Vikram Paralkar, MD, Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
Vikram Paralkar did his medical schooling at Seth G.S. Medical College in Mumbai, India, residency in Internal Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. His post-doctoral research was in transcriptional regulation in erythropoiesis in the laboratory of Mitchell Weiss at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Vikram is an Assistant Professor in Hematology/Oncology, with a clinical specialization in acute and chronic myeloid leukemias and a basic science interest in understanding the molecular underpinnings of transcriptional and ribosome biogenesis regulation in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Outside of work, Vikram is a novelist and an aficionado of classical music.
Aleena Alex, Undergraduate Student
Aleena is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences in the Pre-med track, majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology and minoring in Chemistry and Bioethics. She is working on dissecting the roles of leukemia point mutations in chromatin proteins. Outside of my academics, she enjoys traveling, dancing, and catching up on the latest movies and shows.
Charles Antony, PhD, Post-Doctoral Researcher
Charles did his PhD on ribosomal RNA and translation in yeast at the National Institute of Science Education and Research, India. He is currently studying cell-type-specific regulation of ribosomal RNA transcription in hematopoiesis. Outside science, he likes music, cricket, and hiking.
charlesantony.aruljothi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Twitter: @CharlesAntony07
Melanie Auerbach, BS, Administrative Assistant
Melanie graduated from Drexel University’s 5 year 3 CO-OP program in 2022. She graduated with a B.S. in Science and studied health sciences and psychology. She joined Penn as an Administrative Assistant in the Departments of Pathology and Hematology/Oncology in September of 2022. Outside of work, Melanie likes to teach group exercise classes at the gym, cheer on Philadelphia sports teams, and catch up on good TV shows.
Subin George, MS, Computational Biologist
Subin did his Master’s in Bioinformatics at Temple University. He works on computational pipelines and sequencing analyses, and is interested in developing customized algorithms for mapping and interpretation of high-throughput and single-cell datasets. Outside of work, he enjoys playing guitar, watching movies, and listening to music.
Jason Grana, MS, Research Specialist
Jason earned his master’s at Saint Joseph’s University. He is currently exploring the leukemia phenotypes of mouse models with combinatorial oncogenic mutations. Outside of work, he likes video games, cats, and swimming.
Erin Gray, BS, Research Specialist
Erin completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at Rowan University. She is interested in quantifying ribosome biogenesis in vivo, and plans to go to graduate school. Aside from her lab work, she also enjoys hiking and snowboarding.
Jill Heinrich, BS, Cancer Biology PhD Rotation Student
Jill graduated from Providence College with a B.S. in biology in 2020. She is currently a PhD student in CAMB with a concentration in cancer biology. She is interested in studying the role of epigenetics in acute myeloid leukemia. Outside of her lab she enjoys reading, attending concerts, and exploring new coffee shops.
Sapana Jalnapurkar, PhD, Post-Doctoral Researcher
Sapana received her PhD at DBT-institute for National Center for Cell Sciences, Pune, India, on research focused on the regulation of hematopoiesis. She is currently studying the role of the tumor suppressor gene PHF6 in AML progression using a murine model. Outside the lab, she enjoys music and is curious about war history.
Aishwarya Pawar, MS, Cancer Biology PhD Student
Aishwarya completed an undergraduate engineering degree from the University of Pune in India, and joined the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania for her Masters. She is currently a PhD student in the Cancer Biology group of CAMB, working on epigenetic and transcriptional effects of mutations in transcriptional regulators in AML. Outside of work, she likes to read books and pet dogs.
Eleanor Sams, BS, Genetics and Epigenetics PhD Rotation Student
Eleanor (she/her) is a rotation student from the CAMB Genetics & Epigenetics graduate program. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2022 at Washington University in St. Louis with a major in Biology and a minor in Anthropology. She is interested in exploring molecular mechanisms underlying cancer development and progression, with a particular interest in pediatric cancers. Outside of lab, Eleanor likes to go to vintage and antique shops, collect rocks and crystals, and spend time with friends.
David Wu, BS, Genomics and Computational Biology MD/PhD Student
While David grew up in Michigan, he was born right here at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He studied Computer Science at Stanford and then worked as a computational biologist at the Broad Institute before starting his MD/PhD training at Penn. His research interests lie at the intersection between data science and genomics, where he hopes to apply techniques like machine learning to large “omics” datasets to discover novel biological principles of disease. He can also be found running, weightlifting, cooking, and exploring everything that Philly has to offer.
Lab Alumni
2022 Sarah Trumbull, MS, Business Administrator
2022 Austin King, CAMB CB PhD Rotation Student
2022 Margo Orlen, CAMB CB MD/PhD Rotation Student
2021 Justin Blum, Undergraduate
2021 Morgan Brown, CAMB CB PhD Rotation Student
2021 Gabrielle Ochoco, Research Technician
2021 Dexter Wu-Corts, Undergraduate
2020 Krista Budinich, CAMB CB PhD Rotation Student
2020 Patrick Somers, Research Technician
2020 Chelsea Thorsheim, CAMB CPM PhD Rotation Student
2019 Jared Daar, Medical Student
2019 Roman Verner, Research Technician
