Meet Our Lab
John Sunwoo, MD
Principle Investigator
Dr. Sunwoo received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed his clinical training in Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery at Washington University and his postdoctoral research fellowships in cancer biology and immunology (NK cell development) at the NIH and Washington University, respectively. Dr. Sunwoo has been at Stanford University since 2008 and has focused his research on understanding how the immune system interfaces with malignant cells, particularly in the context of head and neck cancers and skin cancers, and how to modulate the immune response for therapy. His hobbies and passions outside of work include skiing, cycling, and trying to keep up with his wife, two kids, and dog.
June Ho Shin, PhD
Senior Scientist
JuneHo joined the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Washington University as a Postdoc and focused on the research about reprogramming of single-cell derived mesenchymal stem cells into hair cell-like cells and ganglion neurons. JuneHo later moved to the department of Otolaryngology at Stanford as a Sr. Scientist and focused on three primary areas of research: (1) Aryl hydrocarbon receptor functions on NK cell development and immune response to head and neck cancer (NK cell migration and anti-cancer activity), (2) analyzing oncogenic mechanism of NSD1 and caspase-8 mutant in oral squamous cancer cells and their immune responses, and (3) the developmental programs of a special lymphocyte population involved in innate immunity called natural killer cells.
Chen Chen, MD, PhD
Research Scientist/Lab Manager
Chen got her MD/PhD at Shandong University, China. She enjoys cloning, playing tennis, and eating everything (especially hot pot). Her project focuses on the functional role of NSD1 mutations in promoting the “immune-cold” phenotype in head and neck cancer. Her work will contribute to future diagnostics and therapeutic strategies to augment immunotherapy.
Imran Ahammad Mohammad, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Imran got his Bachelors in Biotechnology from KL University in India. He then went on to obtain a Masters in Biotechnology from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and a PhD in Molecular Immunology from the University of Turku in Finland. His hobbies include playing chess and going on boba tea breaks. His research interests in lab include using “-omics” data to discover lineage-defining nuclear receptors in NK cells.
Serena Chang, PhD
Research Scientist
Nina Horowitz, BS
PhD Graduate Student in Bioengineering
Nina attended Manhattan School of Music, Williams College, and then worked as a researcher at Boston University before coming to Stanford. She loves to ski, fish, bike, and play ultimate frisbee. Her project is focused on modulating NK cell phenotype to optimize immunotherapy for solid tumors. She is using NK/ILC1 plasticity to generate NK cells that can adapt to the tumor microenvironment and induce strong immune responses, something that has been considered extremely difficult but could have a huge impact on the efficacy of cell therapeutics.
Quan Tran, BA
Medical Student
Quan majored in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. After receiving her bachelors, she worked as a staff research associate at UCSF for two years before starting medical school at Stanford. On her free time, she likes to hike, bake macarons, and play basketball with her little cousins (who are not so little anymore). For her research gap year, she is studying the role of hyaluronan, a glycosaminoglycan, in cancer immune evasion. The project also explores the efficacy of endowing hyaluronidase onto NK cells to potentially augment adoptive cellular therapy.
Our lab is located in the Lokey Stem Cell Research Building. Members of the lab include graduate students in the Immunology Program and Cancer Biology Program, undergraduate students, visiting scholars, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and clinical residents and fellows.