Lab Members

Our Team

Michelle Janelsins, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Michelle Janelsins is a tenured Associate Professor of Surgery, Radiation Oncology, and Neuroscience, and Chief of the Division of Supportive Care in Cancer within the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester. She is PI and Director of the Cancer Control and Psychoneuroimmunology Lab and Directs the Human Biophysiology Shared Resource at Wilmot Cancer Institute. Dr. Janelsins received her Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Rochester in the areas of neuroimmunology and neuroscience and completed fellowship in 2010 in the areas of clinical cancer control research, neuropsychology methods, and cognitive science. Her research primarily focuses on understanding clinical, psychological, and biological contributors of cancer-related cognitive decline and on interventions to alleviate cancer-related cognitive decline involving clinical trials, longitudinal studies, and animal modeling. Dr. Janelsins is the Director of Cancer Control Research for the URCC NCORP Research Base as well as the Director for the URCC NCORP Biobank. Her cumulative funding as PI includes $19 million with several grants from NIH including an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. Dr. Janelsins also co-directs an NCI T32 Clinical and Translational Cancer Control Research Training Program at the University of Rochester. She is a passionate mentor to numerous mentoring scientists and clinician-scientist junior investigators from multiple disciplines.

To date, she has mentored over 40 students, fellows, and junior faculty and have helped many of them establish independent funding. Lastly, Dr. Janelsins currently serves as Co-Chair of the NCI Symptom Management and Quality of Life Steering Committee and is a member of the NIH Center for Scientific Review Advisory Council.

Riham Alieldin, M.D., Ph.D., MSc. 

Dr. Riham Alieldin is a Staff Scientist at the Department of Surgery, Division of Supportive Care in Cancer at the University of Rochester. She also holds a teaching faculty position at the same university, providing educational experiences for health professionals in graduate education programs.

Dr. Alieldin obtained her medical degree from Alexandria University Medical School in Egypt and pursued advanced degrees, earning both an MSc and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.

In addition to her commitment for building efficient medical training and education systems, Dr. Alieldin is devoted to conducting robust research tailored to meet the unique needs of patients with cancer. Her dedication to cancer research stems from a profound desire to improve outcomes and quality of life for those affected by cancer and a belief in the pivotal role that research can play in achieving this goal.

Dr. Alieldin is also dedicated to promoting equity and diversity. Recognizing the unique needs of a varied patient population, she emphasizes the importance of promoting inclusivity to ensure healthcare practices that are both effective and sensitive to the diverse backgrounds and experiences of patients.

In her recent research, Dr. Alieldin examined the use of virtual reality as an innovative technology to train medical students on empathy and empathic communication skills with patients from the older adults’ population.

Jeremy McGuier, Ph.D. (Pronouns: he/him/his)

Dr. Jeremy McGuire, has a passion for helping cancer patients that began while working in a clinical laboratory where he prepared cancer patient samples for cytogenetic and FISH analysis. He then worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the cytogenetics core facility before beginning his PhD studies. He received his doctorate degree in Cancer Biology from the University of South Florida in Tampa FL where he conducted his research at Moffitt Cancer Center. His research focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of primary and metastatic bone cancers with the goal of discovering novel treatment options for these cancer patients. This research led to two first author publications that may lead to new treatment options for osteosarcoma patients and bone metastatic prostate cancer patients. Dr. McGuire then joined the Gorbunova lab as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester. He studied the impact of a novel hyaluronidase inhibitor on cancer progression and metastasis using both in vitro and in vivo models. Dr. McGuire is now a research assistant professor in the T32 training program where he will collaborate with the Gorbunova lab to investigate the ability of a naturally occurring compound in seaweed to alleviate frailty symptoms and reduce biological age in cancer patients post treatment. Dr. McGuire is interested in designing and conducting other clinical trials using natural compounds and nutraceuticals to treat the symptoms of cancer and cancer related treatments.

Colleen Netherby-Winslow, Ph.D., University of Rochester Medical Center

Dr. Netherby-Winslow is a staff scientist in Dr. Janelsins’ lab and the Co-Director of the CCPL. She has a B.S. in Neuroscience and got her Ph.D. in Immunology from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where she studied mechanisms of immune suppression in breast cancer. She completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at Penn State College of Medicine and extended her expertise into the development of immunological memory and adaptive immune control of viruses that infect the CNS.

Colleen has two children, Blair and Russell, and a rescue dog named Wooden. She grew up on the South Jersey seashore, and is a proud fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Sara Alberti

Sara Alberti is a Sr. Health Project Coordinator for CCPL. She is a SoCRA Certified Clinical Research Professional and received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Hartwick College. She spent several years as a study coordinator at St. Mary’s Hospital Oncology Unit before joining the University of Rochester James P. Wilmot Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. She has over 25 years’ experience as an oncology study coordinator for industry and cooperative group treatment trials. She currently coordinates a longitudinal study of the effects of chemotherapy on cognitive function in breast cancer patients and non-cancer control participants.

On the weekends, she spends time at the Rochester Public Market, Rochester’s music and arts festivals with family and friends.

