Stefani Spranger

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor
spranger@mit.edu
617-715-5882
Education: PhD, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, 2011

Stefani is from Munich, Germany and received her B.S./ M.S. in Biology from the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. She continued her doctoral work there under Professor Dolores J. Schendel at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Munich, Institute for Molecular Immunology, receiving her Ph.D. in 2011. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. She enjoys cooking, hiking and is a passionate skier.

Postdocs

Nouran Abdelfattah

Postdoctoral Fellow
nourana@mit.edu
Education: PhD, Harvard University, 2024

Nouran received her B.S. in Biology and Biochemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and performed a senior thesis in David Langenau’s Lab at Harvard studying the role of TOX in T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She was then awarded a Gates Cambridge fellowship to study an MPhil at the University of Cambridge in George Vassiliou’s Lab, where she developed strategies to target the molecular pathogenesis of mutant calreticulin in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. Nouran then pursued a Ph.D. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard University in Steve Elledge’s lab, where her research focused on engineering T cell receptors for cancer immunotherapy using directed evolution and high-throughput approaches. She is currently a joint postdoctoral fellow in the Spranger and Irvine labs at the Koch Institute, where she is focused on characterizing and amplifying mRNA vaccination platforms to potentiate anti-tumor immunity.

Taylor Heim

Postdoctoral Scholar
heim01@mit.edu
Education: PhD, New York University, 2024

Originally from Fort Lauderdale Florida, Taylor completed his undergraduate studies in biology and chemistry at Florida State University before attaining a masters degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Minnesota. While working on his masters degree, Taylor also worked as a research technician in the laboratory of David Masopust where he quickly became enamored with studying memory T cell responses to pathogens. He continued his training in immunology as a Ph.D. candidate in Amanda Lund's lab at NYU where he investigated how memory T cells determine where to go following viral clearance and the role of lymphatic vasculature in this process. His research at the Koch Institute is focused on tracking memory T cells in the respiratory track during tumor progression.

Elen Torres Mejia

Postdoctoral Scholar
elent@mit.edu
Education: PhD, Technical University of Munich, Germany, 2018

Elen is from Caracas, Venezuela and received her B.S. in Biology from the Simon Bolivar University in Caracas. She got her Master's degree in cell biology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. She continued her doctoral work in Sabrina Desbordes's lab at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Munich, Institute of Developmental Genetics. During her doctoral work, Elen studied Schwann cell migration during the regeneration of the peripheral nervous system, receiving her Ph.D. in 2018. She then continued her research studying how the tumor extracellular microenvironment influences tumor progression in Frank Gertler's lab at the Koch Institute at MIT. In the Spranger lab, she is interested in understanding the signaling pathways in cancer cells that lead to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Elen enjoys dancing, playing Derbake, hiking, and traveling.

Brett Pogostin

Postdoctoral Fellow
bpogo@mit.edu
Education: PhD, Rice University, 2024

Brett received his B.S. in Chemistry from Haverford College, PA, where he studied peptide hydrogel self-assembly in Karin Åkerfeldt’s Lab. In 2018, he was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship to join Ulf Olsson's Lab at Lund University, Sweden, where he used X-ray scattering techniques to study the self-assembly of alpha-synuclein, a peptide associated with Parkinson's Disease. Brett then pursued a Ph.D. in bioengineering at Rice University in Houston, TX, in the labs of Jeffrey Hartgerink and Kevin McHugh. His research focused on developing supramolecular peptide hydrogels for immunomodulation and controlled drug delivery. Motivated by his fascination with the immune system, Brett joined the Spranger Lab, where his current research focuses on developing ovarian cancer immunotherapies. Outside the lab, Brett enjoys hiking in the backcountry and skiing.

Amy Wisdom

Postdoctoral Fellow
awisdom@mit.edu
Education: MD/PhD, Duke University, 2021

Amy grew up in Northern California and completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA, where she majored in neuroscience and studied mechanisms of central nervous system inflammation. After college, she joined the Duke MD-PhD program, where she earned her PhD in Dr. David Kirsch’s laboratory. Her thesis work focused on the development of novel genetically engineered mouse models of cancer and used these models to study immune-mediated tumor resistance to radiation therapy and immunotherapy. Amy is currently a Holman Pathway resident in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and her postdoctoral research at the Koch Institute focuses on mechanisms of immunosuppression and immune evasion in glioblastoma.

Graduate Students

Vidit Bhandarkar

Graduate Student
viditb@mit.edu
Education: B.S., Biology, Duke University, 2019

Vidit grew up in Mumbai, India and received his B.S. in Biology from Duke University with minors in Psychology and Chemistry. During his undergrad, his work in the Gersbach Lab was focused on better understanding glucocorticoid receptor (GR) biology and improving the specificity of diverse CRISPR systems. For graduate school, Vidit wanted to shift gears and move into the more disease-centric fields of immunology and cancer biology. Outside of lab, he enjoys playing soccer, cooking, reading, and pretty much anything outdoors/sports related.

Molly Carney

Graduate Student
mycarney@mit.edu
Education: B.S., Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, UCLA, 2022

Molly grew up in Arlington, MA and earned her B.S. in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology from UCLA. At UCLA, she first worked in Dr. Leanne Jones's lab studying the effect of dietary nutrients on intestinal stem cell behavior. Subsequently, she joined Dr. Kathrin Plath's lab and studied the role of tryptophan metabolism on cell fate decisions. In the Spranger lab, Molly is interested in how lymph node microenvironment shapes the antitumor immune response. Outside of lab, she likes to do gymnastics, go to Red Sox games, and spend time outdoors.

