The Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) program is the undergraduate program of USC Michelson CSI-Cancer. Each student is assigned a mentor who helps them work on a specific project. CUREs can be seen in both the wet and dry lab, developing assays and creating Markov chain models. Being a CURE student cannot be defined; it is up to the student to set their own goals and project!
The CURE application is now open! The CURE program will be held virtually for the Fall 2020 semester. If you are interested in participating and being part of this team, please apply here: 2020 CURE Application
Acceptance is on a rolling basis and will reach out to applicants by the end of September. We look forward to reviewing your application. For any questions, please contact Allie Welsh, awelsh@usc.edu.
USC undergraduates interested in the research in our lab are also encouraged to enroll in BISC 410: Applications of Molecular Biology to Medicine taught by professors Kuhn and Hicks. Students should review the prerequisites leading up to BISC 410.
The CURE Team
Sachin Narayan
Team: Colorectal Cancer/CAR-T
See MoreMajor: Global Health
Minor: Business Finance
Joined: Fall 2018
Research Focus: Applying the HD-SCA3.0 assay to colorectal cancer samples to identify potential prognostic markers from various rare cell populations. Also, developing a CAR-T identification assay for prostate cancer (PSCA/PSMA).
Scholarships and Fellowships: Trustee Scholarship
Involvements on Campus: LACI, Project RISHI, Trojan Knights, Doctors without Borders
Talk to me about: Hip hop and Bollywood dance
Eric Yang
Team: Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology
Minor: N/A
Joined: Spring 2019
Research Focus: Developing Recommendation Algorithms for Therapy Response Prediction in Multiple Myeloma
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, BUGS, USC SURF, USC PURF, Trudi Berwin Student Support Award, Mastercard Global Scholarship, SURF Gupta Family Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: Community Health Connection, WorldMed, Remedy Through Music, Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
Talk to me about: Duke basketball
Jaden Mullin
Team: Lung Cancer
See MoreMajor: Human Biology
Minor: N/A
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Improved classification of early stage non-small cell lung cancers through addition of HD-SCA work flow
Scholarships and Fellowships: University Scholarship
Involvements on Campus: Troy Philippines, Trojan Steel
Talk to me about: Cool jewelry
Jena Tran
Team: IMC
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology
Minor: N/A
Joined: Spring 2019
Research Focus: Immune Profiling: utilizing imaging mass cytometry (IMC) to characterize immune cells with up to 30 markers
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: Community Health Involvement Project, USC Student Government, USC Food Recovery Network
Talk to me about: The best sad songs
Nathan Kristanto
Team: Mathematical Oncology
See MoreMajor: Biomedical Engineering
Minor: N/A
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: Quantifying patient performance status via IoT technology to complement the clinical assessment for enhanced patient care
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: Colleges Against Cancer
Talk to me about: Video Games
Aidan Plant
Team: Prostate Cancer
See MoreMajor: Neuroscience
Minor: Jazz Studies
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Case Study of AVPC in collaboration with Veterans Affairs
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: USC Climbing Club, SCHO, Jazz Ensemble
Talk to me about: Jazz and food
Lily Bai
Team: Lung Cancer
See MoreMajor: Human Biology
Minor: Healthcare Studies & Piano Performance
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: Tracking mutations for patients undergoing treatment with stage 3 and 4 non small cell lung cancer
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship
Involvements on Campus: Science Outreach, Habitats of Humanity
Talk to me about: Traveling and dogs
Alexander Hill
Team: Head/Neck Cancer
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology
Minor: N/A
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: Identification of biomarkers for Head/Neck cancer and immunotherapy response using the HD-SCA 3.0 workflow.
