Past and Current Project Results:
This slide basically summarizes the topics of investigation in our lab. Cancer is a vast field. It seems while some questions are answered with each new finding, more arise. My students also find that to be true. It is imperative that they keep an open mind and let the results determine the direction of the research, not the other way around. In this way, I believe that we are more open to new information that might otherwise be missed due to our personal biases. While my students can predict what might happen, I try to instill in them the knowledge that being totally wrong in science is an important revelation.
Project results can be viewed in the Gollahon Lab Slide Show. There I present the key findings that my students have proposed based on their results for different projects.
Dr. Gollahon’s Graduate Student Training Philosophy:
The overarching goal of my lab is progressing knowledge in the field of cancer research. Under this umbrella, I work differently with MS and PhD students in formulating and supervising their research projects. In general, my graduate students are supported on Teaching Assistantships through the Department of Biological Sciences, unless I have a sponsored research project in which they participate.
Generally speaking, PhD students need the experience and training to help move them towards an independent career in research. Regardless of whether this is in academia or industry, PhD students are expected to mature in their ability to design, implement and interpret hypothesis-driven research projects. To that end, my PhD students are required to identify an area of interest and perform a thorough (and ongoing) literature review. Once they have a basic understanding of the topic of interest (i.e. mitotic regulation, embryonic stem cell markers), they are required to generate a testable hypothesis. Then, they meet with me to determine the feasibility of investigating the question within the resources and constraints of my laboratory, the department and the university, and design their own research project. During implementation of their research experimental design, their committee members and I give PhD students scholarly guidance. Average time for PhD students in my lab is 4-5 years.
MS students generally have different short-term goals. Many want to perform research to make an informed decision regarding whether they have the motivation and desire to pursue a career as an independent researcher. Others obtain a MS while building up their resumés for medical/dental school. Regardless of the reason, the average time for a MS student in my lab is 2-3 years. Due to the shorter timeframe, MS students contribute to the overall research questions that I am interested in progressing. Therefore, I work with the MS students to design a short, less intensive, research project that allows them to perform meaningful research that contributes to the lab mission. Because my time and investment are high, I do not accept MS non-thesis students.
My Views on AI Usage in My Lab and Research Projects:
In my opinion and what I espouse to my students is that AI is a very slippery slope. While we use specific analytical programs to identify canonical pathways from our RNAseq or -omics data, students are not allowed to use AI programs to generate hypotheses or write manuscripts, theses or dissertations. The data we generate is primarily from cells, tissues and tumors, derived both in vitro and in vivo. WE develop our own creative platforms and from the scientific literature make our inferences. By allowing AI to do that, we are allowing AI to decide our research pathway or the determine our results for us. Thus, subtle nuances are missed and students then lose the creativity so important in scientific discovery.
Past PhD students
Jeremy Gilbertson - Program Manager at Northrup Grumman, Oklahoma City, OK
Zhiqiang Du - Vice President, Shanghai Benemae Pharmaceutical Corporation
Vinaya Bhandarkar - Programming Manager at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of J&J
Zhi Pan – Research Associate for Health Behavior Research at The University of Pennsylvania
Nayoung Kim – Research Scientist at Rosetta Exosome Inc., Seoul, South Korea
Hongtao Ma – Director, Solution Services and Client Service at IVQIA, Shanghai, China
Andrew Avila – Computational Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL)
Jaehyung Lee – Principal Investigator at Olipass Inc., South Korea
Kyungwoo Lee - Researcher Associate Scientist at Feinstein Institutes, Manhasset, NY
Soni Khandelwal - Research Associate Scientist at TTU School of Veterinary Medicine
Drake Smith - lost contact
Caroline Schuster - Currently applying for postdoctoral positions
Carrie Monje - Professor of Practice in the Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University
Noshin Mubtasim - PosTdoctoral Fellow at UTSWMC - Dept of Internal Medicine
Morgan Williamson - Clinical Genome Scientist, Baylor Genetics, Austin, TX
Nicholas Wolpert - Project Manager, Epic, Madison, WI
Hunter Edwards - Project Scientist, NemaLife Inc. Lubbock, TX
Benjamin Barr - NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Kinesiology and Sport Managament, TTU
Current PhD students
Yusuff Olayiwola - Chlorogenic Acid and cinnamaldehyde in combination against breast cancer cells in a xenografted-mouse model
Caleb Boren - Use of VLPs as Delivery Systems in Cancer
Ahmad Ali - Investigating Membrane Integrity in Bovine Leaky Gut Symdrome
Incoming PhD Students
Mia Soo Hoo
Rahima Sathee
Past MS Students Past MS Students Past MS Students Current MS Students
Zhe Zhang Kira Chumbley Patrick Dennis Jordan Greer
Robin Ray Matt Meyer Belinda D'Costa
Kevin Cook Sheree Case Bilkis Mitu
Brian Herring Berny Mullapally Srinidhi Devarajan
Noel Colls James Koch Em Garrison
Tony Dodd Kyle Struzyk Jiaqi Niu
Michael Thomas
Current Undergraduate Students
Alexa Shaw
Rahul Kumar
