Team
Nicholas A Vitanza, MD
As a pediatric neuro-oncologist, the director of the Vitanza Lab at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research, and Seattle Children’s CNS CAR T cell Lead & DIPG Research Lead, I am fortunate to work with an amazing team at the intersection of laboratory science and clinical medicine. Our work has helped advance epigenetic drugs and targeted immunotherapies – such as CAR T cells – to the clinic for patients with fatal tumors. 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).
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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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Leo Elena
Research Technician
Leo earned a BS in neuroscience and cognitive science with an emphasis in neurobiology from the University of Arizona. He is passionate about aiding in the improvement of the quality of life for pediatric CNS cancer patients via preclinical translational research using a targeted immunotherapeutic approach.
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Davina Lau
Research Technician
Davina earned a BS in cell and molecular biology at Seattle University. She's excited to work on translational science projects to advance targeted biologic and immunotherapeutic treatments for children with CNS 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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Naina Singhi
PhD Candidate
Naina earned a BS in biotechnology from Panjab University and an MS in cancer sciences from the University at Buffalo. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Washington. Naina is passionate about immunotherapy-related research and is excited to explore T cell-based therapies for cancer.
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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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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.
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Lily Winter
Undergraduate Student
Lily is a current senior at the University of Washington who will be graduating in June of 2024 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She is excited to be working to develop novel therapeutics for pediatric gliomas and is pursuing a career in translational cancer research.
Lab Alumni
Scientist
Carrie earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at Purdue University. She has worked in cancer research since 2013 and specializes in vivo model development, drug efficacy testing, and CAR T cell experimentation. She joined Nick’s team at Fred Hutch in 2017 and was a critically important founding member of the Vitanza Lab at Seattle Children’s.
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.
Undergraduate Student
Linh is a current student at Stanford University from Seattle working towards a degree in biomechanical engineering. She is interested in becoming a neuro-oncologist in the future and is passionate about further developing therapies and drugs for brain tumors.
Join the Team
Contact Dr. Nicholas Vitanza.