Our laboratory is home to post-docs, PhD students, staff, and other collaborators from different fields who are driven to study epigenetic regulation in normal and cancer development and to identify new therapeutic opportunities.
Principal Investigator
Eneda Toska, PhD
Director, Toska Lab
Eneda Toska, Ph.D., joined the Kimmel Cancer Center as an Assistant Professor of Oncology in the Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Program (CIM), in close collaboration with the Women’s Malignancies Disease Group. Eneda also was appointed to a secondary faculty position in the Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), with membership in the BMB Ph.D. program.
Grants:
- K22 NCI Transition to Independence Award
- Innovation in Cancer Informatics
- Breast Cancer Research Alliance
- Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation for Health and Policy
- National Cancer Institute 1R21CA252530-01A1
- National Cancer Institute R01 R01CA276187
Ryan Blawski, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
• BS, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
• PhD, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York, NY
Previous Institutions:
• Sloan Kettering Institute – Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences – PhD
Dr. Blawski’s interests are identifying epigenetic mechanisms of therapy resistance in breast cancer with a focus on protein methylation
Bujamin Vokshi, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Education
- BS, Biochemistry, Besançon, FR
- MS, Biomedicine, Strasbourg, FR
- PhD, Cancer biology, Strasbourg, FR
Previous institution:
- Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC), Strasbourg, FR
Bujamin aims at understanding how chromatin-remodeling machineries regulate cancer metastasis and response to therapy, which could lead to the development of novel drugs.
Srushti Kittane, MS
Graduate Student, PhD candidate of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University
Education:
BE, Biotechnology, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, India
MS, Biotechnology, New York University, New York
Previous Institution:
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York), New York University (New York)
Srushti’s interest lies in studying the mechanism of action of epigenetic genes and their regulation of the processes that influence cancer etiology and therapeutic intervention.
Wanlu Chen, MS
Graduate Student, PhD Candidate of Biostatistics Co-mentorship with Dr. Hongkai Ji
Education:
BS, Mathematics and applied mathematics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
ScM (transferred), Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Pranav Shivashankar, ScM
Research Specialist, Toska Lab, Woman’s malignancies program, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Education:
- B.Tech, Biotechnology (2021), SRM Institute of Science and Technology
Pranav is interested in understanding the role of mutant histones that correlate to chemotherapeutic resistance in Uterine Carcinosarcoma.
Christopher Simpkins, BS
Graduate Student, PhD candidate of Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Education:
BS, Biology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Previous Institutes:
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Chris is broadly interested in investigating the fundamental cellular mechanisms that go awry in the development and progression of cancer with an focus on cell signaling, cellular fate decisions, and potential avenues for therapeutic intervention.
Bryce Wozniak, BS
Graduate student, PhD student of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University
Education:
BS, Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, VA
Previous Institutions:
Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Blacksburg, VA
Bryce’s research interests are focused on understanding the way epigenetic regulators influence metastatic progression and therapy resistances in breast cancer.
Nachiket Kelkar, B.Tech
Masters student, ScM in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Education:
Bachelor of Technology, Biotechnology (2022), Manipal Institute of Technology
Previous Institutions:
Serum Institute of India (Pune, India)
Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (Mumbai, India)
Nachiket is interested in understanding genetic and epigenetic mechanisms which lead to therapy resistance in breast cancer.
Martina Gjyzari, BS candidate
Research Technician, Toska Lab, Woman’s malignancies program, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Education:
B.S in Neuroscience (2023): Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Martina is interested in understanding the mechanisms that lead to cancer development.
Alumni
Adler Guerrero Zuniga, BS
Post-Baccalaureate Resarch Fellow 2021-2022
Current PhD student at JHU
Tatiana M. Prioleau, BS
Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellow 2021-2022
Current PhD student Duke University
Xinyu (Brian) Guo, BA
Masters Student, MS Candidate of Biostatistics
Current PhD student at USC
Yuhan Zhang, BS
Masters Student, MS Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, JHSPH 2021-2023
Current PhD student at UC, San Diego