Current Monje Lab Members
Michelle Monje, MD, PhD
Michelle Monje, MD, PhD is a Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Her research program focuses at the intersection of neuroscience and brain cancer biology, with a particular focus on mechanisms and consequences of neuron-glial interactions in health, glial dysfunction in neurological disease and neuron-glial interactions in malignant glioma. Together with these basic studies, her research program has advanced preclinical studies of novel therapeutics for pediatric high-grade gliomas and cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment in order to translate new therapies to the clinic.
Anna Geraghty, PhD
Dave Rogawski, MD, PhD
Dave is a neuro-oncologist and post-doctoral fellow in the Monje Lab interested in developing new therapies for brain tumors. Dave has a bachelor's degree in biology and mathematics from Williams College and a master's degree in biochemistry from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. He was an MSTP student at the University of Michigan in Jola Grembecka's lab, where he worked to develop first-in-class small molecule inhibitors for the histone methyltransferase ASH1L. He completed neurology residency and neuro-oncology fellowship at Stanford. He is very excited to be working in the Monje Lab to identify molecules that target cancer neuroscience vulnerabilities in glioma.
Kathryn Taylor, PhD
After graduating from the University of Portsmouth with a BSc in Biomedical Science, Katy started her career in cancer research by investigating kinase inhibition in rhabdomyosarcomas. Katy obtained her PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research/University of London in 2016, where she studied translational genomics of diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas. Her current research within the Monje Lab focuses on the interaction between pediatric gliomas and their microenvironment. In particular, she studies the neurodevelopmental mechanisms which are leveraged by glioma cells to advance their own progression.
Belgin Yalcin, PhD
Belgin received her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2016, after completing an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Istanbul Technical University in 2011. In the Monje lab, her research focuses on understanding myelin plasticity of the brain. Specifically, she is investigating the basis of heterogeneity in the response of myelin-forming cells to neuronal activity.
Alexis Ivec
Life Science Research Professional
Alexis graduated from Stanford in 2022 with a B.S. in Human Biology, where previous research focused on developing CRISPR-based tools for epigenetic gene regulation. Before joining the lab, she spent a year at Astellas Gene Therapies supporting multiple projects developing Adeno-Associate Virus (AAV) gene therapies to treat neuromuscular diseases. Within the Monje lab, her work focuses on studying the interaction between pediatric gliomas and their microenvironment. Outside of lab, she enjoys painting, powerlifting, and planning elaborate dinner parties for friends.
Ann-Helen Liljensten
Scientific Research Liaison
Ann-Helen Liljensten has a broad role, supporting Dr. Monje and her lab administratively, operationally, and organizationally. She is also serving as project manager for research projects and is one of the tissue navigators for Gift from a Child, a program of the Swifty Foundation, to help children who are diagnosed with brain cancer.
Ann-Helen received her Registered Nurse degree in Sweden and has worked in diverse healthcare settings in both the U.S. and Sweden, including the Neurosurgery Department at Boulder Community Hospital, Colorado and the Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the Clinical Neuroscience Department, University of Gothenburg. She has managerial experience leading home health teams and dialysis clinics.
Outside of the lab, Ann-Helen enjoys hiking in the beautiful SF Bay Area as well as watching her children play volleyball and ride horses.
Sara Mulinyawe
Life Science Research Professional
Sara’s experience includes over 20 years of assisting research labs here at Stanford and previously at UCDavis. In the Monje Lab, she is focused on tissue processing/imaging, cell culture, and lab organization. She brings expertise in isolating and culturing primary glia and neurons. She enjoys volunteering her time to charitable organizations, spending time with her family and sewing.
Lijun Ni
Life Science Research Professional
Lijun’s research experience includes 15 years of being a research associate at Indiana University Cancer Center. She has a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology. In the Monje Lab, Lijun focuses on quantitative microscopy, including electron microscopy (EM), as well as cell culture work. Since her move to the west coast, Lijun enjoys exploring the scenic wonders of the Bay Area during frequent road trips with her family.
Theresa Pham
Life Science Research Professional
Beatriz Robinson, MS, PhD
Scientific Research Liaison
Beatriz Robinson graduated from Stanford in 2023 with a PhD in Neurosciences and Masters in Medicine. She brings over 10 years of diverse research experience in neurodevelopment and molecular neuroscience in several animals models. Her role as a research administrator provides operational support and serves as the administrative center for research projects and consortiums lead by the Monje lab. She enjoys crafting and working on home improvement projects in her free time.
