ISB News

Spotlight on ISB Education graphic

2023-24 School Year ISB Education Highlights

In the final installment of the 2023-24 academic year roundup, we highlight some of the top projects the ISB Education team is working on. Throughout the summer, the ISB Education was busy publishing research in a special edition of Connected Science Learning, hosting interns, and much more.

Wei Wei, PhD

Dr. Wei Wei Promoted to Associate Professor

Wei Wei, PhD – an accomplished cancer researcher with expertise in biotechnology and cancer systems biology – has been promoted to ISB associate professor. The Wei Lab focuses on understanding how cancer cells adapt to therapeutic treatment to foster therapy resistance by coordinating their internal molecular machinery and how these adaptive changes evolve within diverse tumors influenced by the tumor microenvironment. 

Ilya Shmulevich

‘A Life Like No Other:’ Remembering Beloved ISB Professor Ilya Shmulevich

Devoted husband and father. Animal lover. Accomplished pianist. Avid cyclist. Compassionate human. Exceptional scientist. The ISB community mourns the loss of Professor Ilya Shmulevich, PhD, who died on April 13, 2024. He was 54 years old.

ISB Assistant Professor Dr. Sid Venkatesh

Sid Venkatesh Joins ISB as Assistant Professor

Dr. Sid Venkatesh recently joined ISB as assistant professor and is our newest faculty member. In this Q&A, Venkatesh discusses his research, his aspirations in the gut-microbiota field, his philosophy as a scientist, what he does when he’s not in the lab, and more.

Sarah Clemente

AmeriCorps Member Sarah Clemente Joins ISB as Systems Thinkers in STEM Ambassador Coordinator

Sarah Clemente recently joined ISB as a Systems Thinkers in STEM Ambassador Coordinator, and is the third AmeriCorps member to work with us. In this Q&A, Clemente shares what drew her to ISB, what she hopes to accomplish over the next year, and more. 

Spotlight on ISB Education graphic

2022-23 School Year ISB Education Highlights

From planning, creating and executing workshops for educators to forging new relationships to elevate students, the ISB Education team has been in high gear. Each month throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, we will highlight some of the top projects the team is working on.

Dr. Hadlock

Dr. Jennifer Hadlock Promoted to Associate Professor

Dr. Jennifer Hadlock – an expert in machine learning, immune-mediated inflammatory disease, and maternal/fetal health – has been promoted to associate professor. The Hadlock Lab is an interdisciplinary team that aims to accelerate translational research by integrating clinical data into systems biology at scale.

AmeriCorps Member Sara Calder Joins ISB as Systems Health and STEM Coordinator

Sara Calder recently joined ISB as Systems Health and STEM Coordinator, and is our second-ever AmeriCorps member. In this Q&A, Calder shares her education journey, her future plans, and much more.

Jim Heath AACR Academy Fellow

Dr. Jim Heath Named Fellow of AACR Academy Class of 2022

Dr. Jim Heath was announced as a newly elected Fellow of the American Academy for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy Class of 2022. “I am honored and humbled to be recognized as part of this renowned group of researchers who have done so much to move our understanding of cancer forward,” Heath said.

Anna Kuchina

Dr. Anna Kuchina Joins ISB as Assistant Professor

Dr. Anna Kuchina has joined ISB as assistant professor, and is our newest faculty member. Kuchina comes to ISB after completing her postdoctoral training in the Seelig Lab at the University of Washington. In this Q&A, we delve into Kuchina’s research career to date, her research areas of interest, and much more. 

Miranda Johnson

Get to Know Miranda Johnson, ISB’s First-Ever AmeriCorps Member

This past fall, AmeriCorps member Miranda Johnson packed her bags and left her home state of Illinois to join ISB as a Systems Thinkers in STEM Coordinator. Johnson is the first AmeriCorps member at ISB, so we had quite a few questions about how she got here, her experience thus far, and her future plans. 

Dr. Andrew Magis: Identifying Markers for Cancer Years Before Diagnosis

By taking detailed measurements of blood and other biological samples, ISB scientists have shown they can identify markers for cancer years before diagnosis. This was the topic of a recent Research Roundtable presentation delivered by Dr. Andrew Magis, Director of Data Science in ISB’s Health Data Science Lab.

Spotlight On Amy Zamora, Former ISB Systems Research Scholar

Between 2018 and 2020, Amy Zamora’s tenure as a systems research scholar allowed her to merge her two interests – math and biology – and to learn a lot more along the way. “I didn’t really know how to combine my passions until I came to ISB,” she said.

Personalized Nutrition and Your Gut Microbiome

In ISB’s first-ever Research Roundtable event, Assistant Professor Dr. Sean Gibbons delivered a presentation titled “Gut-Check: Personalized Nutrition and Your Microbiome.” His talk covered a lot of ground, including recently published research showing how the health of our microbiomes can predict longevity, and how we can build and maintain a healthy gut microbiome. 

ISB Assistant Professor Dr. Wei Wei

Andy Hill CARE Fund Awards $100,000 to ISB's Dr. Wei Wei

To advance research at the intersection of COVID-19 and cancer, The Andy Hill CARE Fund has awarded ISB Assistant Professor Dr. Wei Wei a $100,000 grant to study chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), one of the most commonly diagnosed leukemias in the Western world that mainly affects older individuals.

Goldwater Scholar Daniel Chen

ISB Undergraduate Researcher Daniel Chen Earns Goldwater Scholarship

Daniel Chen, an undergraduate researcher in ISB’s Heath Lab and junior at the University of Washington, has been awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Chen has been a key member of ISB’s COVID-19 Immune Response Study.

Dr. Naeha Subramanian

Dr. Naeha Subramanian Promoted to Associate Professor

Dr. Naeha Subramanian – an expert in immunology, innate immunity, and host-pathogen interactions, and head of ISB’s Subramanian Lab – has been promoted to Associate Professor. “I am honored with this promotion and excited about the incredible research being conducted in my lab. It is a pleasure and privilege to tackle exciting questions everyday,” she said.

Priyanka Baloni

Bile Acids Provide More Evidence of the Gut Microbiome’s Effect on Alzheimer’s Disease

ISB researchers and their collaborators are looking beyond the one-drug, one-solution approach that has thus far failed in Alzheimer’s disease research. Instead, they are focusing on other promising research avenues, such as the possible role of the gut microbiome in dementia.