Hieu Nguyen, PhD
Post Doctoral Associate
Hieu is a postdoctoral researcher in the Pratx lab and a fellow in the Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars program. She obtained her Bachelor of Engineering in Materials Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Her Ph.D. at UT Austin was on optical-based interventions for early-stage cancer detection and therapy, including work with a fiber-based spectroscopy device for tumor resection guidance and application of ns high-energy laser pulse to induce immunogenic cell death in breast cancer cells. She is currently developing methods for tracking single cells in vivo with PET.
Neeladrisingha (Neel) Das, PhD
Post Doctoral Associate
Neel is a postdoctoral fellow in the Pratx lab. He completed his masters degree in Life Sciences and a Ph.D. degree in biosciences and biomedical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He is a trained cell and molecular biologist and has an interest in gene silencing and genetic engineering. He is currently working on cyanobacteria to reduce tumor hypoxia, and post-irradiated giant cell formation and their FDG uptake.
Syamantak Khan, PhD
Instructor
Syamantak is an Instructor in the Pratx Lab at Stanford University. He is involved in developing in-vitro bio-mimetic models of cancer and cancer metastasis for investigating diagnostic and therapeutic agents. He completed his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Master of Technology (M.Tech) in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. With a background training in multiple disciplines including molecular imaging, molecular biology, single-molecule biophysics, and engineering, he aspires to develop new physical technologies with a strong motivation to translate them into the oncology clinic. A major focus area of his research is patient-derived organoids for screening cancer therapeutics and imaging radiotracers. Another key research interest is advanced radiotherapy techniques, including FLASH, which promises to transform cancer radiotherapy's accuracy and therapeutic index. He has published his research in leading scientific journals, won recognition awards from scientific societies, and received research funding awards from the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford School of Medicine.
Rohollah Nasiri, PhD
Post Doctoral Associate
Rohollah is a postdoctoral researcher in the Pratx Lab at Stanford University. Here, he is working on an advanced tumor organoid-on-a-chip model and its integration with radiotherapy. He received his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Bioengineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2021. His Ph.D. thesis was about the design and fabrication of microfluidic devices for separating circulating tumor cells from blood. During his Ph.D. program, he joined Prof. Khademhossini's Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation for two years as a visiting researcher. At Khademhosseini's lab, his research was focused on cardiac tissue engineering (Heart-on-a-chip). Following his PhD, he joined Prof. Herland’s lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden as a postdoctoral researcher from September 2021 for two years. In Herland’s lab, his research focused on the investigation of brain energy metabolism using a Brain-on-a-chip model integrated with metabolic biosensors. His research interests include microfluidics, organ-on-a-chip, cancer research, tissue engineering, and biosensors.
Verónica Ibáñez Gaspar, PhD
Post Doctoral Associate
Verónica obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Julius-Maximilians University in Würzburg (Germany) and completed a Master of Science and PhD in Biological and Biomolecular Science at University College Dublin (Ireland). They have been working on cancer research since their undergrad and are currently working on developing a high-throughput method for RAI uptake screening using 3D cancer cell models.
Xiaoxu Zhong, PhD
Post Doctoral Associate
Xiaoxu completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Ocean Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Xiaoxu earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. During his Ph.D., Xiaoxu developed new models for laser-induced cavitation, protein-coated bubbles, spring-driven autoinjectors, and the transport of subcutaneously administered monoclonal antibodies. His research interests include mathematical modeling, fluid mechanics, and cavitation bubbles. He is currently working on radiation-induced nanobubbles, aiming to understand their nucleation, stability, and therapeutic potential.
Jessica Wen
Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Jessica is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator in the Pratx lab. She received her B.S. in Biosciences from Rice University in 2024. She has previously studied the impact of diet and alcohol on immune cell metabolism and hepatocellular carcinoma progression at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research interests include cancer immunology, immunotherapy, and personalized medicine.
Zahra Sardar Melli
Research Assistant
Zahra earned her Master of Science degree in Medical Immunology at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2023, where her research focused on evaluation of the association between interleukin-29 levels and T helper 1 cells-related parameters in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and healthy controls. She received her bachelor degree in Medical Laboratory Science. Her research interests are Immunology, Tumor Biology, Cancer Immunotherapy, Radiotherapy, and advanced in vitro models.
Chenyi Wang, M.D., PhD Candidate
Visiting Instructor
Chenyi Wang completed her MD and Master's degrees in General Surgery at Zhengzhou University, where she also finished her residency in General Surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital. She is currently a PhD candidate at Peking University. During her PhD studies, Chenyi developed new models to distinguish between benign and malignant thyroid cancers using serum metabolomics. Additionally, she has been involved in research on the intratumoral and intertumoral single-cell heterogeneity of thyroid cancer. Her research interests are focused on surgical oncology, particularly thyroid cancer. Chenyi is currently working in the Pratx Lab, mainly studying thyroid organoid culture and radioiodine assays.
