{"id":126,"date":"2026-03-14T13:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T13:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/?page_id=126"},"modified":"2026-03-24T17:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:44:54","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Champions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Students<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mallory Sands
msands2@nd.edu<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Mallory is a Ph.D. candidate. Her research investigates the molecular mechanisms that drive therapeutic responses in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, with a focus on the complementary effects of androgen receptor inhibition and PARP inhibitors. She combines molecular biology approaches and transcriptomic analyses to study androgen receptor signaling and mechanisms of drug response. Mallory received her B.S. in Biology-Chemistry,\u00a0cum laude<\/em>, from Manchester University.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sam Adams\u00a0<\/strong>
sadams24@nd.edu<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Sam is a Ph.D. candidate. His research focuses on understanding how androgen signaling, supraphysiological androgen treatment, and androgen metabolites influence prostate cancer progression and therapeutic response. In addition to his research, Sam is actively involved in teaching and mentoring undergraduate students in molecular biology and genetics. He received his B.S. in Biology with a biotechnology emphasis from Brigham Young University\u2013Idaho.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Zhichao Liu\u00a0<\/strong>
zliu32@nd.edu
<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Zhichao is a Ph.D. candidate. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms driving prostate cancer progression and therapeutic resistance. Before starting his Ph.D., Zhichao worked as a research specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and as a technician in our laboratory, where she studied cancer signaling pathways and drug resistance using molecular and genomic approaches. She received her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her B.S. in Biology from Nanjing Agricultural University.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Xinglin Shi\u00a0<\/strong>
xshi5@nd.edu
<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Xianglin is a Ph.D. student with a background in bioinformatics research. Her research focuses on understanding epigenetic regulation during prostate cancer progression using long-read sequencing and computational analysis. Xianglin received her Master of Public Health in Biostatistics from Emory University and has experience analyzing DNA methylation, transcriptomics, and single-cell sequencing data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jihaeng Lee<\/span><\/strong>
jlee225@nd.edu
<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Jihaeng is a Ph.D. student. Her research focuses on understanding cellular responses to therapeutic stress in prostate cancer, including mechanisms of cell death and drug sensitivity. She utilizes molecular and cellular biology approaches such as CRISPR-based genome editing, flow cytometry, and live-cell imaging to study treatment responses and improve therapeutic strategies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Students<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael Li
mli29@nd.edu<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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TJ Walsh<\/strong>
twalsh22@nd.edu<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Leo Leon<\/strong>
lleon2@nd.edu <\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Adriana Zablahc<\/strong>
azablah@nd.edu<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Liam Clancy<\/strong>
lclancy@nd.edu<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Benjamin Gallei <\/strong>
bgallei@nd.edu<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Owen Nichols
onichols@nd.edu<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Kate McDonnell
kmcdonn5@nd.edu<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Pierce Pereira<\/strong>
ppereira@nd.edu<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cheer Team<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheer leader<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jianneng Li,<\/strong> Ph.D.
jli33@nd.edu<\/h2>\n

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Dr. Li received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Fudan University and completed postdoctoral training at the Cleveland Clinic, where he contributed to seminal studies uncovering mechanisms of resistance to androgen receptor\u2013targeted therapies. His work has been published in high-impact journals, including Science Translational Medicine<\/em>, Nature Communications, PNAS, <\/em>and\u00a0Journal of Clinical Investigation,<\/em> and has advanced the understanding of steroid metabolism and therapeutic resistance in prostate cancer. In addition, he actively contributes to the scientific community through NIH and DOD grant review panels, editorial service, and mentorship of graduate trainees, positioning his laboratory at the forefront of translational prostate cancer research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Team members<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Alumni<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maechen Wang<\/strong>: Research Technician at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Haerens:<\/strong> Medical student at the Wayne State University School of Medicine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Megan Howley:<\/strong> Medical student at the Indiana University School of Medicine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cody Konop:<\/strong> Medical student at the Penn State College of Medicine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Champions Graduate Students Mallory Sandsmsands2@nd.edu Mallory is a Ph.D. candidate. Her research investigates the molecular mechanisms that drive therapeutic responses in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, with a focus on the complementary effects of androgen receptor inhibition and PARP inhibitors. She combines molecular biology approaches and transcriptomic analyses to study androgen receptor signaling and mechanisms of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5239,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-126","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/lilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}