Meet the Lab

Dr. Tim Phoenix is an Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy. He completed his PhD training in developmental neuroscience with Dr. Sally Temple at the Albany Medical College (Albany, NY) in 2010. He then transitioned to studying pediatric brain tumors as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Richard Gilbertson at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, TN 2010-2016). During this time he identified unique differences in the blood-brain barrier of medulloblastoma subtypes driven by different genetic mutations.

In 2016 he set up his independent research program at the University of Cincinnati in the Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. The Phoenix lab has developed several mouse models of pediatric brain tumors which they use to examine genetic drivers, interactions within the tumor microenvironment, and new therapeutic strategies. These and other research tools developed by the Phoenix lab have been shared with the wider neuro-oncology community and are used by labs around the world.

phoenity@ucmail.uc.edu

Sarah is currently a Clinical Fellow in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where she is engaged in basic science and translational research in pediatric neuro-oncology. Her current work in the lab of Dr. Timothy Phoenix at the University of Cincinnati focuses on pediatric low-grade gliomas and ependymomas, with an emphasis on tumor modeling and blood-brain barrier architecture.

Sarah completed her pediatrics residency at Cincinnati Children’s in 2023 and earned her MD from Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2020, where she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha and served as chapter president. Prior to medical school, she graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with honors in Health and Exercise Science.

Beyond the clinic and the lab, Sarah is passionate about integrating wellness into cancer survivorship and is involved in a pilot study evaluating individualized virtual exercise interventions for pediatric, adolescent, and young adult oncology patients.

Outside of the lab, Sarah loves to dance and is on a local dance team in Cincinnati. At home, she enjoys spending time with her husband, John Toliver, and her two cats, Taco and Lobster.

After having completed her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) – Pilani (Institute of Eminence), Hyderabad, India; Ipsita wanted to continue her education further in the rapidly evolving area of Pharmaceutical Sciences; by pursuing a PhD in this field. The doctorate program in Pharmaceutical Science – Experimental Therapeutics at the College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; immensely interested her, and it was a perfect fit for her research career goals and ambitions.

It is true that doctors help save lives, but it is scientists and pharmacists who are the unsung heroes working behind the scenes to make that possible. The field of oncology has always intrigued her since childhood. Ipsita was able to get an early exposure to the rigors and demands of oncology research through various internships and projects in her college days, getting a feel of the intensive effort required, as well as the thrill of achieving significant results and making discoveries. All these played a great role in shaping her purpose early in life and thus led me to pursue a career in this field.

Today, the major challenges in cancer therapy are drug resistance, adverse effects due to non-specific delivery, and poor bioavailability of drugs in chemotherapy, complexities in radiotherapy-based approaches, and tumor relapse. To overcome these issues, the precision oncology-based approach is regarded as the next generation of treatment for cancer patients. Her specific interests include the identification of novel molecular targets using multi-omics approaches, exploring target-based drugs or druggable molecules, and repurposing of drugs for the treatment and management of various cancers. To achieve this, Ipsita joined Dr. Timothy Phoenix’s lab in August 2022 as a graduate student, where she got an opportunity to pursue innovative research in the highly demanding but still under-explored area of pediatric neuro-oncology.

Ipsita's PhD project is based on Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare subtype of glial tumor. They are the most common and aggressive brainstem tumor in children, with a median survival of 9-12 months. The brainstem/midline location and diffuse nature of these tumors prevent surgical resection, and radiation therapy remains the only FDA-approved standard-of-care therapy. However, this modality is only palliative rather than curative, thus making tumor recurrence almost inevitable. Recent insights into the genetic landscape of DIPG and pediatric High-Grade Glioma (pHGG) herald tremendous potential for biopsy-defined precision medicine approaches. The lab's overall goal is to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms and identify novel therapeutic vulnerabilities, and strategize combinatorial treatment approaches with radiation to improve outcomes for this devastating tumor.

She am also working on a second, and equally exciting project on developing a murine model for Oligodendroglioma. It is the third most common type of glioma, accounting for up to 5% of primary brain tumors. However, there is a dearth of proper modeling systems for this cortical glioma, with no in-vitro cell lines or in-vivo animal models currently available. To better investigate this tumor type and develop treatment modalities, the lab is utilizing its technical expertise of in-utero electroporation (IUE) to develop genetically engineered murine models (GEMMs) for this disease. The goal is to successfully create a murine model for Oligodendroglioma, which recapitulates the patient tumor biology, that can be used for preclinical therapeutic studies and would potentially harbor many other applications in the field.

What she loves about the lab is that it is able to model almost any tumor in mice with its IUE expertise and utilize cutting-edge technologies such as CRISPR Cas-9 and other multi-omics approaches for downstream studies. With a strong collaborative network all over the globe and extensive knowledge that she has derived in the field so far from the lab, she am thrilled to continue her research in the field of neuro-oncology.

kunduig@mail.uc.edu

Luis graduated with his B.S. in Biotechnology from the University of Sacred Heart in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2022. In the fall of 2022, he started his PhD in Pharmacology. In March of 2025, he joined the Phoenix Lab, where he is working on his thesis project.

tronesle@mail.uc.edu

Rae just joined the Phoenix Lab through the Pharmaceutical Science PhD program here at UC. She also obtained her Bachelor of Science degrees from UC, having double majored in biochemistry and neurobiology. While in undergrad, she worked as a part-time pharmacy technician at CVS. During her senior year, she was also a part-time student worker in the UC COM Radiation Oncology Research Division under Dr. Sertorio, where she studied the effects of cholesterol metabolism on tumor radioresistance. Recently, the review article that she helped write relating to this project was published. After she graduated in April 2024, she worked for a little over a year as Dr. Sertorio's Research Assistant/Lab Manager, while still working at the pharmacy part-time. During that time, she led a project testing if combining a novel pan-Ras inhibitor drug with a clinically available chemo drug would be a viable head and neck cancer treatment. She looks forward to publishing the paper she wrote about this project in the future.

kovatirl@mail.uc.edu

Nicolas is a University of Kentucky graduate who is currently working under Dr. Phoenix as an RA. He has spent approximately one year working in this position and aiding in various projects via experimental work such as cell culture, genetic editing validation, maintaining and gathering IUE modified mice samples, as well as general lab management. He aims to eventually earn his Master's degree in immunology after ending his RA position, and continue work in oncology.

toroni@ucmail.uc.edu

Jaldeep was a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in pediatric neuro-oncology, with a focus on the vascular and molecular mechanisms underlying brain tumor development and progression. His research investigated the regulation, signaling, and functional role of Angiopoietin-1 (Angpt1) protein in different pediatric brain tumors, including Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), Ependymoma (EPN), and Pediatric High-Grade Gliomas (pHGG). Using advanced in utero electroporation (IUE) and postnatal electroporation-based preclinical mouse models, he studied how Angpt1 influences tumor-associated vascularization and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity, aiming to uncover new therapeutic targets that could improve treatment delivery and outcomes for children with brain cancer.

Prior to his postdoctoral training, Jaldeep completed his Ph.D. in neurobiology, where he studied the roles of neurotrophins, particularly BDNF and NGF, in CNS myelination and neural stem cell differentiation. His work provided insight into how these neurotrophins regulate oligodendrocyte development and myelin formation, with implications for understanding and treating demyelinating disorders.

Jaldeep's overarching goal is to develop innovative and biologically informed strategies to treat brain tumors and other central nervous system diseases by dissecting the fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive these conditions. His research bridges developmental biology, tumor vascular biology, and translational neuroscience to advance targeted therapies in pediatric neuro-oncology.