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

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.

Sirisha (Siri) Mukkavalli, PhD
CDDR Scientific Project/Program Manager
Email: sirishav_mukkavalli@dfci.harvard.edu

Siri has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology and has been studying cellular signaling pathways in diseased environments for over a decade. Siri supports the design and execution of sponsored research agreements and other Center-related research initiatives. She works closely with CDDR leadership to oversee the management of key partnerships, as well as shape the Center's long-term strategy and vision.