Lab Members

Ledong Wan, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

After a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacology and a Master's degree in Medicinal Chemistry at China Pharmaceutical University, Ledong pursued his PhD in Pathology, focusing on RNA regulation in cancer. He completed his postdoctoral research in Adrian Krainer's lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, concentrating on pathological RNA splicing in pancreatic cancer.

Xin Zhang, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Xin completed his PhD at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he focused on the total synthesis of oligosaccharide natural products. After obtaining his PhD, he joined the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he worked on the design and synthesis of inhibitors and bifunctional molecules, such as Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) and Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimeras (DUBTACs), specifically targeting oncogenic proteins. He is currently working on elucidating and targeting aberrant RNA splicing in pancreatic cancer. 

Benteng Ma

Graduate student 

Benteng is a graduate student from the Molecular and Cellular Biology program. He obtained his Bachelor's degree from Wuhan University and Master's degree from New York University. In the lab, he is currently studying the impact of alternative RNA splicing on acinar cell plasticity and pancreatitis progression. Outside the lab, he enjoys fishing and eating.

Kevin Coughlin

Undergraduate Student

Kevin is an undergraduate student in his senior year studying Biochemistry and Applied Mathematics and intends to pursue a Master's Degree in the lab. In the lab, he is currently studying the impact of splicing factors on maintaining homeostasis and cell plasticity in tumor cells at both the tumor-wide and single-cell levels. Outside the lab, he enjoys reading and being a part of the marching band here at Stony Brook.

Christopher Luo

Undergraduate Student

Chris is currently a sophomore studying Biological Sciences at Cornell University. He is on a pre-medical track with interests in both orthopedics and pediatrics. In addition, Chris is interested in computational biology, and his work within the lab involves studying RNA splicing mechanisms using RNA sequencing and microarray data. In his free time, Chris enjoys playing basketball, going to the gym, and spending time with friends and family.

Denis Meylikhov

Undergraduate Student

Denis is a rising sophomore majoring in Biochemistry at Stony Brook University and a member of the University Scholars Program. In the lab, he is currently investigating how splicing factors contribute to the maintenance of epithelial cell homeostasis and plasticity. Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing racquet sports—including tennis, badminton, and pickleball—along with board and card games, and watching movies across a range of genres, including comedy, action, horror/thriller, and romance.

Samuel LI

Undergraduate Student

Sam is a freshman undergraduate student studying Biology and Psychology. He is deeply interested in the implications of gene regulation in pathology through changes in cellular function. In the lab, he is involved in maintaining the transgenic mouse model colony and assisting Xin with various lab procedures. Beyond research, Sam enjoys playing table tennis and taking photos. 

Fizza Masood

Undergraduate Student

Fizza is an senior undergraduate student at Stony Brook University studying Interdisciplinary Biology and minor in Chemistry. Currently, she is pursuing a MD/PhD program and studying for MCATs. In her free time, she enjoys coding games and sculpting.