Lab Member

Current Position and a little something about them

Nayab Tahir, PhD

Nayab earned his Pharm-D from the University of Sargodha, and his Master and PhD in Pharmaceutics from the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. His project was “Lipid-Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery System Formulation Design and Evaluation”.

He worked as a lecturer in the Pharmacy Faculty at the University of Sargodha Pakistan prior to winning the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to study in the US for a year in our lab, joining in February 2024.

Nayab’s research focuses on the design and development of lipid and polymer-based nanoconstructs for the delivery of chemotherapeutics to cancer cells, thereby improving efficacy and the safety profile of these drugs. He is currently working on these nanoconstructs to integrate photodynamic therapy to improve therapeutic outcomes.

Jose Quilez Alburquerque, PhD

José  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. He is a chemist with extensive experience in photochemistry, optical sensing, and organic synthesis.

José  first interned at the Hasan Lab in the midst of the initial COVOD lockdowns of 2020-21 but was undeterred and joined the lab fulltime in 2022. José’s research focused on the development of light activable liposomal-like nanostructures to co-deliver photodynamic priming and chemotherapeutics or antibiotics in pancreatic cancer or antibiotic-resistant infections respectively.

He is now working in the Canary Islands, in Spain. as Senior Scientist at ARQUIMEA Research Center 

Emad Salman Shaikh, MD, MPH

Emad is now at the Multiregional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a Program Manager, after working briefly in the Hasan Lab and other parts of MGH.

A MD by training, he recently earned his MPH in Clinical Effectiveness with a concentration in Management and Health Economics, from the T. H Chan School of Public Health at Harvard.

Harrison Roberts

Harrison earned his BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Lyman Briggs College, part of Michigan State University.

While in the Hasan lab, he honed his laboratory skills, worked on grant submissions, and became our IT guru. He published posters and was a contributing author on 2 papers of his research work in our lab.

Harrison is a Medical Practice Assistant with BWH Orthopedics. He wants to become a physician, with interests in research, surgery and oncology.  

Zhiming Mai

Zhiming was a long time collaborator with the Hasan Lab,

He passed away  in 2024. He will be missed.

Please see our memorial page for more information. 

Tessa van Bergen Msc

Tessa completed her project, “Photodynamic therapy mediated tumor stroma alterations for sensitizing pancreatic cancer to immune checkpoint therapy” while working in the Hasan Lab. 

She is in the Biomedical Sciences track at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

Chathuna Sri Anjuna Bodahandi 

Chathuna is a PhD Candidate in Polymer Chemistry at The Graduate Center, The City University of NY, New York NY. He has a foundation in photobiology, photochemistry, and material science and is experienced in innovative research involving antimicrobial therapies, photosensitizers, and superhydrophobic materials, demonstrated through successful in-vivo and ex-vivo projects and publications. 

While in the Hasan Lab, he worked with Dr Caroline Coradi-Tonon on superhydrophobic applications of PDT.

Shakir Khan, PhD

Shakir is a Research Fellow within the Celli Lab, Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Boston in  Boston, MA.

A frequent collaborator with the Hasan Lab, Shakir is focused on nanoparticle enhanced photodynamic therapy to combat pathogenic microbes.

2022

 Jimena Nicolás Morala

Jimena is a PhD Candidate at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She worked in the Hasan Lab for 6 months on PDT mediated immune responses in pancreatic tumor models. 

With a focus on cell biology, Jimena is working on a PhD program in Molecular Biology.

2022

Demi Wekking

 Demi is a Masters Candidate at The University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

While in the Hasan lab she worked for 6 months on a project related to the photodynamic priming of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment. 

2020- 2023

Caroline Coradi Tonon DDS, MSc, PhD

Caroline is a Senior Scientist with the American Dental Association Research Institute, Chicago, IL. She conducts applied research on oral biofilms and photodynamic therapy, aiming to improve dental health and prevent oral diseases in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians, and industry partners, and contributes to the development and dissemination of innovative and evidence-based dental solutions.

She has a  strong academic background in dentistry, microbiology, and implantology, with a Post-doctoral Fellowship from Harvard Medical School (HMS), a MSc and a PhD from Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), and a specialization from the Brazilian Dental Association (ABO). 

Previously a  Visiting Scholar at Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUPUI), she has published multiple articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and co-authored a book chapter on photodynamic therapy. 

Pushpamali is a molecular immunologist. She obtained her PhD from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. 

Her research in the Hasan group mainly focused on evaluating the antitumor immune response to pancreatic cancer treated with photodynamic therapy.

Now she is a research fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Boston and still collaborates regularly with the Hasan Lab.

Professor Zhaohui Zhou (pronounced like Joe), a.k.a. Sunny, received his B.S. in chemistry from Peking University, Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute under Professor Donald Hilvert (now at ETH), and did postdoctoral research in enzymology and biochemistry with Professor Rowena G. Matthews at the University of Michigan. He is an editor of the journals mAbs and Therapeutic Antibodies.

