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
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
Graduate Student, PhD candidate of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University
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 Institution:
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 Institution:
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.
Megan Wilson, BS
Graduate student, PhD student of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Education: BS, Biochemistry, Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina
Previous Institutions: Frederick National Laboratory
Megan is focused on elucidating how epigenetic dysregulation contributes to cancer progression and therapeutic resistance, with the goal of identifying potential clinical interventions.
Yining Wang, BS
Masters student, ScM in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Education: BS, Biology, Rutgers University
Yining Wang received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Rutgers University, where she conducted research on cancer. She is currently an ScM student in the MMI Department, with a research interest in breast cancer
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 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
Nachiket Kelkar, B.Tech
Masters student, ScM in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Current Scientist at National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, NIH
Martina Gjyzari, BS candidate
Research Technician, Woman’s malignancies program, Johns Hopkins SOM
Incoming Medical Student at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology program
Bujamin Vokshi, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Current Postdoc, MSKCC
Amy Xu
Masters student, ScM in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Yangzhenyu Gao, ScM
Research Technologist, ScM, Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Incoming PhD student in Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill