical Cytogenetics, Boston University)
Gunner Dikmen 2002-2005 (Professor, University of Hacettepe, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey)
Agnel Sfeir 2002-2006, Ph.D., 2006 (Selected for Nominata Award, top award for all graduate students at UT Southwestern; Assistant Professor, NYU, Skirball Institute)
Vikash Bhagwhandin 2004-2008, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral fellow, UCSF, laboratory of Michael Bishop)
Christy Duncan 2005-2007 (Completed Master’s degree and took a position in industry)
Oliver Delgado 2005-2009, Ph.D., 2009 (Postdoctoral fellow, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX)
Nuno Gomes 2005-2009, Ph.D.
Hirotoshi Hoshiyama 2005-2010, Ph.D., 2009 (Oncolys BioPharma, Tokyo, Japan)
Christen Buseman 2006-2010, Ph.D., 2010 (Masters of Public Health training)
Tracy Chow 2006-2011, Ph.D., 2011 (Postdoctoral fellow, UCSF, laboratory of Elizabeth Blackburn)
Aric Whitington 2007-2012, Ph.D. (Executive Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration)
Ugur Eskiocak 2008-2011, Ph.D., 2011 (Postdoctoral fellow, UT Southwestern, laboratory of Sean Morrison)
Peter Ly 2009-2012, Ph.D., 2012 (Postdoctoral fellow, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, UC San Diego, laboratory of Don Cleveland)
Sin (Sabrina) Mak 2007-2014, Ph.D., 2014
Aadil Kaisani 2009-2014, Ph.D., 2014 (Entered medical school)
Mandy (Sze) Wong 2010-2014, Ph.D., 2014 (Postdoctoral fellow, Cold Spring Harbor, laboratory of Adrian Kranier)
Jerome Robin 2010- 2014, Ph.D., 2014 (Postdoctoral fellow, University of Nice, France)
Dustin Boyd 2010-2012 MSTP, (Returned to medical school)
Lu Zhang 2010-2014, Ph.D., 2014
Ilgen Mender 2012-2014, Ph.D., 2014
Brody Holohan 2010-2015, Ph.D., May 2015
Mariam El-Ashmawy 2011-2015 MSTP, Ph.D., May 2015 (Returned to medical school, HHMI Gilliam Predoctoral Fellowship)
Ryan Laranger 2012-2017, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral fellow, Yale University, laboratory of Michael Mak)
Ejun Huang, 2012-2017, Ph. D., 2017
Laura Yuan, 2013-2017 MSTP, Ph.D. (Returned to medical school)
Ning Zhang, 2015-2020, Ph.D., 2020 (Postdoctoral fellow, Northwestern University, laboratory of Yuan Luo)
John W. Fuseler, Ph.D., 1977-1980
Marguerite Stauver, Ph.D., 1979-1982
Rosalie Ber, M.D., 1981-1982
Harold Werbin, Ph.D., 1982-1983
Jun-Ichi Hayashi, Ph.D., 1985-1986
Wang Zongren, Ph.D., 1985-1986
Xie Jing-Yu, Ph.D., 1986-1987
Shougo Ishii, M.D., 1986-1988
Liu Yinong, Ph.D., 1986-1989
Minakshi Banerjee, Ph.D., 1987-l989
Yuan Yang, Ph.D., 1987-1989
Ma Liandong, Ph.D., 1988-1989
Naohisa Kamimura, M.D., 1988-1990
Tsuneyoshi Baba, M.D., 1988-1990
Yan-ting Chou, Ph.D., 1989-1990
Qimin Zhan, M.D., 1989-1991 (Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh; Director and Professor, National Key Lab of Molecular Oncology, Beijing, China)
Michael West, Ph.D., 1989-1992 (1992-1998, VP Development, Geron Corp, Menlo Park, CA; 1999-2008 CEO and President, Advanced Cell, Boston, MA; 2009- present, President and CEO, BioTime, Inc., CA)
Brigitte Van Der Haegen, M.D., Ph.D., 1990-1992 (VP Research, BioWhitaker)
Mieczyslaw A. Piatyszek, Ph.D., 1990-1995 (1995-2005 Senior Scientist, Geron Corporation; Consultant, Sierra Sciences, Reno, NV)
Isabelle Savre-Train, Ph.D., 1990-1993, (1995-1998 Pasteur Institute, Paris, France)
Walter Funk, Ph.D., 1991-1993 (1993-2000, Geron; 2000-2006 XGene; 2006-present Director, Parallax Venture Partners, San Bruno, CA)
Michel Ouellette, Ph.D., 1991-1999 (Associate Professor, University of Nebraska, Eppley Cancer Center)
Asha Rathi, Ph.D., 1992-1994 (Research Instructor, Hamon Cancer Center)
Yury Romanchikov, Ph.D., 1992-1994 (Staff Scientist, Sloan Kettering, NY)
Dana Brasiskyte, Ph.D., 1992-1995 (Staff Scientist, Sloan Kettering, NY)
Yan Ying, Ph.D., 1992-1994 (Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska, Eppley Cancer Center)
Lauren Gollahon, Ph.D., 1993-1997 (Professor, Texas Tech University, Lubbock)
Shawn Holt, Ph.D., 1994-1998 (Associate Professor, Richard Bland College, Petersberg, VA)
Takeshi Isomura, Ph.D., 1995-1996 (Assistant Professor, Tokyo Medical College, Japan)
Valerie Tesmer, Ph.D., 1996-1999
Deborah Fredericks, Ph.D., 1996-1997
James Norton, Ph.D., 1996-1998 (Vice President, Amgen Corp., CA)
Charles Epstein, Ph.D., 1996-1997 (Second postdoctoral fellowship, Princeton)
Carmela Morales, M.D., 1996-2000 (Professor, UT El Paso)
Michael Hu, Ph.D. ,1998-2000 (Changed to computer science)
Kazuhiro Abeyama, M.D., Ph.D, 1998-1999 (Academic position in Japan)
