Meet The Current Team

Heide Ford

PhD, University of Rochester
​Postdoc- Harvard Medical School- DFCI
Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology
David and Margaret Turley Grohne Chair in Basic Cancer Research
​Associate Director for Basic Research, University of Colorado Cancer Center

Jessica Hsu

​Graduate Student Pharmacology Program

BS, University of California, Berkeley
​
Project Focus: The role of SIX1 in RMS progressing using zebrafish and mouse models of rhabdomyosarcoma (collaboration with Artinger Lab)

​Funding: CCTSI fellowship

Connor Hughes

MSTP (MD/PhD)/ Graduate Student Pharmacology Program
​
​BS, University of Richmond

Project Focus:  Tumor Heterogeneity/How EMT in Carcinoma cells influences neighboring Tumor Cells as well as the microenvironment

Funding : F30 NRSA NCI
"Investigating the role of Eya3 in the regulation of innate immune signaling cascades 
​in triple negative breast cancer"

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Anthony Mangan

Postdoctoral Fellow

BS Biology,  BS Chemistry,  St. John FIsher College
MS Biochemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology
PhD Molecular Biology, University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus

Project Focus: Novel therapeutics for rhabdomyosarcoma

Funding : T32 in Cancer Biology

Stephen Connor Purdy

Graduate Student Cancer Biology Program

BS Pharmaceutical Sciences, Purdue University

Project Focus: Targeting epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity to reduce metastasis and chemoresistance in breast cancer.

Funding: T32/Cancer Center Fellowship in Cancer Biology

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Art Wolin

Graduate Student Molecular Biology Program

​B.S. Northern Michigan University
M.S. University of Michigan

Genetic and pharmacological methods to decipher the role(s) of Eya2 in brain cancers

Graduate Student Molecular Biology Program


BS in Biochemistry from Azusa Pacific University

Project Focus:  Understanding the role of EYA3 in immune cell populations and their response to tumors

Kaiah Fields

Graduate Student Pharmacology Program

BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology,  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Project Focus:  EMT and tumor heterogeneity/ Identifying novel means to target tumor cell crosstalk and heterogeneity

​Funding:  T32 in Pharmacology

Brock Armstrong

PRA
Lab Manager
​
BS Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology,  CU-Boulder

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Recent Ford Lab alumni (2019-present)

Hengbo Zhou                                                            

                                     
 
Current Position:

Postdoctoral fellow with Timothy Padera (MGH/Harvard Medical School) and Matthew Vander Heiden (MIT/Koch Institute)

In the Ford lab:
​2015-2020; PhD Cancer Biology

Project Focus in Ford Lab:                                                                              
Dissecting the role of the SIX1/EYA complex in tumor progression and identifying novel means to target it

Funding:  NCI  F99 (Ford lab) /K00 (postdoc)

Michael Oliphant

Current Position:

Postdoctoral Fellow with Senthil Muthuswamy and Joan Brugge, Harvard Medical School 

In the Ford lab:
2013-2019;  PhD in Integrated Physiology

​Project Focus:  
​Regulation of Late Stage Metastasis in Breast Cancer

Funding:  NCI F99 (Ford lab)/K00 (postdoc)

Melanie Vincent

Current Position:

Scientist III at Vigeo Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA

PhD, Albany Medical College

In the Ford lab:
2014-2019; Postdoctoral Fellow

​Project Focus:  Group 3 Medulloblastoma Progression

Funding while in Ford lab: Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

Taylor Hotz

Current Position:

PRA at Broad Institute, MIT

BA, University of Colorado Boulder

​In the Ford Lab:
​Professional Research Assistant 

Project Focus: Elucidating mechanisms by which Eya proteins influence tumor progression

 Deguang Kong

Deguang Kong 

Current Position:

Faculty at Renmin Hospital, Wuhan, China

MS and PhD, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

​In the Ford lab:
Visiting Graduate Student  (2018-2019)

Project Focus: Tumor Cell Crosstalk and EMT in Metastasis/ VEGFC-GLI signaling 

                                                                                                                                    
​