Sunny’s laboratory at Northeastern University works on proteins chemistry, analysis and engineering. One program of note is the development of light-activated protein-based biologics via bioconjugation of proteins.

Shoaib is a biologist (with specialties in Parasitology & Microbiology). He was part of the sub-microbiology group of our lab. His research is mainly on exploiting photodynamic therapy to treat and diagnose deadly malaria. He also works on novel platforms to treat and predict antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Currently he works at McGill University as an Assistant Professor.

Jose Quilez Alburquerque, PhD

Jose’s previous research in the Hasan lab focused on evaluating the efficacy of ruthenium(II) complexes in cancer cells and microbes. He earned his PhD from the Complutense University of Madrid. 

Apparently, he liked us (and we him) as he returned to the Hasan Lab as a Research Fellow 2022-24. 

Akilan Palanisami, PhD

Aki’s research is on tumor-targeted, activatable photoimmunotherapy for selective destruction of cancer micrometastases. 

He was educated at the University of Illinois (PhD) and Cornell University (M.E and BE in physics).

Akilan is currently a regional advisor on antibiotic resistance for a consortium of Southeast Asian countries and prior to this spent several years as a translational research scientist at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital as a Harvard Medical School fellow. 

Hanna works as a 3D Imagist Specialist at ZEISS Microscopy in Seattle Washington.

Hanna received her PHD from the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg, studying biophotonics.

After working for 2 years as a Research Technician at the Hasan Lab, Joseph is now a PhD student in Chemistry at Rice University, at Houston, Texas.  He is a Researcher in Dr. Jeffrey Hartgerink’s lab working  with peptide chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, self-assembly, and nanomedicine.

Xiaodong Ding, MD PhD

Xiaodong  is a researcher at the Department of Gastroenterology at Xin Hua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China. He earned his  MD degree in Pediatric Endocrinology, Inherited metabolic diseases and his Masters degree in internal medicine(Gastroenterology).

While at the Hasan lab he worked on projects related to photodynamic therapy of pancreatic cancer and nanotechnology.

Girgis is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. He has over 10 years of experience in tumor targeted nanotechnology. His expertise is in molecular targeted photodynamic-based therapy with the goal of improving tumor delivery, reducing toxicity and maximizing therapeutic benefits. In addition, Dr. Obaid has focused on molecular targeted probes and nanotracers for the quantitative imaging of tumor biomolecules to guide nanoconstruct engineering, treatment design and image guided surgery.

His research  focuses on using photonically-activatable nanoconstructs as a means for regulating drug delivery, treatment regimen design, and spatio-temporal induction of cancer therapy. He is a frequent collaborator with the Hasan Lab. https://labs.utdallas.edu/obaid-mion/

Qura Tul Ain is a PhD Candidate at The Islamia University, Pakistan

Susan is a MSAT (Manufacturing Science and Technology) Senior Specialist at Alexion, in Dublin Ireland.

After graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 2016 with an Honours degree in Chemistry and in 2020 with a PhD in Organic Chemistry, Susan worked as a visiting researcher at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her work at the Hasan Lab included performing invitro and in vivo experiments and biological assays using photodynamic tools.

In her current role, she develops process unit operations including chromatography and TFF at Alexion.

As a Research Technician at the Hasan Lab, Shalin worked on synthesizing nano-liposomal constructs with the aim of enhancing drug delivery of photosensitizers to components of the pancreatic cancer tumor microenvironment.

He is now a Senior Clinical Study Administrator at Alexion Pharmaceuticals AstraZenica, Rare Diseases.

After working as a Research Technician at the Hasan Lab, Marvin is now a PhD Candidate at Tufts University.

He works in the laboratory of Hasan alumnus Dr Srivalleesha Mallidi at Tufts.

Amjad works in the Boston area as a Research Scientist.

He is an experienced researcher with a demonstrated history of working in hospital & health care settings and is skilled in Molecular Imaging, Flow Cytometry, Animal Models, Protein Purification, and In Vivo.

He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree  focused in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Institute Of Genomics And Integrative Biology, New Delhi, India

Michael Pigula

After attending Boston College for his BS degree, Michael worked at the Hasan Lab as a Research Technician.

Now a part of the Schultz Lab at Scripps Research in California, he is pursuing his PhD.

 A frequent collaborator with the Hasan Lab, Valli is now an Assistant professor at Tufts University and runs her own lab there (the integrated Biofunctional and Therapeutics Laboratory or iBIT).

Her research focuses on utilizing non-invasive acoustic and optical imaging techniques with nanomaterials and biological models to understand the structural, functional, molecular and biomechanical heterogeneity of pathologies such as cancer.

She was a Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Hasan Lab.

