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Principal Investigator
Aurora Esquela Kerscher, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical & Translational Sciences at Eastern Virginia Medical School
Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University
Leroy T. Canoles Jr. Cancer Research Center Member
Faculty Senator & Faculty Senate Committee on Graduate Studies.
Vice Chair of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program Curriculum Committee
Co-Chair of the EVMS Institutional Biosafety Committee
Executive Committee Member of EVMS M.D. Program Admissions
Co-Course Director for Molecular Genetics, Co-Course Director of Applied Biostatistics & Bioinformatics.
Lecturer for Fundatoins of Disease (Med1), Molecules to Cells, Molecular & Cellular Techniques, Molecular Genetics, Applied Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Special Topics: MicroRNA Networks in Cancer & Metastasis, Methods & Logic in Translational Biology.
Contact Information: kerschae@odu.edu
B.A. - Washington University in St Louis
M.S. Biotechnology - Johns Hopkins University
Ph.D. - Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Postdoctoral Fellow - Yale University
Research Assistant
Emma Thibault (York College, B.S. Biology). Project: Tumor suppressive role of glycoRNAs in prostate cancer.
Graduate Student
Alex Cain (Virginia Wesleyan University, B.S. Biology) - Graduate Student in the legacy EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program, Thesis: “The miR-888 cluster as a clinical target for aggressive and castration resistant prostate cancer.”
Clinical Fellow
Spencer Moen, M.D. (EVMS MD student 2015-2019; Resident Physician – Internal Medicine 2019-2022, Chief Medical Resident 2022-2023; Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow 2023-present), Eastern Virginia Medical School Fellow, Department Internal Medicine at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk, Virginia. Project: “Investigate glycosylation modification of small noncoding RNAs and their role in cancer progression.” Awards: 1st place oral presentation for the Department of Medicine 41st Annual Senior Scholarly Day, June 2022. Talk title: GlycoRNA in Prostate Cancer.
PAST LAB MEMBERS
Postdoctoral Fellow
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa (M.D., Ph.D., Osaka City University Medical School, Department of Surgical Oncology) Tsuyoshi is an oncology surgeon by training and is interested in studying the role of miRNAs in cancer. He relocated to Norfolk, Virginia from Osaka, Japan in Feb 2015 to do his postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Kerscher's lab. His project focused on how the miR-888 cluster promotes prostate cancer progression using mouse models. Tsuyoshi also studied how exosomes can be used as "natural" microRNA delivery vehicles for prostate cancer. Present: Tsuyoshi returned to his surgical duties in Osaka, Japan.
Biotechnology Master's Students
Aleena Short - (Miami University in Ohio, BA Biology) Fall 2017-Spring 2018; Biotech Internship Project. Functionally verify downstream targets of miR-888in human prostate. Award: 2017 Timothy J. Bos Memorial Award in Biotechnology for academic excellence and superior performance during the student's biotechnology/research internships.
Mary Pahuski (St. Norbert College, B.A. Biology) - 2015 Summer Internship. Project: Determine the functional roles of certian EPS urine-associated microRNAs in the prostate. Current Position: Research Assistant in Dr. Roger Abounader’s laboratory, Dept of Microbiology, Immunology & Cancer Biology, University of Virginia 2015-2108. Currently, Research Associate 2 at Bio-Techne, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Biomedical Sciences Research Graduate Students
Samantha McGuire (Jefferson College of Health Sciences/Radford University Carillion) – Graduate Student in the EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program, Thesis: “Characterization of prostate cancer-associated glycosylated RNA for biomarker development”. Katherine Routon (Christopher Newport University) EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program. Master's Thesis: Testing novel anti-microRNA delivery reagents (PSMA RNA aptamers/ pHLIP) as therapeutic reagents for aggressive prostate cancer. Award: Won 2nd place for best poster by an EVMS Biomedical Sciences graduate student for research entitled “Prostate Cancer-Associated Glycosylated RNAs: Who are you and where are you hiding?” for the Graduate Student Research Conference, March 2023. Award: Timothy J. Bos Memorial Award in Biomedical Sciences. Recognizes a graduating Biomedical Sciences Master’s student who has demonstrated outstanding scholastic achievement and exemplified the principles of collegiality and integrity, May 2024. Award: Oral presentation chosen from best abstract submitted by a graduate student (MS/PhD) at EVMS Research Day, October 2023. Award: Won 1st place for best poster by an EVMS Biomedical Sciences graduate student for research entitled “Prostate Cancer-Associated Glycosylated RNAs: Who are you and where are you hiding?” at EVMS Research Day, October 2023. Award: Won Best Abstract Award by a graduate/medical student at the 2023 Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference, Dec 2, 2023. Current Position: 2024 - present: Biomedical Sciences Research PhD Program at Virginia Health Sciences at ODU.
