News
Calvin Cole, Zach Sechrist: Mentorship That Shapes the Whole Scientist
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
From the Faculty Focus Newsletter, Education Update
In this episode of Learners on Location, the assistant professor of Surgical Oncology and the fifth-year Pathology PhD candidate demonstrate how mentorship goes far beyond the lab. Their approach, grounded in wellness, growth, and purpose, demonstrate how personal wellbeing can lead to meaningful scientific impact.
Where's Wilmot's Director: Exploring the Cancer Microenvironment with Dr. Yeh's Lab
Friday, April 10, 2026
In April's installment of "Where's Wilmot's Director?", Dr. Jonathan Friedberg visted Shu-Chi (Allison) Yeh's lab in the CMSR. Dr. Friedberg met with Dr. Yeh and her multidisciplinary team to learn more about their insights and use of innovative technology in investigating the cancer microenvironment, a reasearch area of strength at Wilmot with new translational opportunities.
Click here to read more about Dr. Friedberg's visit to the Yeh Lab.
Gregg Nicandri Tapped to Lead New Digital Strategy & Innovation Office
Friday, March 20, 2026
URMC CEO David Linehan has named UR Medicine’s Chief Medical Information Officer Gregg Nicandri, MD, to lead the office as its inaugural Chief Digital & Innovation Officer (CDIO), charged with advancing an enterprise digital strategy to ensure innovation and execution are tightly aligned and positioned to deliver meaningful impact.
“We’re not running to catch up but leading the future,” said the new Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, who will work to advance an enterprise digital strategy, moving quickly and with intention to innovate and execute for meaningful impact. Linehan noted Nicandri’s experience has prepared him to forge our digital future. “He has worked tirelessly to develop innovative provider enablement tools to improve wellbeing by freeing up the time spent on administrative tasks to allow more quality face-to-face interactions with patients,” Linehan said.
Read about Dr. Nicandri's plans to propel the digital future of URMC.
Collaborative Effort Expands Upon Study Linking Taurine to Cancer
Friday, January 23, 2026
In a groundbreaking basic science study last year, researchers discovered that taurine, available in energy drinks and as a supplement, feeds the growth of leukemia stem cells. A new study recently published by the same Wilmot Cancer Institute team expands that work and suggests that as taurine fuels leukemia, it becomes less available for other normal cells and may result in weaker bones in mice.
The bone marrow microenvironment is key to the latest research from the Bajaj lab, and has been a longtime focus of scientists who are members of Wilmot’s Cancer Microenvironment (CM) research program. Not only do many types of cancer, including leukemia, develop in the bone marrow, but the interactions and signaling between all cells and tissues in the bone marrow environment are critical for normal bone and blood development, while also supporting cancer.
PhD candidate Christina M. Kaszuba, a student in the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering graduate program, led this project. She works exclusively in the Bajaj lab studying cells and components of the bone that contribute to cancer development, with the goal of finding new cancer drugs.
Bajaj is an assistant professor of Biomedical Genetics and a recipient of an American Society of Hematology Scholar Award and Leukemia Research Foundation New Investigator Award.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NH) is the result of a broad collaboration that also includes Laura Calvi, MD, professor of Medicine and co-director of the CM research program; Jane Liesveld, MD, professor of Medicine; Hani Awad, PhD, professor of Orthopedics; Roman Eliseev, MD, PhD, associate professor of Orthopedics; and teams at the University of Rochester Center for Musculoskeletal Research and Wilmot Shared Resources.