Shubhankar Nath, DVM, PhD

Shubhankar is a Senior Scientist at Quanterix, Boston.

He has a strong history of effective design, execution, improvement, and troubleshooting of in vitro drug screening workflows through critical thinking, creative problem-solving skills, and experimentation and statistical data analysis.

His specialties are: D Organoids and Characterization • CDX and PDX Tumor Models • PDX Organoid Model for Drug-screening • FACS • RNAi-lentivirus • MSD • High-content imaging • Cell Painting • 3D Image Analysis & Rendering • CRISPR

Imran is an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill  . 

Research in the Rizvi lab focuses on identifying, and photochemically targeting, sources of treatment failure in cancer. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Tumor Biology from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

Jerrin Kuriakose, PhD

Baldeep is now studying in Northeastern University Boston, MA

Huang Chiao Huang is an Assistant Professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. He is also the Newsletter Editor for International Photodynamic Association and American Society for Photobiology.

He attended graduate school at the Arizona State University and completed his Ph.D. training in Chemical Engineering with Professor Kaushal Rege in 2012. He then joined the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (MGH/Harvard Medical School, Boston) as a Postdoctoral Fellow to begin photodynamic therapy (PDT) research with Professor Tayyaba Hasan.

In January 2018, Huang Chiao established his lab at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the development and clinical translation of photochemistry-based platform technology for treatment and diagnosis of disease, optical sensing, and tissue engineering. Huang Chiao’s research efforts have been recognized by several awards such as the Tosteson & Fund for Medical Discovery Fellowship and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award. https://umdhuanglab.weebly.com/

Joe continues to be a frequent collaborator with the Hasan Lab.

Yan Baglo, PhD

Yan Baglo received her Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim) in 2014. Her Ph.D. research focused on photodynamic therapy and photochemical internalization in bladder cancer and was supported by Central Norway Regional Health Authority since 2011.

In 2015, Dr. Baglo further secured a two-year Postdoc Research Fellowship from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at NTNU and joined Professor Tayyaba Hasan’s laboratory as a research fellow at Wellman Center for Photomedicine (MGH/Harvard Medical School, Boston).  Her research involved in imaging-based combination strategies for optimal photodynamic therapy in cancers, and nanotechnology-enabled photosensitizer delivery. Dr. Baglo continued her postdoctoral training at Wellman under mentorship of Assistant Professor Tianhong Dai, conducting antimicrobial blue light research. 

Yan is now a postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland working the Huang Lab.  https://umdhuanglab.weebly.com/

Mans Broekgaarden, PhD

Mans is the ERC (Executive Council of Controlled Release) Starting Grant project leader, at INSERM, Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, where he is a Tenured Researcher.

He is passionate about using his experience in molecular cell biology, experimental oncology, and biophotonics to contribute to the bench-to-bedside translation of novel nanoscale therapeutics for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.

Ahmed Alkhateeb, PhD

Ahmed was as a postdoc in the Hasan Lan participating in a study of the role of HGF/cMET in pancreatic cancer.  

Daniela is the Director of Clinical Development at Erasca, Boston.

Highly motivated, passionate, and creative clinical scientist with broad experience in oncology, fibrosis, alternative therapies to antibiotics treatment, and diagnostic methods for detecting antibiotic resistance. Proficient in biochemical, immunological, microbiological, molecular biology, and imaging techniques. Experienced in GCP and clinical and regulatory documentation (including investigator brochures, clinical study reports, clinical protocols, and FDA briefing packages). Successfully participated in several industry and academic collaborations. Strong communication and problem-solving skills with the ability to adapt in multicultural and diverse environments. Board Member, Massachusetts Chapter of the Association of Women in Science (MASS AWIS) since 2014.

Anne-Laure is a tenured Principal Investigator at the French Institute of Health (Inserm), working in the group “Cancer Targets and Experimental Therapeutics” led by Jean-luc COLL at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, in Grenoble, France. 

Her work focuses on biomedical applications of nanoscintillators and their ability to enhance radiation therapy outcomes through several mechanisms including X-ray induced photodynamic therapy, radiation dose-enhancement and UV-C induced direct damage. She is also Communications Chair of the IPA. 

Joyce Y Liu, MA, PHD

Joyce Liu  is a Postdoc with the Wellen Lab, Department of Cancer Biology, and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, part of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Group, of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

She received her BA in 2014 in Chemistry in Physics from Harvard University and her PHD/MA in December of 2023 from UPenn.

Dr Jia Chen is now an Attending Physician at Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital,  in China

Dr Nan Xu is an Associate Professor and Administrative Director of Dermatology at 
Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University Shanghai, China. 

Dr. Xu has been engaged in clinical work, medical education and research as a dermatologist for twenty years. She completed her post doctorate degree at Shanghai Jiaotong University and was a senior visiting scholar at the Wellman Center, Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Heather is a Senior Manager and Global Tech Support at Cell Signaling Technologies in the Boston area. 

