Team
Nicholas Alexander Vitanza, MD
My goal is to find safer and more effective therapies for children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors (meaning, tumors of the brain and spine). As a pediatric neuro-oncologist, the director of the Vitanza Lab at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research, and our CNS CAR T cell lead, I am fortunate to work at the intersection where laboratory science translates to new clinical trials. Our work has helped advance epigenetically targeted drugs and targeted immunotherapies - such as CAR T cells - to the clinic for patients with fatal tumors such as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma (DMG), and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT). Overseeing our multiple open CNS CAR T cell trials has allowed me to connect with in need families from all over the world and our pledge is to provide expert, compassionate care to each child we meet.
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Matt Biery
Scientist
Matt earned a B.S. in biology at the University of Oregon and an M.S. in molecular biology at San Diego State University. He is excited to work on generating treatment naïve models for DIPG and other pediatric brain tumors and identifying promising targets and therapies.
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Simonne Guenette
Graduate Student (PhD Candidate)
Simonne earned a B.A. in biology and a minor in computer science from the University of Virginia and is pursuing her PhD in Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease at University of Washington. She is excited to conduct translation research and is interested in exploring multi-therapeutic approaches to brain tumors.
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Michael Meechan
Scientist
Michael earned a B.S. in chemistry and minor in music at the University of Washington. He is passionate about preclinical translational research and leads the lab's in vivo studies. Michael investigates novel therapies in patient-derived tumor models of life-threatening pediatric central nervous system tumors with the hope of best informing future clinical trials.
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Carrie Myers
Scientist
Carrie earned a B.S. in biochemistry at Purdue University. She has a passion for cancer research, focusing on areas ranging from intraoperative, fluorescence-guided imaging for tumor resection to T cell immunotherapy and pediatric brain tumor model development.
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Edward Song, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Edward earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh and a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where his PhD study focused on CAR T cell therapy for glioblastoma under the mentorship of Drs. Michael Milone, Daniel Powell, and Carl June. Edward is passionate about doing translational research to develop novel cellular immunotherapies for CNS tumors from bench to bedside.
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Sophie Tahiri
Graduate Student (PhD Candidate)
Sophie earned a B.A. with honors in neurobiology at New College of Florida, a MSc with Distinction in Molecular Medicine and Cancer Research at Brunel University London and is earning a PhD in Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease at University of Washington. She focuses on CAR T cell therapy for brain tumors.
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Andrea Timpanaro, PhD, MS
Postdoctoral Researcher
Andrea earned a B.S. and a M.S. in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Insubria. During his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bern, he performed surfaceome profiling of rhabdomyosarcoma and investigated B7H3/FGFR4 CAR T cells in vitro and in vivo models. Andrea is excited to work on translational research and to develop novel CAR T cell-based therapies for brain tumors.
Former Lab Members
Graduate Student (PhD Candidate)
Alex earned a BS with honors and a MS in biology at Stanford University and is currently pursuing an MD/PhD through the MSTP program at the University of Washington. He is interested in cancer and immuno-oncology research and is excited to work on identifying novel targets and therapies for pediatric brain tumors. He identifies as first-generation and is also passionate about health and research equity.
Join the Team
Contact Dr. Nicholas Vitanza.