Laura is the Administrative Coordinator for Dr. Tayyaba Hasan.  Before joining the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Laura worked in medical devices and public transportation in a variety of managerial positions. 

Zhiming Mai earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Immunology from Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine. Since then, he has been working at Harvard Medical School-Affiliated Hospitals for over 20 years and specializes as a cancer biologist. His current research interests focus on the investigation of photodynamic therapy-based combination treatments using preclinical animal models for certain human cancer with aims at the enhancement of the treatment specificity and efficacy.

Yanfang earned her BSc and MSc at Sichuan University and the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention and her PhD in Medical Microbiology from the University Of Amsterdam. She has been with The Wellman Center for Photomedicine since 2017. Yanfang is a microbiologist with special training in molecular evolution and epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. Her research in Dr. Hasan’s lab mainly focuses on the development of point-of-care diagnosis for antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the use of photodynamic therapy for antibiotic-resistant infections.

Jose’s  earned his BS at the Complutense University of Madrid, his Master of Drug Discovery at the University of Alcala, and his PhD in Organic Chemistry at the Complutense University of Madrid. Jose’s research focuses …

Shazia earned her PhD from the Islamia University of Bahawalpur. She has been with The Wellman Center for Photomedicine since 2016. Shazia’s research focuses on developing targeted photoactivatable liposomal nanoconstruct to enhance the therapeutic index of cancer drugs and setting up pre-clinical translational nanoplatforms for simultaneous imaging and photodynamic therapy-based combination treatment regimens

Saad obtained his PhD from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), India in 2016. With brief post doc stints at CCMB and Cleveland Clinic, Saad joined the Hasan lab at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine in 2018. His major focus in the Hasan lab is the development of targeted constructs for imaging and treatment of oral and pancreatic tumors.

Harrison earned his BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Lyman Briggs College, part of Michigan State University. Harrison joined the Hasan Lab in July of 2022 and is now applying to medical school. He wants to become a physician, with interests in surgery and oncology.

Bryan Q. Spring is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Physics and an Affiliated Faculty of Bioengineering (Northeastern University, Boston), and a Visiting Scientist at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School). As an undergraduate NSF fellow, he contributed to characterizing one of the intricate photophysical parameters of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) under the guidance of Robert S. Knox (Department of Physics, University of Rochester, NY). His doctoral work with Robert M. Clegg (Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) focused on developing fluorescence lifetime and quantitative FRET imaging. He developed patent pending technology for molecular imaging and selective treatment of cancer micrometastases during his postdoctoral fellowship in Tayyaba Hasan’s laboratory (Wellman Center for Photomedicine). Since joining the faculty at Northeastern University in 2015, Prof. Spring received The NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22) as well as an award from the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research. In 2021, he was selected as a Scialog Fellow for Advancing Bioimaging. 

Bryan’s research in the Hasan group focuses on fluorescence microendoscopy for minimally- invasive monitoring of treatment responses in mouse models of ovarian and pancreatic cancer.

Outside the laboratory, Prof. Spring practices meditation, calisthenics, and running, and he loves to travel in his spare time.

Edward Maytin, MD, is Section Head of Molecular Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology, as well as a Staff Member in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic. He is also an Assistant professor of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering at Cleveland State University and Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.  A frequent collaborator with the Hasan Lab, Dr. Maytin’s research focuses on two thematic areas: (1) wound healing, and (2) skin cancer. For wound healing, we are interested in the role of the extracellular matrix in wound repair. A large carbohydrate molecule called hyaluronan is an abundant component of the matrix and also of the pericellular coats of fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and blood vessels; the addition of certain proteins to hyaluronan after injury appears to be critical for regulating inflammation and fibrosis in healing wounds. Understanding this regulation may provide new ideas for therapy of poorly healing wounds in diabetes.

For skin cancer, we are working to improve a skin cancer treatment called photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT has two components: a porphyrin precursor that is selectively taken up into malignant cells and converted to porphyrin, and a strong light source that activates the porphyrin inside the cancer cells, producing oxygen free radicals and causing cell death. Under the proper conditions, PDT can also stimulate anti-tumor immunity. We have found that pretreatment with certain drugs and hormones (including methotrexate and Vitamin D) can lead to more porphyrin accumulation, more efficient cell killing upon exposure to light, and improved stimulation of anti-tumor immune mechanisms.

Shakir earned his PhD in Biotechnology from Aligarh Muslim University. Shakir is based out of Jon Celli’s lab at UMass Boston. Shakir’s research focus is on Biomedical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering design of oral cancer photodynamic therapy proprietary devices.

Visiting Scientist

Brian is Professor of Medical Physics and Department Chair as well as Director of Graduate Program for the Department of Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. His research focuses on Optics in medicine, biomedical imaging to guide cancer therapy; molecular guided surgery; dose imaging in radiation therapy; Cherenkov light imaging; image guided spectroscopy of cancer; photodynamic therapy; and modeling of tumor pathophysiology and contrast.

Visiting Scientist

Valli is an Assistant professor at Tuft University.  Prior to Tufts, Dr. Mallidi was Assistant Professor at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Harvard Medical School and maintains an affiliate position with MGH and Wellman to continue her research collaborations within the center.  

Valli’s research in the Hasan group focuses on photodynamic therapy of glioblastoma, molecular imaging, monitoring therapy and on developing low cost PDT strategies. She now directs the integrated Biofunctional imaging and therapeutics lab  (iBIT Lab) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University .