Graduate Students
Kapil Thapa, B.S., Ph.D. Student. After finishing my undergraduate from Trichandra campus, Tribhuwan University, Nepal in 2021, I joined Tulane University in August 2022 and Dr. Fang’s lab in December 2022. I am currently studying the role of Ovol1/2 transcription factors in angiogenesis during development and in cancer. The main focus of this project is to understand if Ovol regulates angiogenesis via endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and how this regulatory mechanism may be altered in tumor microenvironment.
Edward Looker, B.A., Ph.D. Student. Edward received his bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology in Spring 2022 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He joined the Tulane University Cell and Molecular Biology Ph.D. program in Fall 2022 and joined the Fang lab in March 2023. His project is focused on connexin expression in HHT and whether changes in expression from angiogenic signaling are flow-dependent.
Curie Chen, B.S., Ph.D. Student. Curie graduated from University of California, Irvine as a Pharmaceutical Science major in December 2022. She joined Tulane University in August 2023 and the Fang Lab in March. 2024. Her project focuses on building a retina-on-a-chip model of the outer blood-retinal barrier to study retinal health, as well as diabetes and retinopathy of prematurity.
Undergraduate Students
Brandon Burow. Brandon is a junior in the Cell & Molecular Biology program. He is working with graduate student Kapil to study regulation of sprouting angiogenesis in cancer.
Marissa Goswami. Marissa came to Tulane in August of 2022 to pursue a B.S. in Cellular & Molecular Biology as part of the Tulane Accelerated Physician Training Program. She was fortunate to join the Fang Lab in January 2024. She is originally from Carlsbad, California. Additionally, she is involved in Phi Delta Epsilon Medical Fraternity, Tulane Swim Club, and she is an ocean lifeguard with California State Parks. Marissa is currently working on understanding how candidate genes affect thyroid cancer proliferation and apoptosis.
Isha Riaz.