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Lab Members

	Stephen L. Lessnick, MD, PhD Professor, Pediatrics Adjunct Professor, Oncological Sciences Adjunct Professor, Bioengineering Investigator, Huntsman Cancer Institute Director, Center for Children's Cancer Research This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Lessnick earned his bachelor's degree from Brandeis University, followed by MD and PhD degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). He did his PhD thesis with Christopher Denny, MD, where he studied the function of the Ewing's sarcoma EWS/FLI oncoprotein. He then conducted his internship and residency at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology. He completed postdoctoral research in the Pediatric Oncology Department at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with Todd Golub, MD, where he studied the transcriptional consequences of EWS/FLI. Lessnick joined University of Utah faculty in January 2004 as a member of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and as a Huntsman Cancer Institute Investigator. Lessnick is currently the Jon and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professor in Cancer Research, a Professor of Pediatrics, and the Director of the Center for Children's Cancer Research.
	Richard Smith Senior Lab Specialist This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Smith earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts and has extensive experience in the biotechnology industry. He has been the Lessnick Lab's specialist since its inception. He has experience in a variety of molecular techniques and provides experimental assistance and guidance to trainees. Smith's current focus is the analysis of EWS/FLI target genes.
	Rupeng Zhuo Research Associate This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Zhuo earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from North-East Normal University in Changchun, China. He followed this with a MS degree in physical chemistry from Fuzhou University in Fuzhou, China, and a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the Peking University Health Sciences Center in Beijing, China. He conducted his postdoctoral research in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry at the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); University of Louisville, Kentucky; and Texas Tech University. He joined the Lessnick Lab in June 2010. His work primarily involves pediatric preclinical testing of anticancer agents.
	John Phillip Fadul Graduate Student This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Fadul graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in molecular biology and biotechnology, then worked for four years as a research assistant at the same university. He entered the Molecular Biology Program at the University of Utah in the fall of 2008 and joined the Lessnick Lab in April 2009. His research currently focuses on EWS/FLI target genes in Ewing's sarcoma.
	Melanie DeJulis Administrative Assistant This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it DeJulis graduated from the University of Utah in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in political science. She joined Huntsman Cancer Institute in March 2010, and supports the Lessnick, Schiffman, and Engel labs, as well as the Center for Children's Cancer Research.
	Bobby Beck Graduate Student This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Beck earned his bachelor's degree in French at Brigham Young University. He entered the MD program at the University of Utah in 2007, and is taking a year in between his third and fourth year of medical school to work in the Lessnick Lab. He joined the lab in July 2010. His work involves the study of gene sequence in EWS/FLI target genes.
	Elizabeth (Tish) Toomey Graduate Student This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Toomey graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in biology. She entered the Molecular Biology Program at the University of Utah in the fall of 2006 and joined the Lessnick Lab in April 2007. Her research focuses on EWS/FLI target genes in Ewing's sarcoma.
	Savita Sankar Graduate Student This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Sankar earned her bachelor's degree from GRD College of Sciences, India, followed by her master's degree from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India. After working in the biotech industry for two years she entered the Molecular Biology Program at the University of Utah in the fall of 2006 and joined the Lessnick Lab in April 2007. Her research focuses on EWS/FLI target genes in Ewing's Sarcoma.
	Wen Luo Postdoc This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Luo earned her BS and MS degrees from Nanchang University followed by a PhD degree from Xiamen University, China. She joined the Virshup Lab at HCI as a postdoc in 2004 and then moved to the Lessnick Lab in July 2007.