MEET THE TEAM
Anthony Faber, Ph.D.
Anthony Faber obtained his B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Rhode Island and his M.A. in Biology from Boston University. He then went on to get his Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Boston College. After completing his Ph.D., he did work as a Research Fellow for cancer therapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School from 2007-2012 until he transitioned into an Instructor in Medicine there.
Dr. Faber started at VCU in 2014 and is currently a professor at the Philips Institute for Oral Health Research in the Department of Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology.
MEMBERS
Elsamani Abdeldafieal, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral fellow
- B.S. in Internal Medicine, Nizhny Novgorod State Academy
- M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, VCU School of Medicine
- Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, VCU, Institute for Structural Biology and Drug discovery
Exploring two novel telomerases- targeting compounds in combinations with canonical Ferroptosis Inhibitors (FIs) to develop therapeutic strategies.
Krista Dalton, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral fellow
- B.S. and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, VCU College of Engineering
- Ph.D. in Oral Health Research, VCU Philips Institute
Investigating innovative targeted therapeutic strategies for difficult to treat cancers and the underlying biology driving sensitivity. Research currently focused on targeted therapies for the pediatric cancer, neuroblastoma.
Konstantinos V. Floros, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor
- B.S. in Chemistry, University of Greece,
- Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Greece
Interested in understanding the molecular pathways that allow cancer cells to escape different modes of programmed cell death induced by standard cancer therapeutics. Primarily focused on the development of new targeted therapies in different types of solid tumor cancer.
Ronald Hill – Ph.D. student
- B.A. in Biology, Randolph-Macon
- M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, UMB School of Pharmacy
Research focused primarily on characterizing a novel drug specifically for High-Risk Neuroblastoma. Some of the research also includes cancer drug resistance and targeted therapies for subsets of neuroblastoma.
Victor Kehinde – Ph.D. student
- B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland
Previously conducted research focused on the synthesis of nanoparticles for drug delivery and colon tissue modeling, influencing his decision to pursue a Ph.D. to contribute to research that can advance the development of new therapeutics.
Jamie Slaughter – Research Technician
- B.S. in Biology, Longwood University
Assists lab members with a variety of projects and helps with inventory, communication, and technical support around the lab.
Yanli Xing – Ph.D. student
- B.S. in Nursing, Bengbu Medical University
- M.S in Surgery, Anhui Medical University
Focused on molecular-targeted drug therapy and combination strategies for HPV-associated Head and Neck Squamous Cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Exploring the mechanisms of pivotal oncogene inhibitors in HNSCCs to guide clinical development in this field and ultimately the morality associated with head and neck cancers.
Kun Zhang, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor
- B.S. in Animal Science, Qingdao Agricultural University
- M.S. in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, South west University
- Ph.D. in Immunology
Focused on host factors that regulate herpes virus-associated cancers. His study will characterize the ability of MYCN to suppress ferroptosis in neuroblastoma and identify the synthetic lethal ferroptosis resistance mechanisms in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma, and evaluated novel ferroptotic combination therapies in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma mouse models.
