SCI Pilot Undergraduate Summer Program

Mentee: Daniela Castro-Martinez
Mentor: Reena Thomas, MD, PhD

Hi! My name is Daniela Castro-Martinez, and I am currently a rising sophomore from Scottsdale, Arizona, with an interest in immunotherapy research pertaining to cancers. I plan to major in Biology with a concentration in Computational Biology, and my ultimate dream would be to go to medical school and become a physician-scientist. Aside from that, I love to play tennis, read, listen to podcasts, and spend time with my friends in my free time!

Mentee: Jason Cui
Mentor: Steven Artandi, MD, PhD

Hi! I’m Jason Cui, a first-year undergraduate student from Boulder, Colorado intending to study biology or computational biology with a minor in global health. I hope to pursue a career as a physician-scientist and contribute to translational cancer research. Outside of classes and research, I enjoy practicing classical music, playing tennis, and hiking.

Mentee: Camryn Franke
Mentor: Tanja Gruber, MD 

My name is Camryn Franke, and I am a Bioengineering major for undergrad, and I am also enrolled in Stanford’s coterminal master's program in Biomedical Informatics, where I will graduate with both my Bachelor’s and Master’s next Spring. I have been interested in studying cancer for most of my time at Stanford. I have been a research assistant with Dr. Tanja Gruber for two years now, and my undergraduate thesis is on the work I’ve done in her lab, studying pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia. I am currently working on screening antigens identified in a proteomics analysis of cells from a patient-derived xenograft murine model for potential as immunotherapeutic targets. Last summer, I interned at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in the Gynecologic Oncology Department, and had the amazing opportunity to shadow tumor debulking surgeries and help with clinical data collection. In my free time, I enjoy the outdoors and traveling, and when I can’t be out and about, I like playing video games on my PS5.

Mentee: Jennifer Hamad
Mentor: Crystal Mackall, MD, MD

Jennifer Hamad is a rising junior, majoring in Biology on the Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental track, with a hope of devoting her career to cancer immunology research as an MD/PhD.  From a young age, Jennifer’s curiosity about the natural world and disease led her to design and conduct several experiments. It was her early discoveries of natural antimicrobial and anticancer compounds present in common household spices that seeded an insatiable passion for research in her. Jennifer currently works in the Wender Lab where she is involved in designing, synthesizing, and evaluating a drug delivery system that holds the potential to delivery oligonucleotides and small molecules in a tissue-specific manner for prophylactic and therapeutic benefit. This summer, Jennifer will be working in the Mackall Lab to develop a novel cancer immunotherapy that can alter the tumor microenvironment and upregulate the activity of T cells by exploiting their endogenous regulatory capabilities. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys listening to music, writing poetry, and advocating for children’s rights both at home and abroad.

Mentee: Kyle Lambert
Mentor: Julien Sage, PhD

Kyle is entering his fourth year at Stanford where he studies Neurobiology and Classics for his undergraduate degree, as well as Epidemiology and Clinical Research as a coterminal master’s student. He is passionate about investigating the intricacies of cancer biology and aims to have a career in translational research after pursuing an MD/PhD. His current work focuses on outlining the biology of paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes in small cell lung cancer patients and models. Outside of the lab and classroom, Kyle enjoys watching tennis, working on community-based care initiatives, and cooking homestyle Jamaican cuisine for friends and family.

Mentee: Zachary Jun Xiang Yu
Mentor: Melanie Gephart, MD

Zachary is a current rising junior at Stanford from Hong Kong studying Neurobiology, Psychology, and Computer Science. He is currently investigating the role of the Choroid Plexus in CNS leukemia, particularly using biocomputational strategies to identify genes which contribute to the survival of cancer cells.