The Le Poole Lab
The Le Poole Lab
Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
Lab Members
Cormac Cosgrove, PhD
I have a passion for immunology cultured during my Master's program in Edinburgh, Scotland. I am especially interested in the disruption and inhibition of the immune response in disease, having looked at how non-conventional T cells known as MAIT cells are disrupted in early HIV infection, how NK cells can play a role in viral hepatitis control and the ability of adjuvants to tune B cells and antibodies to provide greater protection against disease. For the last two years, I have been excited to focus on immune-oncology, with the goal of developing new therapeutic targets to manipulate the immune system to overcome tumor-mediated immunosuppression and help people beat cancer. At Northwestern University I am focused on investigating the role of DCs in tumor control, transgenic TCR therapies and the influence of the microbiome on immunotherapeutic outcomes in cancer.
Emilia Dellacecca, MS
Research Technologist and Lab Manager
After graduating with a bachelor of science in biology I started working in Dr. Le Poole’s lab as a technician, studying mostly HSP70i, HSP70iQ435A, DnaK, and their effects on vitiligo and melanoma. I have worked on experiments part of two publications, “Ccl22 Diverts T Regulatory Cell and Controls the Growth of Melanoma” and “Clinical and immunologic evaluation of three metastatic melanoma patients treated with autologous melanoma-reactive TCR-transduced T cells” and spoke at PASPCR’s annual conference in 2016. After two years in the lab I continued on to graduate school, receiving my master of science in biotechnology from Rush University. During my time spent at Rush I received the Arthur V Prancan Award for Excellence in Biotechnology and have now returned to Dr. Le Poole’s lab as the lab manager and am continuing on in performing experiments. Outside of the lab I like to spend time with friends and family, playing with my 3 dogs, exploring outside, and am interested in music and medicine.
Dinesh Jaishankar, PhD
Dinesh Jaishankar received his bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology in 2011 from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), India. He obtained his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2017 where his dissertation focused on developing an efficacious antiviral peptide to block herpes infection of the eye. Dinesh joined the Le Poole Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2018 and is currently working on understanding how modified HSP70i prevents the maturation and activation of dendritic cells. Microscopy imaging is one of his favorite techniques. In his free time, Dinesh likes to cook, watch movies and play online games.
Zhussipbek Mukhatayev, PhD Candidate
Zhussipbek Mukhatayev is a Visiting Pre-doctoral Research Fellow from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan. He holds a Master's degree in Biotechnology, UW-Madison. Previously, he conducted research on breast cancer early diagnosis and prognostication through TP53 gene mutations and M. Tuberculosis resistance through genome analysis to support diagnostic development. Currently, he is conducting research on generating antigen-specific regulatory T cells for vitiligo immunotherapy
as a part of his Ph.D.
Fei Han, PhD
I completed B.S. in Biological science from East Tennessee State University in 2009 and earned my Ph.D. in Cancer Biology in 2016 at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. My previous work focused on diverse roles of Skp2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase in hematopoietic stem cell, Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and cancer progression. I have extensive experience in studying cell signaling pathways, cancer biology and working with genetic mouse models (Skp2, PTEN). I joined the lab of Dr. Isabelle Le Poole as a postdoctoral fellow in Northwestern University in 2017. I am now interested in developing CAR-T and TCR transduced T cell immunotherapy to TSC-null associated tumors, such as LAM and TSC.
Ancy Thomas, PhD
Ancy completed her Master degree from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India and Ph.D in Molecular Biology and Immunology from Anna University, Chennai in 2015. Her graduate research project on anti-viral vaccine development charged her to continue her research in therapeutic development. During this period, he also gained expertise in diverse immunology and molecular biology techniques associated with therapeutic development and published research articles. After additional research experience in Cancer Biology at Feinberg School of Medicine, Ancy joined Le Poole Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in December 2018. Currently, she is developing a CART immunotherapy platform using transgenic T-cells to treat TSC-associated tumors, such as lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). In addition to medical research, she also loves to travel and explore different cultures, classical music, and cook.
Saurav
Originally from Kerala, India, Saurav now resides and attends high school in the Schaumburg area. Saurav joined Le Poole Lab as his first lab experience during the summer of his sophomore year in high school, and he continues to study tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). Saurav is surprised but proud of the amount of knowledge he gained about current cancer research and lab techniques upon joining the lab. When he's not mastering his immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence technique, you can find Saurav biking in the woods, playing the piano, or making Java apps.