Meet the PI: Andrei Bakin, PhD
Dr. Bakin received his PhD in biochemistry from Moscow University. He then did his post-doc at St. Jude Children's Hospital under supervision of Dr. Tom Curran, studying cellular transformation induced by Jun kinases.
He then joined Dr. Carlos Arteaga's lab at Vanderbilt University as a Research Assistant Professor where he investigated the mechanisms by which TGF-B induces epithelial to mesenchymal trans-differentiation, cell migration and survival.
He joined the faculty of Roswell Park in 2002. In July 2022, Dr. Bakin received the Roswell Graduate Student Association (GSA) Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching and Mentorship.
Current lab members
Priyanka Rajan, MS — Doctoral Student
Priyanka received her Bachelor of Technology in biotechnology from PSG College of Technology in Tamil Nadu, India. She worked as a Project Assistant at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai before joining the Cancer Sciences graduate program at Roswell Park. Her MS thesis focused on p53 response to chromatin disassembly in fibrosarcoma.
Her PhD thesis project is developing a therapeutic strategy to overcome immune suppression in metastatic breast cancer.
Mohammed Alruwaili, MS — Doctoral Student
Mohammed received his BS in medical laboratory technology from Northern Border University in Saudi Arabia. After a one-year internship, he completed his MS in medical laboratory sciences from Quinnipiac University. He then worked as a post graduate fellow at Yale University under supervision of Dr. Steven Tommasini and Dr. Carolyn Macica, studying the role of sclerostin in bone remodeling in X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH).
His PhD project focuses on development of a selective therapeutic intervention for p53 mutant advanced solid cancers by targeting DNA repair.
Ashley Guo
Lab Alumni
Former Post-docs
- Nina Stourman, PhD — Professor of Biochemistry, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
- Alfiya Safina, PhD — HRI Scientist, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY
- Andrea Varga, PhD — Senior Consultant, R&D Certainty, Adelaide, Australia
- Dimiter Kunnev, PhD — Research Scientist, University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, Buffalo, NY
- Qiao Zheng, PhD — Research Scientist, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland, OH
- Silvia Paesante, PhD — Clinical Pharmacist PRN, Shriners Children's Hospital, Pasadena, CA
Former PhD students
- Anna Bianchi Smiraglia, PhD — Assistant Professor of Oncology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY
- Souvik Chattopadhyay, PhD — Director of Biology, Dragonfly Therapeutics, Waltham, MA
- Megan Gervasi, PhD — Associate Professor of Biology, D'Youville College, Buffalo, NY
- Michelle Limoge, PhD
Former MS candidates
- Philip Boykin, MS — Clinical Research Associate, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Michael Cummings, MD, MS — Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY
- Gina Castellanos, MS — High School Teacher
- Justin M. Zonneville, MA — Senior Clinical Study Manager, Celerion Inc., Phoenix, AZ
- Moyi Wang, MS — PhD Candidate, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY
Former research interns & trainees
- Korry Wirth, MD — PGY-3 General Surgery Resident and Research Fellow, University of Rochester-Strong Memorial Hospital
- Jennifer Mongiovi, PhD — Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health/ Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Amy Beattie, MD — Pain Management Fellow, University at Buffalo
- Georgia Kyriacou — MS2, Jacobs School of Medicine, University at Buffalo
Former research technicians
- Erika VanDette — Pathology Resource Technologist, Roswell Park
- Lauren Kapus — Scientist, Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Rebecca Walden — Clinical Laboratory Technologist, ECMC
Former undergraduate students
Roswell Park Summer Research Program
- Jasmine Akhtar — Commonwealth University
- Olivia Balcom — Commonwealth University
- Jennifer Bender — University of North Carolina
- Zane Bergman — Purdue University
- Andrea Berry — University of Rochester
- Matthew Erlich — Purdue University
- Peter Fields — SUNY Geneseo
- Sarah Keast — SUNY Fredonia
- Karyl Kopalskie — University of Chicago
- Alexandra Miller — Drake University
- Alyssa Monohon — Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences
- Sofija Raudins — Kent State University
- Hannah Serio — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Lauren Smith — Syracuse University
Internship/University at Buffalo Honors Experience
- Jason Ross
- Lauren Emigholz
- Andrew George
- Sydney Grant
- Alex Gruevski
- Brett Irwin
- Megan Melnick
- Sergi Rodriguez Calado
- Brandon Smith
- Vince Wong
Connect with the Bakin Lab
Department of Cancer Genetics & Genomics
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Elm and Carlton Streets
Buffalo, NY 14263