Esther Jones (Old Dominion University) EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program. Master's Thesis: Glycosylated RNAs and prostate cancer. ” Award: Best poster presentation by a Biomedical Research Master’s student at the Graduate Student Research Conference, February 2021 for her poster entitled “Glycosylated RNA – a potential biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer detection”. Award: Selected Oral presentation by an EVMS Biomedical Sciences graduate student for research entitled “Gycosylated RNA – A potential biomarker for prostate cancer” for the EVMS Research Day, Oct 2022. Award: Won Best Poster by a graduate student at the EVMS Research Day Oct, 2022. Current Position: May 2023: Senior Associate Scientist at Pfizer in Pearl River, New York in the Viral Vaccines Department.
Katherine Routon (Stanton) (Christopher Newport University) - Graduate Student in the EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program, Thesis: “Testing novel anti-microRNA therapeutic agents for aggressive prostate cancer”. Award: Oral Presentation: Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference in November 2021, Richmond, VA entitled “Testing potential therapeutics of the miR-888 cluster to reduce the aggressive phenotype of metastatic prostate cancer”. Award: EVMS 2022 Timothy J. Bos Memorial Award in Biomedical Sciences given to the Biomedical Research Graduate student from the Masters of Biotechnology Program who demonstrated outstanding scholastic achievement and exemplified the principles of collegiality and integrity. Positions: Sept 2022- Dec 2023: Research Assistant I in Kerscher lab; Dec 2023 – present: R&D Research Technician at Embody, INC, Norfolk, VA
Justin Toxey (Norfolk State University, B.S. Biology) EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program. Master's Thesis: Elucidating the regulation of the TIMP pathway and ECM remodeling by the miR-888 cluster in aggressive prostate cancer.
Zachary Cadieux (Virginia Tech, B.S. Biology) EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program. Master's Project: Understanding overlapping microRNA networks at play during prostate cancer.
Holly Lewis (University of Virginia, B.A. Biology) - EVMS Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Program. Dissertation: The role of microRNAs in Prostate Cancer Progression. Awards: Recipient of 1st Place Poster Award in October 2011 & 2013 at the EVMS Research Day, Norfolk, Virginia. Recipient of a 2013 EVMS Travel Award. Selected from abstracts to present an oral presentation,” Examining microRNA expression in expressed prostatic secretions from prostate cancer patients”, at the Systems Biology Summit, Washington D.C., June 2011. Graduated in October 2013. Current Position: Pharmaceutical Representative at Quintiles/Takeda.
Melissa Hadley (University of Mary Washington, B.A. Biology) - EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program - Biotechnology option. Project title: The Search for MicroRNAs as Discriminating Prostate Cancer Biomarkers. Studied the heterogeneity of miRNA expression in prostate cancer tumors. Graduated in May 2013. Current Position: Research Assistant in the Proteomics Core Lab at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Joseph Orian (Old Dominion University, B.S. Biochemistry) - EVMS Biomedical Sciences Research Master’s Program. Using in vitro assays to understand miRNA roles in migration and invasion. Graduated in May 2014 (Godfrey/Kerscher labs).
Kimberly Breving (Capital University, B.A. Biology) - EVMS Biomedical Sciences ResearchMaster’s Program. Project Title: The Role of lin-4 and let-7 miRNA Families During Development. Graduated May 2010. Awards: Recipient of the Genetics Society of America Travel Scholarship to attend the C. elegans International Meeting, Los Angeles, California, June 2009. Current Position: Research Assistant in Jianqiang Wu’s laboratory at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology.
Medical Students
Urvi Patel - EVMS Medical Student (MI). Project: Testing a novel acidic sensing pHLIP-PNA-anti-microRNA therapeutic reagent for aggressive prostate cancer. Award: Won 1st place for best poster by an EVMS medical student for research entitled “Testing a novel acidic-sensing pHLIP delivery reagent for oncomir knockdown in prostate cancer cells” at EVMS Research Day, October 2024.
Cameron Dean - EVMS Medical Student (MI). Project: miR-888 cluster and treatment-induced CRPC.
Danxun Li – EVMS Medical Masters Student and rising EVMS Medical Student (MI). Project Title: Profiling immuno-microRNAs targeting the SARS-CoV-2 virus in human milk. Awards: 2022 Summer Scholar recipient in Dr. Kerscher’s lab. Best poster presentation for Summer Scholars Program Aug 2022.