As a scientist with over ten years of experience in cellular and molecular biology, she is highly skilled in confocal fluorescence microscopy, Western blotting, affinity purification, mammalian tissue culture, and live cell microinjection. 

In her current position, she is responsible for the production and validation of new antibody lots, as well as customer technical support at Cell Signaling Technology.

Rehab Amin, PhD

Dr Rehab Amin is the Co-Founder of Nano Gate, a Cairo-based nanotechnology startup company. She is also a Researcher at the Department of Biological Physics Researcher at the Department of Biological Physics at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg Germany.

She previously was a Professor of nanobiophotonics at Egypt’s National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES) at Cairo University. She earned her Ph.D. from NILES in biomedical applications of laser technology and was a Fulbright visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Her academic interests include nanotechnology, microbiology, biotechnology, and biosafety and biosecurity.

Dr. Amin is also an advisor for PandemicTech (Austin, Texas, USA), a virtual technology incubator that supports innovators and innovations confronting pandemic infectious disease threats.

Kohei Watanabe, PhD

Kohei is a Group Manager at Canon Medical Systems in Japan. 

Chun-Te (Patrick) Chiang, PhD

Patrick is a Senior Field Application Scientist for On-chip Biotechnologies in the Los Angeles CA area. He describes his goal as a researcher as improving cancer therapy by discovering novel molecular targets and developing mechanism-driven strategies to modulate the tumor microenvironment.

While in the Hasan Lab, he investigated photodynamic therapy (PDT)-based translational cancer therapies, with a focus on mechanism-driven drug combinations and nanoparticle-assisted drug delivery. He earned his PhD from National Taiwan University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2007. 

Sultan Sibel Erdem, PhD

S. Sibel Erdem is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Biochemistry  at Istanbul Medipol University International School of Medicine and REMER in Istanbul Turkey. 

Ashwini Ghogare, PhD

Ashwini is CEO and Head of Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Drug Discovery for Millipore Sigma, Boston.

Her team is pioneering 🚀 AI and data-driven drug discovery with AIDDISON, their AI-powered drug discovery solution fueled by more than 30 years of validated experimental R&D data.

While in the Hasan lab, she led projects to validate anti-cancer efficacy (cellular assay, tox studies etc.) of the developed photochemical drug delivery system in-vitro (glioblastoma and ovarian cancer cell culture), which resulted in 5 peer-reviewed publications. 

With an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at UPenn and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the City University for New York, Ashwini’s interest in Pharma and Life sciences continues to expand. 

Ruth Goldschmidt, PhD

Toshihiro Kushibiki, PhD

Conor is an Assistant Professor at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

The Evans Lab’s research is focused on the development and clinical translation of optical tools to address challenges in biomedical research and clinical medicine. We use optical spectroscopy, imaging, and microscopy methods to detect, measure, and quantify what is otherwise invisible to address unmet needs in the care of patients.

He takes an interdisciplinary, team-based approach in our research, combining physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, computer science, and clinical expertise. Our efforts are focused in :

Tissue Oxygen Sensing: “Smart” Bandages and Wearable Devices

Advanced Microscopy: Coherent Raman Imaging, Nonlinear Absorption, and Lifetime Microscopies

 Jonathan Celli is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also a visiting Professor at MGH.

He continues his collaborations with the Hasan Lab, studying PDT therapy solutions for oral cancer. http://www.quantum.umb.edu/Celli/

Ulysses is Director of Business Development, Technology Innovation and Development Office for Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA

With a Ph.D. in Cell Biology, he is an experienced researcher and business development and licensing professional. 

Ed is an Assistant Professor, Assistant Staff,  and practicing Dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

He continues to work with the Hasan Lab on joint grants studying PDT. https://www.lerner.ccf.org/bme/maytin/

Brian is a Professor of Engineering Dartmouth Dean of Graduate Studies Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH

He continues to collaborate with the Hasan Lab studying Optics in medicine and PDT. https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/community/faculty/brian-pogue

A trained scientist, Annette holds a Bachelors degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Harvard University and a Doctoral degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience from Yale University.

She has served as managing director of Nature Publishing Group, the world’s premier scientific publisher, and as chief executive officer of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Later, she was CEO of Web of Science Group—which, as part of the analytics company Clarivate, provides insights and analytics to researchers and research institutions worldwide—and, most recently, CEO of Guardian Media Group, the parent company of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. She also serves on the Board at Yale and other groups.

Dr Abdulah has practiced medicine for over 30 years. She is on staff at the Dept. of Geriatrics, Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. She is also affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Needham, Beth Israel Deaconess, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.

Dr. Abdulah graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1991. She works in Jamaica Plain, MA and specializes in Geriatric Medicine and Internal Medicine.