Laura Heiser, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Vice Chair, Biomedical Engineering
Associate Director of Complex Systems Modeling, CEDAR
Co-Leader, Quantitative Oncology, Knight Cancer Institute 
503-346-4617 | heiserl@ohsu.edu | Faculty bio

Mark Dane
Senior Research Associate
dane@ohsu.edu

Daniel Derrick
Senior Research Assistant
derrickd@ohsu.edu

I'm a computational biologist working primarily on the analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data. My work focuses on aligning the diverse cell types, states and behaviors observed in single-cell datasets with the established frameworks of known biology, particularly in the context of breast cancer and models of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). I work to bridge gaps between experimental data and biological insights. I graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.S. in Biology in 2016 and an M.S. in Biology in 2017. 

Tiera Liby, M.S.
Lab Manager
liby@ohsu.edu

I manage the daily wet lab operations including inventory, equipment maintenance, safety and training. Focused on experimental repeatability and consistency, this dynamic role includes wet bench support in forms of, but not limited to, protocol development, cell bank management, sample-dependent experimental techniques and multiple imaging modalities. I can be found on Saturdays leading the Day & Knight Hikers around the great PNW. 

Natalia Quintana Parrilla

Research Assistant

OHSU PREP Scholar

I am a part of OHSU’s Postbaccalaurete Research Education Program looking to expand on my research experience to pursue a doctoral degree next year. In the Heiser lab, I am simultaneously building and optimizing an image analysis computational pipeline for data generation, and performing biological experiments treating human and mouse breast cancer cells with a variety of drugs and ligands.

Zihan Guo, B.S.

Graduate Student

guoz@ohsu.edu

I am passionate about understanding adaptive immune response to tumors, and my previous research investigated mechanisms for neo-antigen specific B cells in T cell priming. In the Heiser Lab, I leverage computational tools to explore how drug treatments reshape the spatial organization of immune cell subsets within the tumor microenvironment (TME), with a primary focus on triple-negative breast cancer.

Nicholas Calistri

Graduate Student

Integrated Training in Quantitative and Experimental Cancer Systems Biology T32 Fellow 
calistri@ohsu.edu

I study the dynamics of drug response in triple negative breast cancer and how changes in gene expression and cell-cell interactions drive adaptive drug resistance and create immunosuppressive microenvironments. 

Co-mentored by Drs. Laura Heiser and Rosalie Sears 

Ian McLean
Graduate Student
mcleania@ohsu.edu

I am pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and am interested in single-cell sequencing and machine learning, and how they can be applied to understanding the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer. I worked for four years as a manufacturing engineer at a medical device company based in Seattle, after which I spent two years at Colorado State University developing a microfluidic device for culturing tissue explants. 

Lauren Kronebusch

Project Coordinator

kronebul@ohsu.edu

I am a project coordinator in the Heiser lab, assisting with scheduling, conference organization, grants coordination, lay science writing, manuscript and grant copy editing, and more. I have assisted Dr. Heiser since 2019, having initially worked for Professor Emeritus Joe Gray in the former Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine, where I organized the inaugural West Coast Cancer Systems Biology Consortium Symposium in 2019. A former journalist, I am passionate about lay science writing and health literacy at OHSU.

Eric Berens

Postdoctoral Scholar
Integrated Training in Quantitative and Experimental Cancer Systems Biology T32 Fellow 

berense@ohsu.edu

In my research, I investigate a phenomenon in which neoplastic epithelial cells express genes commonly attributed to leukocytes. My research primarily uses murine and cell line models of breast cancer to study cellular phenotypes identified via single-cell RNA-sequencing. 

Co-mentored by Drs. Laura Heiser and Lisa Coussens