Trevor Fachko - EVMS Medical Student (M1). Project title: miR-888 cluster influences prostate cancer cell plasticity and neuroendocrine transdifferentiation. Awards: 2022 Summer Scholar recipient to continue his research in Dr. Kerscher’s lab. Best poster presentation for MD research at the EVMS Research Day, Oct 2022.
Sarah Alnaif - EVMS Medical Student (M1): Project: Characterizing the bioactive components of human milk.
Charlotte Chambers (University of Virginia); EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2022. Project Title: Molecular dissection of the miR-888 cluster in human prostate cancer cell using high through-put CRISPR/Cas genetic editing. Award: 2019 EVMS/CHKD Summer Scholars Recipient to conduct summer research in Dr. Kerscher’s laboratory. Award: 2021: Best oral presentation in the Cancer and Genomics Section at the Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference, November 20, 2021, Richmond, Virginia. Talk title “A high through-put CRISPR gene editing approach to molecularly dissect how microRNA cluster members function individually/cooperatively in cancer”. Award: 2019 EVMS/CHKD Summer Scholars recipient to continue her research in Dr. Kerscher’s laboratory over the summer.
Sibo Zhang - (University of Virginia, BA, Biomedical Engineering) Summer 2017; EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2021. Project Title: Using CRIPR/Cas9 to test the pro-oncogenic effects of the miR-888 cluster in human prostate cancer cells. Award: 2017 EVMS/CHKD Summer Scholars Recipient to conduct summer research in Dr. Kerscher’s laboratory. Award: Best Oral Presentation, Genetics of Cancer Session, Commonwealth of Virginia Cancer Research Conference, September 22-23, 2017, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Talk title “Understanding the microRNA miR-888 Cluster Network in Aggressive Prostate Cancer”.
Phillip (Austin) Serbin - Summer 2016; EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2020. Project title: Employing CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to interrogate the non-coding RNA miR-888 cluster signalling network during prostate cancer progression. Award:2016 EVMS Summer Scholars Fellowship.
Spencer Moen – September 2015 - May 2016; EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2019. Project Title: Role of the miR-888 cluster in cancer cell migration.
Garrison Glavich (North Carolina State Univ., BA Biology) Sepember 2014 - August 2015; EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2018. Project Title: Investigation of the downstream signalling pathways for the miR-888 oncogene in prostate cancer. Award: 2015 EVMS Summer Scholars Fellowship.
Sarah Patton - Summer of 2013; EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2017. Project: Validating miRNA targets using reporter assays.
Sydney Radding – Summer 2011; EVMS Medical Student, Class of 2015. Project Title: Identification of MicroRNAs Associated with Prostate Cancer Progression. Award:Recipient of the EVMS Student Summer Research Fellowship. Current Position: Residency in General Surgery at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Research Assistants
Garrett Hines (Christopher Newport University B.S. Biochemistry). Project: Study how glycoRNA expression correlates with aggressive prostate cancer. Current Position: Research Technician at Life Net Health, Virginia Beach, VA.
Katherine Routon (Christopher Newport University B.S. Biology; EVMS, M.S. Biomedical Sciences). Current Position: R&D Research Technician at Embody, INC, Norfolk, VA.
Grace Yi (University of Virginia, B.S. Biology; Loyola University of Chicago, M.S. Medical Phys) Current Position: EVMS Medical School Student, Class of 2026.
Linh Quan (College of William & Mary) Functional characterization of the miR-888 cluster in aggressive prostate cancer, biomarker development , CRISPR knockout studies.
Jeanyoung Jo (Wellesley College, B.A. Biology, Phi Beta Kappa). Current Position: Graduate student in the Columbia University Biological Sciences Ph.D. Program, New York. Started program Fall 2012.
Kenya Madric (Elizabeth City State University, B.A. Biology; NC A&T State University, M.S. Biology; Eastern Virginia Medical School, M.P.H. Epidemiology) Current Position: Biology Instructor at Thomas Nelson Community College.
Laboratory Assistant/ Research Volunteer
Eva Humes - (College of William & Mary, BA Biology) Project: Examination of the redundant roles of the lin-4 and let-7 families during C. elegans nematode development.