Lance Ford, Ph.D., 1998-2001 (Senior Scientist, Bioos, Austin, TX)
Xiaoming Yi, Ph.D., 1998-2002
Laura White, M.D., 2000-2002 (Private practice in Austin, TX)
Yu-Sheng Cong, Ph.D., 2000-2002 (Professor, Institute of Ageing Research, Hangzhou Normal University, China)
Meaghan Petty Granger, M.D., 2000-2003 (Pediatric Oncology, Fort Worth, Texas)
Brittney-Shea Herbert, Ph.D., 2002-2003 (Associate Professor, University of Indiana Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN)
Susanne Steinert, Ph.D., 1998-2004 (Research Scientist, France)
Nicholas Forsyth, Ph.D., 2000-2004 (Lecturer, The Guy Hilton Research Laboratories, Keel University Medical School, UK)
Melville Vaughan, Ph.D., 1999-2004 (Associate Professor, Oklahoma State University)
Oliver Bechter, M.D., 2001-2004 (Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria)
Ginelle Gellert, Ph.D., 2003-2005 (Assistant Professor, TCU)
Masahiro Takakura, M.D., Ph.D., 2002-2005 (Assistant Professor, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Japan)
Weihang Chai, Ph.D., 2001-2005 (Associate Professor, Washington State University)
Virginia Pearce, Ph.D., 2001-2005 (Assistant Professor, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX)
Shalmica Jackson, Ph.D., 2004-2006 (Senior Research Scientist, Sigma, Kansas City, KS)
Shobhana Natarjan, Ph.D., 2004-2006 (Scientific journal editor, 2012 Reata Pharmaceuticals)
Jesper Graakjaer, Ph.D., 2005-2006 (Assistant Professor, Denmark)
Wallace Sharif, Ph.D., 2004-2007 (Assistant Professor, Morehouse, Atlanta, GA)
Chun-Hong Zhu, Ph.D., 2003-2008
Zhenjun Lou, Ph.D., 2004-2009 (Technical Director, Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory, Molecular Pathology, Richardson, TX)
Sebastian Biglioni, Ph.D., 2009-2010 (Entered pharmacy school)
Calin Marian, Ph.D., 2005-2011 (Assistant Professor, University of Central Arkansas)
Phillip Smiraldo, Ph.D., 2006-2011 (Senior Scientist, WIL Research, Ohio)
Hua Guo, Ph.D., 2008-2011 (Second Postdoctoral Fellowship, Albany Medical College)
Jun Tang, Ph.D., 2008-2011 (Started a biotech company in Beijing, China)
Jinyong Kim, Ph.D., 2005-2011 (Research Scientist, UT Southwestern)
Stina Singel, M.D., Ph.D., 2010-2013 (Senior Medical Staff, Genentech, San Francisco, CA)
Quan Wang, Ph.D., 2012-2014 (Second Postdoctoral Fellowship, Indiana University)
Guido Stadler, Ph.D., 2008-2015 (Senior Scientist, Berkeley Lights, Inc. Biotech)
Wanil Kim, Ph.D., 2013-2016 (Research Scientist, Korea Pharmaceuticals)
Ronald Bozeman, Ph.D., 2014-2016 (Clinical Research Associate Medplace)
Lu Zhang, Ph.D., 2014-2018 (Senior Scientist, Abbvie, Chicago, IL)
Sang Bum Kim, Ph.D., 2009-2017 (Faculty position in Korea)
Tsung-Po Lai, Ph.D., 2013-2018 (Assistant Professor, Rutgers University)
Jennifer Peters-Hall, Ph.D., 2013-2018 (Research Scientist, InGeneron, Houston, TX)
Yanhui Li, Ph.D., 2017-2020
Harry Papaconstantinou, M.D., 2003-2006 (Assistant Professor Surgery, currently Scott and White full time clinical practice)
Dojun Yoon, Ph.D. 2004-2007 (Associate Professor/visiting faculty, currently in academia in Korea)
Danielle Robertson, D.O., 2004-2009 (K08 co-mentor, Currently on faculty at UT Southwestern)
Yong Zhao, Ph.D., 2009-2011 (Assistant Instructor, UT Southwestern, Cell Biology, Associate Professor Sun Yat-Sen University, China)
Andres Roig, M.D. 2005-2011 (Linscheer Foundation highest ranked AGA Research Scholar applicant, DOCs award, currently in private practice and affiliate with the University of Miami, Miami, FL)
Andrew Ludlow, Ph.D. 2011-2014 (Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI)
Jaewon Min, Ph.D. 2014-2019 (Assistant Professor, Columbia University Medical Center, NY)
In Memoriam
Woodring “Woody” Wright, M.D., Ph.D.
1949 - 2019
In collaboration with Dr. Shay for over 30 years, Dr. Wright dedicated decades of research to studying the molecular mechanisms that regulate telomeres and telomerase and ways to exploit these insights to treat cancer and age-related diseases.
Dr. Wright garnered national and international attention to his work through more than 140 seminars and lectures at major universities and meetings throughout the world, more than 320 published articles, reviews, and book chapters, and 27 patents related to methods for the diagnosis, treatment, and analysis of telomere length, telomerase activity, and other anti-cancer therapies.
Dr. Wright mentored more than 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows during his distinguished career. His excellence in the classroom was recognized by numerous Outstanding Teacher Awards.