Fiona Chatterjee

Graduate Student
fionaac@mit.edu
Education: B.A., Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 2019

Fiona grew up in Santa Clara, California and earned her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley. Her first research experience was in Leslea Hlusko's lab studying mammalian skeletal variation. Realizing that molecular biology was her true interest, she then joined Douglas Koshland's lab, where she studied the molecular basis of sister chromatid cohesion. Fiona is currently a graduate student in the Biology Department at MIT. In the Spranger lab, she is interested in the different ways dendritic cells can impact immune responses against cancer. Fiona is an avid dancer and also enjoys baking, traveling, and playing piano.

Tobias Coombs

Graduate Student
tcoombs2@mit.edu
Education: B.S., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 2021

Tobias grew up in Pomfret, MD, and attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He began research in the chemical engineering lab of Dr. Erin Lavik, where he worked to develop hemostatic nanoparticles. During a summer internship experience in Dr. Tyler Jacks lab at MIT, he was first exposed to and became interested in cancer research. As a graduate student in MIT Biology, Tobias is broadly interested in immuno-metabolic interactions, particularly in the context of cancer. In his free time, Tobias enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and coding.

Teresa Dinter

Graduate Student
tdinter@mit.edu
Education: B.S., Biology, Tufts University, 2016

Teresa grew up in California and moved to Boston where she received her B.S. in Biology at Tufts University. She completed her undergraduate thesis in the lab of Dr. Sergei Mirkin, studying the mechanism of large-scale CAG-trinucleotide repeat expansions in yeast. After graduating, she worked as a research technician in Dr. Paul Yu’s lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, investigating bone morphogenetic protein signaling in pulmonary hypertension. Teresa then joined the MIT Biology Department as a graduate student. In the Spranger lab, Teresa is interested in understanding T cell fate decisions. Outside of lab, she enjoys hiking, baking, and reading.

Richard Van

Graduate Student
rvan@mit.edu
Education: B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UC Davis, 2019

Richard is from San Francisco, California and earned his B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UC Davis. Throughout undergrad, he studied the transdifferentiation of pancreatic islet cells in the lab of Dr. Mark Huising. He then went on to work as a research technician in Dr. Frank McCormick’s lab at UCSF, where he investigated the molecular mechanisms of MAPK signaling in RIT1-mutant Noonan syndrome. As a graduate student in MIT Biology, Richard is broadly interested in cancer immunology and mechanistically understanding how to improve anti-tumor immune responses. In his free time, Richard enjoys playing tennis, snowboarding, cooking, and eating.

Grace Wolczanski

Graduate Student
gwolczan@mit.edu
Education: B.S., Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 2021

Grace grew up in Ithaca, NY, and attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she received her B.S. in Biological Sciences. As an undergraduate, she began research in Dr. Veronica Hinman’s lab where she eventually completed a senior thesis focused on development and optimization of CRISPR/Cas9 systems in starfish. After participating in a summer research internship in Dr. Goutham Narla’s lab at the University of Michigan studying PP2A activation in MYC-driven cancers, she became more interested in cancer research and decided to join MIT Biology’s graduate program. In the Spranger lab, Grace is generally interested in the roles of T cells in ovarian cancer immune responses. Outside of lab, she enjoys playing hockey and tennis, exploring, and reading.

Undergraduate Students / Technical Associates

Sebnem Gul

Undergraduate Student
sebnemg@mit.edu
Education: Ankara Science High School, 2021

Sebnem grew up in Ankara, Turkey. At MIT, she majors in B.S. Chemistry and Biology with a minor in Computer Science. As an undergraduate, she began research in Dr. Daniel Anderson’s lab where she worked to develop modified RNAs for improved delivery to cells and prolonged stabilization against RNases. Intrigued by the immune system’s ability to mount anti-tumor responses, she decided to take a graduate-level immunology course and discovered her interest in cancer immunotherapy research. In the Spranger Lab, she receives direct mentorship from graduate student Richard Van and studies immune responses to therapeutic vaccination against lung cancer. She specifically focuses on investigating the effects of neoantigen immunogenicity. Outside of lab, she enjoys reading, watching F1, looking at art, and walking by the Charles River.

Emma Schuler

Undergraduate Student
emmajoy@mit.edu
Education: Richmond Burton Community High School, 2022

Emma grew up in Spring Grove, Illinois and joined the Spranger lab as a UROP in the fall of 2023. She is currently majoring in Biological Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. Under mentorship from graduate student Grace Wolczanski, Emma is primarily focused on studying the immune responses of ovarian cancer. Her project involves developing in vivo cancer models and analyzing the effcts of PARP inhibitors. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading, and exploring Boston.

Heidi Temple

Technical Associate
htemple@mit.edu
Education: Princeton University, 2024

Heidi grew up in northeast Pennsylvania before moving to New Jersey where she majored in molecular biology and minored in neuroscience at Princeton University. During this time, she researched under Professor Alexander Ploss to develop novel and efficient methods for the study of hepatitis B virus. Currently, she works in the Spranger and White labs to study immune interactions and evasion in glioblastoma. In her free time, she enjoys baking, lifting, and dancing.

Staff

Melissa Duquette

Research Technician
duquette@mit.edu
617-324-4352

Judy A Teixeira

Administrative Assistant
jteixeir@mit.edu
617-253-0263