Rotation Students
Alex Cain (2025)
Tierney Day (2024)
Asa Britton-Jenkins (2024)
Samantha McGuire (2023)
Cassie Kirk (2022)
Ashleigh Hannah (2021)
Esther Jones (2021)
Noel Miller (2021)
Katherine Routon (2021)
Caitlin Clark (2020)
Justin Toxey (2019)
Megan Galliher (2019)
Zac Cadieux (2018)
Marjorie (Taylor) Day (2018)
Herbert Smith (2017)
Vanessa Correll (2013)
Andrew Isbell (2013)
Joseph Orians (2012)
Melissa Hadley (2012)
Patricia (Tricia) Railling (2012)
Tiffany Benzine (2009)
Holly Lewis (2009)
Kimberly Breving (2008)
Robert (Bobby) Mitchell (2008)
Julia Sharp (2008)
Medical Master's Students
Olivia Tran (2022 - 2023)
Tyler Prouty (2022 - 2023)
Zach Bouker (2022 - 2023)
Oliver Nguyen (2021 – 2022)
Amanda Taylor (2021 – 2022)
Elizabeth Trampenau (2021 – 2022)
Brianna Armentrout (2020 – 2021)
Tharidu Gunawardena (2020 – 2021)
(Mentored for research thesis papers based on published literature)
Nicholas Dreyer - Thesis Title: Cancer Progression via Long Non-Coding RNA Dysregulation.
Nebiyu Shukur – Thesis Title: Long Non-coding RNAs and Their Role in the Epigenetic Regulation of Cancer.
Nandan Keshav – Thesis Title: MicroRNA therapeutics for pancreatic cancer - miR-143 and miR-145.
Kathryn Lattimore – Thesis Title: The development of effective miR-122 based therapeutics for hepatocellular carcinoma is complicated by the extensive utilization of miR-122 in liver signaling pathways.
Sahil Khanna – Thesis Title: The yin and yang of microRNA regulation – a study of miR-29
Jessica Peak – Thesis Title: Are microRNAs Cancer’s Magic Bullet?
Post Baccalaureate Student
Arooba Ayaz (Old Dominion University) 2018 EVMS/CHKD Summer Scholars Program. Project Title: Diving into the mirnutia of the human microRNA miR-888 cluster. Current Position: Old Dominion University's Biology Biomedical Sciences PhD research program
Undergraduate Students
Salome Raiszadeh (Virginia Tech, Biology). Summer 2017. Project involved target identification for the miR-888 cluster in prostate cells.
Jacob Hope (University of Virginia, Biomedical Engineering, pre-med). Summer 2017. Current Position: Vanderbilt University's Biomedical Engineering PhD program working for Dr. Mike King.
Jacob Hope (University of Virginia, Class of 2017) Summer 2016; Project: Studying the role of the miR-888 cluster in prostate cell migration and invasion processes using miRNA mimic and miRNA sponge technologies.
Paul Braunstein (University of South Carolina, Rising Senior) Summer student studying the role of miRNAs in prostate cancer and prevalence of the nematode Gongylonema Pulchrumin the United States.
Virali Bhagat (Virginia Commonwealth University Rising Senior) Summer student studing the role of miRNAs in prostate cancer and prevelance of the nematode Gongylonema Pulchrum in the United States.
Debby Abramov (Yale University Sophomore) Molecular Biology cloning project for microRNA reporters.
Morgan Malone (Old Dominion University Pre-med Freshman) Volunteered in lab to learn molecular biology techniques and maintain C. elegans nematode strains.
David Streett (Old Dominion University & James Madison University) Summer research student analyzing microRNA knockout phenotypes in C. elegans. Current Position: Hampton University Physical Therapy Training Program.
High School Students
Jacob Gordon - Senior Mentorship Program at the Math & Science Academy at Ocean Lakes High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Award: Honorable Mention in Biochemistry at the Tidewater Science Fair for the presentation entitled "The Potential To Control Human Cancer Growth Through MiRNA Expression" at Old Dominion University, March 2014. Current Position: University of Michigan, Class of 2018.
Michael (Myung-Hyune) Kim – Rising Sophomore at Princess Anne High School, VirginiaBeach, VA – International Baccalaureate Program Mentorship.
Nick Feuer – Briarcliff Manor High School, Westchester, New York. Senior Research Project Title: To the rescue: testing the functional complementation between microRNA family members in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Performed in conjunction with a three-year Briarcliff Manor Science Research Program at Briarcliff Manor High School in New York State. Awards: Invited Oral Presentation at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (JSHS) Program and 4th place in the category of Cell & Molecular Biology at the 2012 Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WSEF), Westchester, New York. Current Position: University of Rochester, Class of 2016.
Eric Grube – Senior Mentorship Program at the Math & Science Academy at Ocean Lakes High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Project Title: The developmental roles of microRNAs in C. elegans. Current Position: University of Virginia, Class of 2014.
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