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Meet the Team for the Center for DNA Damage and Repair (CDDR)


  • Alan D. D'Andrea, MD

    Alan D. D'Andrea, MD
    CDDR Director
    Email: Alan_DAndrea@dfci.harvard.edu
    D'Andrea Lab



    Geoffrey I. Shapiro, MD, PhD

    Geoffrey I. Shapiro, MD, PhD
    CDDR Clinical Director
    Email: Geoffrey_Shapiro@dfci.harvard.edu



    Kalindi Parmar, PhD
    CDDR Associate Director

    Email: Kalindi_Parmar@dfci.harvard.edu

    Kalindi leads preclinical studies with DNA Damage Response (DDR) inhibitors in drug sensitive and resistant cell-line models as well as patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, with the goal of identifying novel biomarkers of drug response. Prior to joining CDDR, she was an Instructor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her research expertise is in leukemia, hematopoiesis, and murine models of DNA repair deficiency syndromes.

    Bose Kochupurakkal, PhD
    CDDR Staff Scientist

    Email: Bose_Kochupurakkal@dfci.harvard.edu

    Starting off as a bio-organic chemist, Bose explored growth-factor signaling, structural biology, genomics, stem cell biology, transcription factor regulation and, lately, mechanisms of DNA damage repair. His current focus is to integrate the knowledge gained through these explorations to develop clinically validated companion biomarker assays that either predict response or report pharmacodynamic effects. He strongly believes that such assays are pivotal to developing next-generation therapeutics that personalize therapy.

    Jean-Bernard (JB) Lazaro, PhD
    CDDR Staff Scientist

    Email: Jean-Bernard_Lazaro@dfci.harvard.edu

    JB is a biochemist and cell biologist who has been studying DNA damage repair mechanisms and tumors’ resistance to chemotherapies for almost two decades. JB is creating and implementing technologies to assess when a tumor is DNA repair deficient, or harbors replication stress. His ultimate goal is to create diagnostic or research tools and assays to predict which patients will benefit from specific therapies.

    Huy Nguyen, ALM, MS
    CDDR Staff Scientist

    Email: Huy_Nguyen@dfci.harvard.edu

    Huy is a Computational Biologist for the D'Andrea lab and Dana-Farber’s CDDR, and an Associated Scientist at the Broad Institute. Prior to Dana-Farber, Huy served as Technical Assistant, Programmer, and Software Engineer at the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research and the Broad Institute, contributing to the physical maps of the Human and Mouse Genome Projects, the International Haplotype Map (HapMap) project, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Huy received his master’s degree (ALM) in Information Technologies from Harvard Extension School, and a Master's degree in Science (MS) from the University of Toronto.

    Ozge Somuncu
    CDDR Senior Scientist

    Email: Ozges_Somuncu@dfci.harvard.edu

    Ozge is a molecular biologist who has a PhD in biotechnology. She has worked on the interaction between stromal cells and tumor cells in addition to exosomal trafficking involved in cancer growth and progression. Ozge specialized in 3D-culture techniques and is a certified organoid scientist. Her current aim is creating patient derived organoid and tumoroid systems for precision oncology research and drug screening.

    Don Watson
    CDDR Project/Program Manager

    Email: Donald_Watson@dfci.harvard.edu

    Don is a highly experienced project manager for translational research domestic and international teams. For Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) Don has managed three Dream Teams: PI3K in Women's Cancers, Ovarian Cancer with Catalyst Supplement, and Multiple Myeloma. Don is Project Manager for the Pancreatic Cancer Collective, a jointly-funded grant awarded by SU2C and the Lustgarten Foundation. Don served as Director and Scientific Administrator for a family foundation created to support an innovative translational science collaboration between clinical and research investigators to accelerate research and tailored therapy, with specific application to pancreatic cancer. Don joined the Center for DNA Damage and Repair (CDDR) to focus on the multitude of projects, manage the Center's growth of Sponsored Research Agreements, and support Center-related initiatives.