Neeraj Soni, PhD
Scientist
Neeraj obtained his Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After that, he conducted his postdoctoral research at Yale and the University of Michigan. His research interests and long-term goal are to understand the physiological mechanisms that contribute to the development of brain cancers and how to best utilize our knowledge of these mechanisms in prevention and treatment. In particular, he is investigating the neurophysiological communication between neurons and glioma cancer cells. Away from the lab, he enjoys photography, listening to music, exploring nature, and reading.
Pamelyn Woo
Lab Manager
With a spirit of inquiry, Pam found her way back to science after receiving a BA in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley and graduate work in film studies at the University of Chicago. She has been a neuroscience research assistant at Stanford since 2010 working on a variety of in vivo projects. Currently she focuses on colony management, behavior, and translational research on pediatric brain tumors.
Tara Barron, PhD
After completing a BS in Neuroscience and Psychology from Trinity University, Tara received a PhD in Neuroscience from UT Health San Antonio in 2019. Her graduate dissertation examined electrophysiological interactions between neurons and oligodendrocytes. In the Monje lab, she is using patch clamp electrophysiology to study the functional expression of receptors and channels in glioma cells and the roles they play in neuron-glioma interactions leading to glioma growth.
Youkyeong Byun, PhD
Youkyeong (Gloria) received her PhD from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Her graduate study with Dr. Won-Suk Chung focused on understanding the roles of astrocytes in early life stress and psychiatric disorders. In Monje lab, she is focused on elucidating how neural activity influences low-grade glioma progression and the influences of adrenergic signaling on glioma pathophysiology.
Richard Drexler, MD, PhD
Richard received his training at Semmelweis University (Hungary) and the University of Oxford (UK), graduating as an MD in 2020. In 2021, he obtained his PhD in Cancer Biology from Hannover Medical School (Germany), where his research focused on pancreatic cancer and metastatic spread. Following his medical school graduation, Richard worked as a resident in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany), specializing in the translational aspects of epigenetics and malignant neural signatures in glioblastoma. In the Monje lab, he is currently Investigating the interaction between serotonergic as well as cholinergic neurons and glioma cells, with the aim of understanding their impact on neuron-to-glioma networks.
Albina Ibrayeva, MS, PhD
Albina recieved her MS and PhD from University of Southern California, Los Angeles USA. Her graduate work was focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the decline of hippocampal activity with age. In Monje lab she focuses on understanding how different immune challenges accelerate neurodegeneration and cognitive decline during physiological aging.
Lars Karlsson, MD, PhD
Lars is a specialist in Pediatrics and a fellow in Pediatric Oncology at Queen Silvia Children's Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. He received his PhD at Gothenburg University in the lab of Professor Georg Kuhn on the effects of PGC1a-induced exercise adoptions in muscle on plasticity and recovery mechanisms in the CNS. In the Monje lab, he is currently investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying vascular complications of diffuse midline gliomas and the possible effects of CAR T cell immunotherapy on tumor vascular biology.
Felicia Reinitz, MD, PhD
Felicia completed both her MD and PhD at Stanford School of Medicine. She received her PhD in the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative medicine program where she studied epigenetic mechanisms of aging in neural stem cells in murine Alzheimer’s Diseased models. She went on to complete her internship in Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and returned to Stanford to continue residency in Pediatric Neurology. In the Monje lab, she is studying the effects of noradrenergic signaling on oligodendrocyte precursor cell function during early normal development and following perinatal injury.
Yoon Seok Kim, PhD
Yoon received his Ph.D. in the Bioengineering Ph.D. program at Stanford. His graduate work with Drs. Karl Deisseroth and Brian Kobilka examined the structural and molecular mechanisms of light-gated ion channels. In the Monje lab, he is focused on elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying neuron-glioma interaction.
Andrew Stewart, PhD
Dr. Andrew Stewart graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in Medicinal Chemsitry (BS), where his research focused primarily on elucidating epigenetic mechanisms that drive drug seeking. His graduate work was done in Dr. Ian Maze’s lab at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, focusing on unbiased characterization of substrates of protein dopaminylation, and their role in patho- and adaptive physiology. In the Monje Lab, Andrew is focused on understanding the role of these dopaminylation marks in influencing cell fate and the pathology of glioma.
