Hangauer Lab Members

Principal Investigator 

Matt Hangauer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, UC San Diego Department of Dermatology

B.S. in Chemistry (Vanderbilt, 2003), Ph.D. in Chemistry (UC Berkeley, 2009), Postdoc at UCSF. Assistant Professor at UCSD 2018-present.

August Williams, Postdoc

Prior to the Hangauer lab: August completed his undergraduate studies at UCSB (B.S. 2015) and has performed research in microbiology at UCSB (Low lab) and cancer biology at Massachusetts General Hospital (Benes lab).  He began his graduate studies in the UCSD BMS Ph.D. program in the Hangauer lab in 2018, received his Ph.D. in 2023, and is now a postdoctoral scholar in the Hangauer lab.

Hangauer Lab Projects: Cancer persister cell mutagenesis and acquired drug resistance, Cancer persister cell vulnerabilities

Brandon Mauch, Ph.D. Student (BMS program)

Prior to the Hangauer lab: Brandon completed his undergraduate studies at CSU Fullerton (B.S. 2019) and has performed research in biochemistry at CSU Fullerton (Nikolaidis lab) and cancer biology at Stanford (Sage lab). He began his graduate studies in the UCSD BMS program in 2019.

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Anna Stuhlfire, Technician

Prior to the Hangauer lab: Anna was a UCSD undergraduate and joined the Hangauer lab in 2019. She completed her Contiguous Biology BS/MS degree in the Hangauer lab in 2021 and is now a technician in the lab.

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell vulnerabilities

Janani Nagasubramanya, Undergraduate Student

Hangauer Lab Project: Nutrient-starved cancer persister cells

Aimee Bunsirisert, Undergraduate Student

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell vulnerabilities

Mike Wang, Ph.D. Student (BMS program) (2020-2026)

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Next or Current Position: Postdoc at University of Colorado School of Medicine (Fry lab)

Michael Nguyen, Undergraduate Student (2024-2026)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell vulnerabilities

Next or Current Position: UCSD Undergraduate

Tania Barazande-Pour, Undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Next or Current Position: Dental Student at Harvard School of Dental Medicine

Tiffany Tran, Undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Next or Current Position: Medical Assistant at The Neurology Center (TNC) in Carlsbad, CA

David Adrian Gervasio, Contiguous BS/MS Biology Student (2019-2020) and Laboratory Assistant (2020-2023)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell mutagenesis and acquired resistance

Next or Current Position: Medical Student at Tulane University School of Medicine

Michelle Paw, Undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell mutagenesis and acquired resistance

Next or Current Position: Medical Student at California University of Science and Medicine

Claire Turkal, Laboratory Assistant (2018-2021)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell mutagenesis and acquired resistance

Next or Current Position: Senior Research Associate at Seawolf Therapeutics

Masayoshi Higuchi M.D., Ph.D., Postdoc (2018-2020) and Assistant Project Scientist (2020-2021)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell vulnerabilities

Next or Current Position: Research Scientist at Stony Brook Cancer Center (Hannun lab)

Filipe Araujo Hoffman, Contiguous BS/MS Biology Student (2019-2021)

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Next or Current Position: Stanford Immunology PhD Program

Suejean Chon, Undergraduate Student (2020-2021)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell vulnerabilities

Next or Current Position: Trauma Technician at Palomar Health

Runfan Yang, Undergraduate Student (2019-2020)

Hangauer Lab Project: CRISPR engineering

Next or Current Position: UNC Chapel Hill Pharmacology Ph.D. Program (Sondek lab)

Cooper Lathrop, Laboratory Assistant (2018-2020)

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Next or Current Position: Medical student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Mehrshad Hairani, Undergraduate Student (2018-2020)

Hangauer Lab Project: Cancer persister cell mutagenesis and acquired resistance

Next or Current Position: Dental Student at UCLA School of Dentistry

Sophie Harris, Staff Research Associate (2017-2020)

Hangauer Lab Project: Immunotherapy-tolerant cancer persister cells

Next or Current Position: Medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine