Jess Devenport, PhD Candidate

Jess (she/her), originally from the Ozark foothills, is a first-year Cancer Biology DBBS student. She has spent the past few years as a Research Technician in the laboratory of Dr. John DiPersio where she primarily studied CAR-T cell therapy for T cell malignancies and the effects of IL-7 agonists on CAR-T cell trafficking and proliferation. When she isn’t in the lab you will likely find her snuggled up with her dogs watching something spooky on Netflix while thinking up DIY projects for her husband to do.

Rachel DeWeerd, PhD Candidate

Rachel (she/her), a native of Springfield, MO, graduated from Drury University in 2019 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. Fresh from her undergraduate studies, she joined the Green Lab as its first technician, helping set the foundations of the lab. In 2022, Rachel rejoined the Green Lab as a graduate student in the Cancer Biology program here at Wash U where she will study the functional impact of APOBEC activity. Outside of the lab, Rachel spends her time baking, practicing yoga, and cheering for the St. Louis Blues.

Lojain Elkhidir, Undergraduate Student

Lojain (she/her) grew up in Tampa, Florida before moving to Doha, Qatar for high school. She is currently a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis studying biology and psychology. She is most interested in exploring and learning more about cancer biology and immunology in the Green Lab. In her free time, Lojain loves to spend time with her three younger siblings, trying out new recipes, and making Spotify playlists.

Dylan Fingerman, Graduate Student

Dylan (he/him) grew up just outside Philadelphia, and attended Rutgers University for undergrad. He worked for several years studying Melanoma in Dr. Meenhard Herlyn’s lab at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Dylan spends most of his time adding various anti-cancer drugs to cancer cells and is interested in interrogating the correlation between APOBEC mutational signatures with treatment resistance to several classes of drugs. He hopes to show APOBEC proteins contribute to tumor resistance to drug therapies through increased phenotype diversity in the tumors. When not in lab, Dylan can be found somewhere in Forest Park playing fetch with his dog Sabrina.

Danielle LaVigne, Graduate Student

Danielle (she/her) is from Simpsonville, SC and graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Genetics. During her time at Clemson, she was involved in two research labs. One focused on encapsulating CRISPR-Cas9 inside polymer-based nanoparticles, while the other focused on characterizing inhibitors of an enolase protein involved in the glycolytic pathway of Trypanosomes. Now, with the interest in studying the regulation of the APOBEC proteins, Danielle joins the Green Lab as the first graduate student in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics program. Outside of the lab, Danielle enjoys playing the ukulele and practicing her American Sign Language skills.

Brooke Harris, Research Assistant

Brooke (she/her) is from Belleville, Illinois and graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a focus in Biochemistry. During her undergrad, she developed interests in mechanistic biochemistry and quantum biochemical physics. Brooke joins the Green lab as a Research Technician to better her understanding of cancer biology. Outside of work, Brooke spends time with her family, plays video games, and listens to music.

Thi Tran, Bioinformatics Research Assistant

Thi (she/her) was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, before coming to the US for her undergrad. She recently graduated from Truman State University with a BS in Biology. During her time as an undergraduate research student in Dr. Brett Berke’s lab, she hypothesized and investigated novel roles of the Numb protein by developing a computational model of neurotransmission at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. Thi joined the Green Lab with an interest in biology and bioinformatics. She is excited to explore the lab’s expanding genomic database while developing her skills at the bench. When not in the lab, Thi likes to relax at home with her endless love for sweets, books, and movies.