Emily Dykhuizen, PI
​[email protected]

Emily graduated from Reed College in 2001 with a BA in biochemistry and molecular biology. She moved to the midwest in 2002 to pursue a PhD in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with Laura L. Kiessling on developing inhibitors to UDP-galactopyranose mutase, an essential enzyme in the synthesis of the arabinogalactan portion of mycobacterial cell wall. After graduation in 2008, she switched fields and began an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship with Gerald Crabtree at Stanford University, where she worked to develop inhibitors of the BAF (SWI/SNF-like) chromatin remodeling complex. In addition, she started defining the mechanisms of BAF-mediated tumor suppression, and uncovered a novel role for BAF complexes in decatenation of DNA by topoisomerase IIa. She started her independent career at Purdue University in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in 2013, where her lab continues to unravel roles for chromatin regulation in cancer, as well as develop therapies to target epigenetic processes. ​

Shelley Woloshuk, Lab Manager
​[email protected]

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Shelley Woloshuk is the Lab Manager for the Dykhuizen research group. She is responsible for organizing and maintaining supplies, overseeing regulatory and safety requirements along with other research duties.

Dr. Alisha Dhiman, Senior Research Associate
[email protected] 

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Alisha is from New Delhi, India. She got her Bachelor’s degree (2004) in Biochemistry from the University of Delhi, India and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Biotechnology (2007) from the University of Hyderabad, India. For her Master’s dissertation, she worked towards development of a chimeric recombinant chitinase enzyme so as to broaden its substrate specificity. Alisha pursued her PhD with Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar (2015) at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Her doctoral work focused on understanding the role of two-component signal transduction systems in bacterial pathogenesis and adaptation, and exploring them as scaffolds for antimicrobial development. For her postdoctoral venture, she moved to US and forayed into cancer research. She joined the Dykhuizen lab in August 2017 where she is working towards decoding the role of a commonly mutated gene PBRM1 in renal cancer, in order to understand its tumor suppressive function, clinical significance and potential therapeutic application.


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Dr. Rinky Raghuvanshi, Post-doctoral Research Associate
​[email protected]
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Rinky Raghuvanshi is from Haryana, India. She got her Bachelor’s degree (2012) in Biotechnology and Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry (2014) from Kurukshetra University, India. After her master’s degree, she worked (2015-2016) as an assistant professor in chemistry department of Guru Nanak Khalsa College, India. In June, 2016 she joined Defence Research and Development Organisation, India, where she worked on high altitude medicinal plants. She pursued her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry with Dr. Sandip B. Bharate at CSIR- Indian Institute of Integrative medicine, India. During her PhD (2018-2022), she worked on developing new multitargeted preclinical leads for Alzheimer’s disease employing library screening and rational drug design approaches. She joined Dykhuizen lab in Feb, 2023 and her work is focus on developing and synthesizing chemical tools and inhibitors for BAF complexes.

Surbhi Sood, PhD Candidate, PULSe
[email protected]

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Surbhi is from Shimla, India. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology  (2015) from SRM University. She went on to pursue a Master's in Human Disease Genetics from the Centre for Human Genetics, Bangalore. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Purdue University Interdisciplinary Life Sciences (PULSe) Program and is part of the Chromatin and Regulation of Gene Expression training group. She joined the Dykhuizen Lab in May 2019. Her thesis work is focused on understanding the role of BAF subunits in promoting neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer.

Guanming (Ming) Jiao, PhD Candidate, MCMP
[email protected]

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Ming(Guanming) is from Zhengzhou, China. He got his  Bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from Shanghai University in 2019.  During his undergraduate, he worked with Dr. Junjie Xiao in the aging and regeneration lab. The research was about colorectal cancer and cardiac diseases. He joined Dykhuizen lab in June 2020. He is currently working on the role of bromodomains in renal cancer. 


Dr. Brayden Paul Strohmier, PharmD, PhD Candidate, MCMP
[email protected]  

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Brayden hails from the small town of Brookville, IN.  He earned his PharmD degree in 2020 at Purdue                          University’s College of Pharmacy. During his PharmD education, he worked with Dr. Jean-Christophe Rochet on two projects: (1) analyzing neuroprotective gene expression changes from patients who had Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body dementia and (2) investigating new ways to analyze rat behavioral changes in Parkinson’s disease. Later, Brayden found a passion in cancer research and joined the Dykhuizen lab in December 2020. He is currently working on the cellular effects of inhibiting BRD9 in prostate cancer cells and how those effects may change the resistance patterns of the prostate cancer to chemotherapeutics.

Jude Tetteh Quarshie, PhD Student, MCMP
[email protected]

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Jude is from Accra, Ghana. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory Technology from KNUST, Ghana. He then pursued a Master's degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Ghana where he explored the effect of cryptolepine (a plant-derived compound) on canonical WNT signaling in colorectal cancer. He joined the Dykhuizen Lab in December 2023 with an interest in chemical biology and cancer research.

Shabana Noreen, Visiting Research Scholar, MCMP
[email protected]

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Shabana Noreen is from Pakistan. She did her bachelor’s in medicine and surgery. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli Naples, Italy, and joined in November 2021. Her thesis is focused on the Deregulation of CBX2 in colorectal cancer and the drug discovery approach to target, most specifically, CBX2 and other members of PRC1 and HP1 families. She joined the Dykhuizen lab in March 2024 as a visiting research scholar.

Previous Members                                                   

Shenell Brown                              Post-bacculaureate                           2023-2024                           PhD Student at UIC Medicinal Chemistry 
Sam King                                      Undergraduate                                 2020-2024                           MD/PhD program at OHSU
Sandra Ordonez                            Graduate Student                             2018-2024                           Stanford University-Postdoc with Dr. Dassama
Masataka Nakano                         Postdoctoral Researcher                  2022-2023                            Assistant Professor in Kanazawa University, Japan
Mallory Kay Roach                      Undergraduate                                 2019-2022                            PhD Student at UNC Biological and Biomedical Sciences 
​William James Platt                      Undergraduate                                 2019-2022                            Physician Assistant Student at Indiana University
Sijie Wang                                    Graduate Student                             2016-2022                            Stanford University- Postdoc in Dr. Bogyo
Aktan Alpsoy                               Graduate Student                             2015-2020                            Institute of Cancer Research, London- Postdoc with Dr. Kristian Helin
Chad Maschinot                           Postdoctoral Researcher                  2018-2020                            Research Scientist at Perfinity Biosciences
Elizabeth (Libby) Porter              Graduate Student                             2014-2019                            Stanford University- Postdoc with Dr. Casey Gifford
Jane Stewart                                 Lab Manager                                   2013-2018                             Retired
Katelyn Connelly                         Graduate Student                             2013-2018                            NIH- Postdoc with Dr. Laufey ​Amundadottir
Ben Carter                                    Postdoctoral Researcher                  2017-2018                            Clinical Assistant Professor in Biochemistry, Purdue University
Basudev Chowdhury                    Postdoctoral Researcher                  2015-2017                            Dana Farber- Postdoc with Dr. James Griffin
Christina Marian                          Postdoctoral Researcher                  2013-2014                            Technical Content Specialist at Five Prime Content Strategy   
Rob Wilson                                  Undergraduate                                 2014-2015                             MIT- Graduate Student with Dr. Angela Koehler