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Utsarga (Tito) Adhikary
Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Loren Walensky lab
Tito Adhikary was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada where he spent the first year of his life before moving to Kolkata, India. He graduated from the University of Calcutta, India with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry with Honors before obtaining a Master's degree in Chemistry from IIT. During this time, Tito landed a summer internship in the laboratory of Dr. Jayanta Haldar where he received a foundational research exposure to medicinal chemistry and infectious diseases. This research experience proved to be a transformative one for Tito as he set his sights on a research career in the United States. After getting accepted into graduate school at Harvard, Tito transitioned into biology and joined Dr. Loren Walensky's laboratory at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute where he works on targeting protein-protein interactions in cancer. A deep interest in translational research prompted him to also be a part of the Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine program, which merges basic graduate training with exposure to clinical investigation and research. Outside of lab, Tito is heavily involved in a wide range of activities and positions of responsibilities including being the Co-Treasurer for Science in the News (SITN), Chair of the Steering Committee in the Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine program, a board member of the BCMP Trainee Committee, the Cancer Biology Steering Committee, and the MBSH Community. He is also interested in mentoring the next generation of STEM graduates and has served as a mentor in the DFCI CURE and the Harvard SHURP programs. Additionally, he loves doing photography on the side, including helping out as a photographer for the HPREP Media team and the MBSH community at Harvard.
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Priscilla Cheung
Biomedical and Biological Sciences, Fernando Camargo lab
Priscilla Cheung was born in San Francisco, California. When she first learned in high school how scientific research can lead to the development of drugs that can cure human diseases, such as Herceptin for breast cancer, she became inspired to study mechanistic cancer biology in college. In 2014, she graduated from UC Berkeley with Honors and Distinction, receiving a Bachelors of Arts in Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB). In addition to her coursework and research at Berkeley, she mentored young children at a local science museum and served as president of a MCB department sponsored student group. Now at Harvard, she is studying mechanisms underlying the development of colorectal cancer in the lab of Professor Fernando Camargo.
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Marie Siwicki
Immunology, Mikael Pittet lab
Marie Siwicki grew up in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania and graduated from Brown University in 2011, earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology with honors. She spent three years at the National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIH, NIAID), as a post-baccalaureate fellow with an Intramural Research Training Award. During her time at the NIH, she came to appreciate the powerful applications of immunology in biomedicine. At Harvard, Marie’s research centers on interrogating cancer biology through the lens of immunology. She joined the laboratory of Dr. Mikael Pittet in the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital to study how under-appreciated facets of the tumor microenvironment influence anti-tumor immunity in. Her project focuses on characterization of tumor-associated neurons, and how they influence anti-tumor immunity. Ultimately, she is interested in how modulation of neuroimmune networks could be applied to optimize anti-tumor immunity and immunotherapy.
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Devon Stork
Molecules, Cells and Organisms, George Church and Ethan Garner labs
Devon was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. In 2015 he graduated with high distinction from Harvey Mudd College with a B. S. in joint Chemistry and Biology and a concentration in philosophy. Before he knew his major Devon won several coding competitons, including the 2013 Irvine Google Games. Devon has a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and was a prominent member of student government during his time at Harvey Mudd. At Harvard he joined the labs of George Church and Ethan Garner to combine Ethan’s expertise of bacterial cell biology with George’s expertise in synthetic biology with the goal of developing better tools to manipulate the human microbiome. He believes that preventing chronic gut inflammation caused by microbiome dysbiosis will help prevent inflammation-caused cancer and treat antigen-responsive gastric cancers.
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Mack Su
Health Sciences and Technology, David Fisher lab
Mack Su was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, where he majored in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Economics. He then enrolled in the Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program and completed two years of medical school in the HST program. As a graduate student in Dr. David Fisher's lab, Mack is currently studying the mechanisms of response to cancer immunotherapy. In particular, he is interested in immunomodulatory strategies to improve responses to immune checkpoint inhibition.
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