Minhui Su, PhD
Minhui studied Biochemistry in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received her PhD from the Molecular Biology Program – International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) at the Georg August University Göttingen, Germany. She is currently investigating voltage-sensitive mechanisms of glioma growth. Glioma progression is dependent on neuronal activity via growth factors and integration into neural circuits. Minhui wants to understand how membrane depolarization regulates glioma growth in the tumor microenvironment.
Vrunda Trivedi, PhD
Yuvaan Tiwari Foundation Fellow
Vrunda received her MS and PhD from the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. Her graduate work with Dr. Duane Mitchell was focused on developing personalized mRNA vaccines and combinatorial immunotherapy approaches, including adoptive T-cell therapy, for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. In the Monje lab, she is working on optimizing the GD2 CAR T-cell therapy to improve the persistence and fitness of the T-cells for the treatment of DIPG.
Haojun Xu, PhD
Haojun (Lucy) obtained her Ph.D. from the Human Biology Program at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, in 2022, after completing a BS in Life and Environmental Sciences at the same university. Her Ph.D. study focused on a safeguard system in stem cell therapies. In the Monje lab, Lucy is interested in investigating how microglia mediates brain fog after infection in a region-specific manner.
Lauren Koepke
Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Lauren graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2017 with a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a minor in Wildlife Biology. After graduating, she spent four years as a lab manager at Stanford where she studied skeletal stem cells in the context of aging and injury and established a novel therapeutic for osteoarthritis. Lauren is currently a Ph.D. student in the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine program, with an interest in neural stem cell populations. In the Monje lab, she is studying the role of glial cells in response to injury, inflammation, and disease.
Karen Malacon
Neurosciences Program
Karen graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Neurobiology and a minor in Global Health and Health Policy in 2019. Her previous research explored the effects of environmental stressors and microbial and dopaminergic modulation during development on social behavior at Duke University. Karen is currently an MSTP student in the Neurosciences program, with an interest in early life immune challenge and the effects of secondary insults. In the Monje lab, she is studying the effects of non-CNS infections during early life on long-term neurocognitive dysfunction.
Rebecca Mancusi
Cancer Biology Program
Rebecca graduated from Binghamton University in 2019 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. Her previous research explored the interactions between cancer and its surrounding immune microenvironment. Rebecca is currently a PhD student in Stanford’s Cancer Biology program, exploring similar questions in the context of pediatric high-grade glioma. Her work in the Monje Lab aims to elucidate the role of microglia in establishing the hyperexcitable neural networks which drive glioma.
Kamsi Nwangwu
Neurosciences Program
Kamsi graduated from Yale University in 2019 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. His previous research at the NIH explored the mechanisms underlying a disease causing mutation in the lysosomal chloride transporter CLC-7. Kamsi is currently an MSTP student in the Neurosciences program, with an interest in studying the role of CNS inflammation and glial cell dysregulation within the context of various disease states. In the Monje lab, his work focuses on understanding the molecular machinery of microglia and the diverse states they can occupy under various conditions.
Abigail Rogers
Biology Program
Abigail graduated from the University of Michigan in 2021 with a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a B.M. in Cello Performance. Her previous research focused on glial cell biology in neurological movement disorders and after peripheral nerve injury. Abigail is currently a PhD student in the Biology program, with an interest in studying the response of myelin-forming cells to neuronal activity. In the Monje Lab, she is focused on investigating myelin plasticity of neuromodulatory circuits.
Kiarash Shamardani
Cancer Biology Program
Kiarash graduated from University of California, Berkeley in 2017 with a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology. Before joining the Cancer Biology program at Stanford, he spent two years studying the neural basis of perception at UC Berkeley. As a Ph.D. student, Kiarash is interested in a systems neuroscience approach to understanding the interaction of tumor cells and their microenvironment in brain cancer. In the Monje lab, he is studying the neuron-glioma interactions at the circuit level to discern how patterns of activity within a neuron-glioma network influences the behavior of the cancer as a whole.
Sol Savchuk
Lehi Acosta
Catherine Armstrong
Sophia Artandi
Enrique Herrera Castaneda
Dylan Jatwani
Eu Jin Jung
Ryan Lee
Natalie Logan
Alexandra Midler
Amy Nguyen
Alex Ravel
Noemi Reche-Ley
Sruthi Subramanian
Eva Tatlock
Linh Vo
Linh is a current student at Stanford University from Seattle working towards a degree in biomechanical engineering. She is passionate about neuroscience and is interested in further developing CAR-T cell therapies and drugs for brain tumors. Outside of the lab, Linh likes to go walking with her dog, read, and enjoy the weather by picnicking on sunny days.
