Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular & Integrative Physiology

hwj@med.umich.edu

Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular & Integrative Physiology

sbenitz@med.umich.edu

PhD Candidate, Molecular & Integrative Physiology

Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Meggie graduated with her B.S. from Truman State University. She started graduate school at Mayo Clinic Graduate School in 2013 and moved with Dr. Crawford to the University of Michigan in 2015 where she is now a proud wolverine. She enjoys teaching, talking science and helping people in the lab so if you ever have a question, don’t hesitate to ask. In the Crawford lab, Meggie studies the role of tuft cell sensory signaling during the development and progression of pancreatic cancer.

Hobbies: Painting her nails, YouTube, Puzzles, Running/gym, Adventures/traveling

mthoff@med.umich.edu

PhD Graduate, Molecular & Integrative Physiology

Jeanine graduated from SUNY Stony Brook with a B.S in Clinical Laboratory Science and received her M.A. in Biological Sciences from CUNY Hunter College. Following graduation, she worked as a licensed medical technologist for 5 years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the Diagnostic Molecular Genetics laboratory testing patients for germline mutations in breast, colon, and gastric cancers. Currently, Jeanine is studying role of a set of receptors that bind to collagen in pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

Hobbies: Dancing, Watching Netflix and Hulu,

ruggerij@med.umich.edueduedueduedu

PhD Candidate, Cancer Biology

Co-Mentored by Costas Lyssiotis, PhD

Barbara graduated from UMass Amherst with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology a. She then worked at UMass Medical School on T cell immunity against influenza, followed by a position researching brain circuitry assembly. She joined the Cancer Biology Graduate Program at UM in 2015. In the Lyssiotis lab, she is studying crosstalk between tumor cells and the surrounding stroma.

Hobbies: hiking, curling, reading, dancing

PhD Candidate, Molecular & Cellular Pathology

Co-Mentored by Marina Pasca Di Magliano, PhD

Sam graduated undergrad with a B.S. in Nutrition from Bridgewater College, a liberal arts school in Virginia, in 2016. It was there she worked in a malaria lab for two years studying the role of the immune system in malaria pathogenesis. she started graduate school in the summer of 2016 where I knew I wanted to study pancreatic cancer. Sam is co-mentored by Drs. Howard Crawford and Marina Pasca di Magliano. Her research focuses on using biomaterial scaffolds to study the pre-metastatic niche in pancreatic cancer.

Hobbies: yoga, gym, playing with my dog, reading

PhD Candidate, Immunology

Co-Mentored by Bethany Moore, PhD

Elissa graduated from Williams College in 2015 with a double major in Biology and in Music. While at Williams, she conducted research in a wide variety of topics, including ecology (exploding flowers), microbiology (light changes on cyanobacteria), and physiology (diving mice, fat mice). After that, Elissa spent two years teaching sixth grade science and music outside D.C. Elissa joined the Molecular and Integrative Physiology (MIP) department in 2017 and currently studies the role of myeloid cells in the development of lung fibrosis.

Hobbies: violin playing, tap dancing/Irish dancing, eating ice cream, anything related to Fall

Emhult@umich.edu

PhD Candidate, Cancer Biology

Daniel graduated from the University of Guam with Merit Fellowship before completing a post-bac program at the Medical university of South Carolina in 2018. Daniel started in the UMich Cancer Biology as a Rackham Merit Fellow in the Summer of 2018. Daniel is now looking into the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer. Daniel is also the outreach and Diversity chair for the Association of Multicultural Scientists as well as helps with the efforts to celebrate and increase diversity for PIBS. Daniel works on studying the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer. He looks in to the role of tuft cells in the pancreas during early and late stage cancer.

Hobbies: Co-hosting a podcast, Watching movies, Video games, Hiking, Kayaking, and Swimming, doing outreach

Salasd@umich.edu

PhD Pre-Candidate, Cancer Biology

Amanda graduated from Bridgewater State University, a state college located in Bridgewater, MA, in 2019 with a B.S in biology. During her undergrad, she was involved in undergraduate research investigating the crosstalk between apoptosis and autophagy in cervical cancer and did a summer internship in the dept of Biomedicine design at Pfizer in Cambridge, MA. Amanda started in PIBS Cancer Biology during the summer of 2019 and joined the Crawford lab in the spring of 2020. Her research studies the role of the transcription factor Pou2f3 in tuft cells and in pancreatic carcinogenesis.

Hobbies: drawing, painting, reading, and playing with her two ferrets.

pachecoa@umich.edu

Histology Technician

danwlong@med.umich.edu

Undergraduate, Undeclared

Justin works on the bench with Hui-Ju. He helps the lab with managing the genotypes of our mice and is always eager to learn new things. He also tries to find the most efficient way of completing a task in the lab to save time. Justin enjoys playing video games and hopes to become a physician.

Undergraduate, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology

Brian works with Hui-Ju and continues to become more independent as he works in the lab! He hopes to work toward becoming a surgeon with a major in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology. Brian was part of the top ten students of his class in his high school in Mequon, Wisconsin. He is currently a sophomore at the University of Michigan and is proud to be a Wolverine as well as be a part of a lab made up of brilliant scientists/PhD researchers!

Hobbies: hanging with friends, finding fun places to eat, and exercising

Undergraduate, Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience

Stella graduated from my high school in the top 20 percent of my class, as a member of the Cum Laude Society. She also had various other involvements such as being a Peer Health Educator for a program known as Health Information Project. She is currently a sophomore studying Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience, and she hopes to go to medical school and one day become a doctor. She is very passionate about pancreatic cancer research, and Stella is honored to be included in a lab doing such important work.

Hobbies: going to the beach, hanging with friends, and working with kids.

Undergraduate, Public Health Sciences

Brennan graduated from Oxford High School in 2018, second in his class. He is currently a sophomore planning to major in Public Health Sciences and would like to attend medical school. Brennan is very passionate about the health sciences, and recently completed a fellowship program in India working for a mobile health clinic organization. Getting involved in pancreatic cancer research is allowing Brennan to explore his research interests and learn many new valuable skills. He is very excited to be learning from Simone this year!

Hobbies: traveling, soccer, netflix, and exploring Ann Arbor.

Undergraduate, Biology, Health & Society and Spanish

Aditi graduated from Hoover High School in Canton, Ohio with honors in the top 10 percent of her class. She is currently a sophomore double-majoring in Biology, Health & Society and Spanish, with hopes to attend medical school in the future to become a physician. Aditi works with Daniel to genotype mice, and is very grateful for the opportunity to be involved in pancreatic cancer research with such a great team!

Hobbies: playing the violin, hanging with friends, reading