Emma Bentley

Emma Bentley is an undergraduate student majoring in general biology and studio art at the University of Rochester. During her gap year after graduation, Emma intends to complete a Master’s degree in Legal studies with a concentration in healthcare law before attending medical school. She serves as a clinical research assistant for CCPL and is contributing to the nationwide cohort investigating the effects of chemotherapy on cognitive function in breast cancer patients and non-cancer control participants.

Emma enjoys cooking, skiing, and exploring upstate New York in her free time.

Mark Gallagher

Mark supports the Biobanking aspect of the CCPL lab. This involves moving the clinical samples from large tubes and cardboard kits into capillary straws and goblets using the newly purchased CBS MAPI System. He has been a lab tech at URMC since 1980.

Tyler Holler

Tyler Holler is a Sr. Health Project Coordinator for CCPL. He received his Masters of Public Health from the University of Rochester in 2016, with a focus on epidemiology and research. He considers himself a public health advocate and resource for the community. Tyler grew up in Rochester and has been with the University for 10+ years. He also enjoys sports (Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Lightning), video games, and his two hairless cats: Xerxes + Medusa. 

Koren Holley

Koren Holley is a Clinical Research Coordinator for CCPL. She is a member of the local and National associations of ACRP, as well as AAN. She obtained her bachelors of education from Roberts Wesleyan University and went on to obtain her master’s in education from SUNY Plattsburgh. Although she had originally planned on becoming a teacher, she has happily spent the majority of her professional career working in Community Health & Education. She joined the University of Rochester in 2021 as a local, single-physician clinical trial coordinator, where she continues to work with brain cancer survivors studying cancer related cognitive impairment following radiation treatment. She also is coordinating the opening of a National Cancer Institute study in geriatric oncology here at the university, and works closely with members of the CCPL lab, as well as alongside members of the NCORP Research Base.

In Koren’s spare time she enjoys spending time with her fiancé and their pets. She also enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, singing and creating art.

Aaron Huynh

Aaron Huynh is a Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) Scholar serving as a research assistant for CCPL as he applies to Neuroscience Ph.D. programs. He received his B.S. in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from the University of Rochester in 2022. As an undergraduate, Aaron worked with Martina Poletti in the Active Perception Lab, Duje Tadin in the Tadin Lab, as well as Elise Piazza in the Piazza Lab. His research background includes human vision and psychophysics, perception and action, as well as psycholinguistics and human prosody. He is currently contributing to a longitudinal project investigating how biomarker concentrations may affect cancer-related cognitive impairments (CRCIs) in a nationwide cohort of breast cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma patients seeking chemotherapy.

In his free time, Aaron enjoys playing lacrosse, cooking, and exploring the art, music, and outdoor scenery around the city of Rochester.

Kate Kessler

Kate Kessler is a graduate of Ithaca College. As Dr. Janelsins’ administrator she manages the administrative needs for CCPL, maintains journal entries, and supports the study coordinators. In her spare time, Kate enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and spending time with her family and friends.

Lou Lotta

Lou Lotta joined the University of Rochester in 2005. He has experience in viral production and has done work to further research for a vaccine against HIV and Alzheimer’s diseases. He has a background in the areas of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Neuroblastoma and Autism research and in using and developing mouse models for these preclinical studies. Cancer research is his latest focus in the Janelsins lab, where he assists in bio-banking using the CBS MAPI System for a range of clinical studies. He facilitates receiving, processing and storage of study participant blood samples and PBMC isolation. He also assists with Luminex Assays, Spectramax ELISA’s, Quanterix Assays, Animal Husbandry/Experiments, Immunohistochemistry, and Tissue Culture.

Additionally, Lou mentors all of the students that work in the CCPL and helps facilitate research experiences for undergraduate and graduate level trainees. He helps lead the CCPL’s community outreach and education efforts and has given science and career development presentations to local high schools and vocational schools.

Jazsmine Robinson

I am one of the lab techs at the CCPL. I received my bachelors in Biological Sciences from Louisiana State University in 2022. After graduating, I worked in a Genetics Lab that required me to maintain fruit fly stock collection and perform experiments with those flies such as RT-PCR and Western Blotting. I now contribute to checking in and entering biospecimens in the database and assist with Luminex Kits. In my spare time, I like to cook, travel, play the guitar, write lyrics and spend time with friends.

Bryan Thompson

Bryan Thompson is the Technical Associate for CCPL. He received his B.S. in 1989 from SUNY Geneseo. He has almost twenty years of experience working on research projects in basic research with a specialization in research done using rodents, especially mice. The research he has been involved in over the last ten years has focused on various studies, including the effects of chemotherapy drugs on hippocampal memory, brain inflammation brought about by methamphetamine abuse, and the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in mammalian brain models.

He likes to spend time with his pets, including dogs, cats, as well as tropical fish keeping, fresh and saltwater. Bryan is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan, enjoys playing video games, gardening, and working on his house and his Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Paige Van Haute

Paige Van Haute is one of the lab techs for CCPL. She received her B.S. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Rochester in 2021. Following her graduation, Paige worked as a lab tech for Infinity Biologix growing cancer cell lines and supporting the company’s biobanking needs before returning to Rochester. She assists CCPL with assays and is responsible for receiving and checking in assorted biospecimen shipped to the lab for the various NCORP studies.

In her free time, Paige enjoys crocheting, playing in the local Wind Symphony, and spending time with her friends and family.