Director: Jenny Munson, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, Cancer Research Center - Roanoke
Jenny completed her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in Bioengineering followed by postdoctoral research at l'Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. She's a Fulbright and Whitaker Alumna and started at the University of Virginia in 2014, moving to Virginia Tech in 2017. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020. Though she loves science and engineering, she also loves dancing with her daughters, Sadie, and June, travel, photography, and cooking.
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Research Faculty and Staff
Jessica Cunningham, PhD
Research Scientist
Contact
@CunninghamJessJ
Joined: January 2022
Jessica Cunningham was born in Michigan and traveled as far south as she could get to obtain a BS (applied mathematics / astrophysics) and MS (computer science) from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL. Her PhD in Mathematical Oncology from Maastricht University, Netherlands, and her time at the Integrated Mathematical Oncology department at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL focused on using mathematics as a bridge to study metastatic disease at the intersection of clinical oncology and evolutionary ecology. She is particularly interested in revolutionizing how we administer currently available drugs to delay or completely prevent evolution of resistance to available therapies, drastically reducing drug usage and lengthening the overall survival of patients with metastatic disease. In the Munson Lab she will be working across projects to develop new mathematical models and tools for the analysis and integration of therapeutic responses and interstitial fluid flow. Outside of the lab, she can be found playing with her daughters Penelope and Charlotte, sticking to her astronomy roots by using her 12-inch telescope, and Olympic weightlifting.
Yanping Liang
Research Associate
Contact
Joined: May 2022
Yanping Liang was born and raised in China. She obtained her AS in Computer Science from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and received her BS in Biotechnology from Worcester State University in United States. After becoming a research assistant in Dr. Deborah Kelly’s lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (the former Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute) in Virginia, she studied a highly mutated tumor suppressor protein called BRCA1 using cryo-
Electron Microscopy. Later, she joined Dr. Michael Fox’s lab at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute as a research coordinator, where she developed immunopanning method to purify and culture visual neurons in vitro to investigate these neurons at cellular and molecular levels. In the Munson Lab, her major responsibility will be to maintain lab stocks of cancer cell lines. In addition, she is going to carry out diverse molecular and biological experiments across different projects. Outside of the lab, she enjoys spending her time with her family for a variety of outdoor/indoor activities such as hiking, gardening, and cooking.
Skylar Davis
Research Associate
Contact
Joined: August 2023
Skylar was born and raised in Alabama, where she earned her BS in biology at Jacksonville State University. Following college, she worked as a research technician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) studying frontotemporal dementia. She then worked as a neurobiology lab manager at Duke University. After recently relocating to Virginia, she joined the Munson lab where she will use her expertise to develop and manage mouse models across all projects. Outside of work, she enjoys anything outdoors including hiking, camping, playing with her dog, and nature photography.
Peng Jin, PhD
Senior Research Associate
Contact
Joined: February 2021
CV
Google Scholar
Dr.Peng Jin was born and raised in China. He received his BS in Bioengineering from China (2011). He then moved to South Korea and received MS in Pharmaceutical Function (2013). During his master’s research, his research was focusing on drug discovery and screening, specifically anti-amyloidosis in Alzheimer’s disease. He pursued his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Science from the College of Medicine at Seoul National University, South Korea (2018). During his doctoral research, he developed expertise in studying how astrocyte-derived CCL20 reinforces hypoxic responses in glioblastoma. In 2019, he started his postdoctoral research at UCSF in Dr. Rohit Bose’s Lab, studying hypermutated-prostate cancer evolution via organoids, cell lines, and mouse models. Then, he joined Munson Lab in 2021 and started his new scientific journey. He is exploring fluids and flows in brain cancer and neurological disorders with mouse models. Outside of science, Peng enjoys spending time with his son and family. He also loves to snowboard and play soccer as well as indoor rock climbing.
Sharon Michelhaugh, PhD
Senior Research Scientist/Lab Manager
Contact
Joined: November 2021
Sharon K. Michelhaugh hails from the Midwest with a BS in Life Science and Chemistry from Otterbein College, Westerville, OH, and her PhD from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, in the laboratory of Margaret E. Gnegy. Her thesis work focused on changes of gene expression in dopaminergic circuits induced by psychostimulants in rats. This work was extended to humans in a postdoctoral fellowship followed by a permanent research position in the laboratory of Michael J. Bannon at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI by studying changes in the expression and activity of dopaminergic transcription factors in in vitro culture models and in cocaine overdose victims. Sharon then switched fields to neuro-oncology as the Research Scientist of the Translational Neuro-Oncology Research Lab at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, under the direction of Neurosurgeon Sandeep Mittal, MD where they developed cell culture and patient-derived xenograft models of primary and metastatic brain tumors. Sharon will use this expertise to contribute to the Munson Lab studies of glioblastoma and Alzheimer's Disease.
Caleb Stine
Caleb was born and raised in Ohio and attended Ohio University where he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Following school, he worked as an engineer in the automotive and construction fields, but his desire to improve lives brought him to the biomedical field. He is excited to bring his background and experiences to the Munson lab to study the cancer cell microenvironment. In his free time, Caleb enjoys being outside, spending time with his wife, daughter, and two cats, woodworking, and playing basketball.
Graduate and Medical Students
Zixuan "Zoey" Gong
Graduate Research Assistant
Contact
Joined: Spring 2024
Zoey is our newest graduate student joining us after completing her M.S. with Molly Stevens at Imperial College London.
Rhea John
Graduate Research Assistant
Contact
Joined: January 2022
Rhea was born in and raised in Pune, India. She completed her Bachelors in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from University of Pune in 2019. However, she wanted to make a difference in healthcare and give back to society. Keeping that in mind, she moved to the United States for her MS in Biomedical Engineering at State University of New York, Binghamton. She joined the Munson lab at Virginia Tech for her PhD in Biomedical Engineering in January 2022 with a research focus on the Fluid flow in Alzheimer's Disease and the use of FUS as a therapeutic mechanism for pediatric gliomas. In her free time she loves to dance, play soccer, try cooking different culinary fusions and play with her dog!
Sarah Kremer
Medical Student Research Assistant
Contact
Joined: November 2021
Sarah was born and raised in Southern California. She attended UCLA where she received her BS in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics in 2020. While at UCLA, Sarah worked in the Ribas lab where she studied melanoma and sarcoma and their response to various types of immunotherapy. Sarah is now pursuing her MD degree at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She is excited to join the Munson Lab in early 2022. Outside of school and the lab, Sarah likes to read, hike, practice yoga, and spend time with friends and family.
Samantha Howerton
Graduate Research Assistant
Contact
Joined: June 2021
Samantha is a West Virginia native that has been asking questions about disease physiology since high-school A&P. She began studying cancer biology as an undergraduate at Concord University and has joined the Munson lab to characterize the glioblastoma microenvironment for treatment development. Samantha is pursuing her Ph.D. in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health from Virginia Tech. Outside of the lab, Samantha greatly enjoys creative activities like colored pencil drawing and 3D modeling, but most of all adventuring with her husband and reading Tolkien together.
Lincoln Kartchner
Medical Student Research Assistant
Contact
Joined: February 2023
Lincoln is a second year medical student at VT-Carilion School of Medicine. He completed his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins.
Undergraduate Students
Hannah Beasey
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Major: Microbiology and Biology
Class of 2026
​
Caroline O'Brien
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Major: Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Class of 2025
​
Faith McCrossin
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2026