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URMC / Labs / Harris Lab / Lab Members

 

Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Isaac Harris

Isaac Harris, Ph.D.
KMRB
Phone: (585) 273-4353
Email Isaac

Research Interest:

Understanding the roles of antioxidants in disease

Isaac is from Ottawa, Canada. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Toronto where he conducted research in the lab of Dr. Tak Mak at Princess Margaret Cancer Center. Afterwards, he joined the lab of Dr. Joan Brugge at Harvard Medical School in Boston. In September 2019, Isaac moved to Rochester, NY to open his independent lab at the University of Rochester and Wilmot Cancer Institute.

Postdoctoral Scholars

Sara Blick-Nitko

Sara Blick-Nitko, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate

Research Interest:

The Multifactorial Roles of Platelets in Malaria Infection

Sara earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Pathology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Her doctoral research focused on the role of platelet Ido1 in Plasmodium yoelii uncomplicated malaria infection. She will utilize the Multifunctional Approach to Pharmacologic Screening (MAPS) to study novel vulnerabilities in cancer cells. Beyond the laboratory, Blick-Nitko’s passion is in advocacy towards enhancing the environment for the deaf community, advocating for language equity, and ensuring accessibility for all. She is committed to breaking barriers and fostering an inclusive society where the deaf can thrive without limitations, where their language is respected, and where accessibility is not an afterthought but a fundamental right.

Fabio Hecht

Fabio Hecht, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interest:

Cancer Metabolism and Cancer Microenvironment

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Fabio received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He then obtained his Ph.D. under the joint supervision of Dr. Corinne Dupuy (Université Paris Saclay) and Dr. Denise Pires de Carvalho (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ) working on thyroid cancer and reactive oxygen species. Afterward, he became a lecturer of Molecular Biology at UFRJ and is currently a postdoctoral fellow working on the impact of extracellular GSH on cancer.

Research Staff

Emily Tuttle

Emily Tuttle
Technical Associate/Lab Manager

Research Interest:

Understanding the roles of antioxidants in disease

Emily a lifelong Western New Yorker and currently lives in Geneseo. Emily graduated from MCC with an AAS in Biotechnology in 2008 and have worked here at UR since then. She lives with her husband and 2 kids. They have 2 cats named Butters and Stewie. 

Graduate Students

Fatemeh Alimohammadi

Fatemeh is from Babol, located in the north of Iran. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Mazandaran in 2015, and her Masters in Genetics from the University of Isfahan in 2018. Previously, she was studying the roles of interferon beta in autoimmune diseases.

Gloria Asantewaa

Research Interest:

Interplay Between Glutathione and Hepatic Lipid Metabolism

Gloria is from Kumasi, Ghana, and obtained her undergraduate degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She was a teaching and research assistant in the antimicrobial antioxidant and anticancer researches of Drs. F.C. Mills-Robertson and C.K. Firempong. She then joined the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens as a graduate fellow.

TashJaé Scales

TashJaé is from Dallas, Texas, and obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology and Master’s in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington. Her background has focused on both clinical and research-orientated questions, including high-throughput technologies.

Marco Zocchi

Research Interest:

Cancer Metabolism and Cancer Microenvironment

Marco was born in Rochester, NY, but grew up in Colorado. He studied biology at the University of Colorado Denver. Previously, he examined maternal effect genes in Xenopus embryos in the lab of Dr. Amanda Charlesworth.