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: USC Triathlon
Talk to me about: Computers and Camping
Olivia Hart
Team: CAR-T
See MoreMajor: Health and Human Sciences
Minor: Spanish & Healthcare Studies
Joined: Spring 2019
Research Focus: Morphological analysis and comparison of circulating tumor cells in early and late stage breast cancer patients; Developing an HD-SCA rare cell identification assay to detect and analyze CAR-T cells through a liquid biopsy
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Dornsife SOAR, BUGS
Involvements on Campus: Trojan Health Volunteers, Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority
Talk to me about: Skydiving in Switzerland
Carlisle Maney
Team: Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Global Health
Minor: N/A
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Predicting therapy response in patients with multiple myeloma
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC PURF, Gilman Scholarship
Involvements on Campus: Kicks for Kids, Keck Student Ambassador, Pi Beta Phi Sorority
Talk to me about: The outdoors
Vera Hsu
Team: Breast Cancer
See MoreMajor: Biochemistry
Minor: Applied Analytics
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Assessing Copy Number Alterations from Cell-Free DNA in HR+/HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients.
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: Music Inspiring Community, USC TAO, Camp Kesem
Talk to me about: Mahjong and good food
Dean Tessone
Team: Osteosarcoma/Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Biological Sciences
Minor: Healthcare Studies and Health Innovation
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Assay development focused on detecting circulating osteogenic lineage cells in the peripheral blood in order to better detect osteosarcoma metastases and disease progression through states of multiple myeloma.
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: Trojan Knights, Troy Camp
Talk to me about: The best fried chicken in LA
Salmaan Sayeed
Team: Bladder Cancer
See MoreMajor: Computational Neuroscience
Minor: Linguistics
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: Investigating rare cells in bladder cancer samples to identify prognostic markers of the disease. Developing proteomic biomarkers for phenotypic characterization of CRCs.
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: USC Mobile Clinic, USC Medesign, Intramural Soccer
Talk to me about: English Premier League!
Rithik Rajani
Team: Prostate Cancer/Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology & Computer Science
Minor: N/A
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Developing a ML model for prostate cancer patients based on CTC predicting patient lifespan
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: Association of Innovative Marketing and Consulting, Photo Club, MEDLife, Project Rishi
Talk to me about: Stocks and options, photography, and electric skateboards
Annie Amacker
Team: OCULAR
See MoreMajor: Human Biology
Minor: Health Innovation
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: HD-SCA 3.0 Atlas
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, Trojan Tutoring, Colleges Against Cancer, Trojan Health Volunteers, Human Biology Association
Talk to me about: Brooklyn 99
Hari Mellacheruvu
Team: Lung Cancer
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology
Minor: N/A
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: Predictive modeling for non-small cell lung cancer using the HD-SCA 3.0 assay.
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: Science Outreach, Share a Meal
Talk to me about: Soccer
Ryan Storgard
Team:
See MoreMajor: Biological Sciences
Minor:
Joined: Fall 2017
Research Focus:
Scholarships and Fellowships:
Involvements on Campus:
Talk to me about:
Cameron Baab
Team: Prostate Cancer
See MoreMajor: Computer Science
Minor: Computational Biology & Bioinformatics
Joined: Fall 2018
Research Focus: Machine learning/artificial intelligence work with patient data to develop models to predict anything from CTC enumeration to optimal treatment for retinoblastoma patients
Scholarships and Fellowships: N/A
Involvements on Campus: N/A
Talk to me about: Music production and poker
Arushi Agrawal
Team: Breast Cancer
See MoreMajor: Neuroscience
Minor: Healthcare Studies
Joined: Spring 2019
Research Focus: Single Cell Analysis of Treatment Responses and Tumor Evolution in Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer patients
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, USC PURF, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: Community Health Connection, Interaxon, Residential Community Council, Project RISHI, Flying Samaritans
Talk to me about: LA restaurants
Mihir Kumar
Team: Lung Cancer/CAR-T
See MoreMajor: Human Biology & Economics
Minor: Mathematical Finance
Joined: Spring 2019
Research Focus: Characterization of Small Cell Lung Cancer & Tracking/Monitoring CAR-T cells in HER2+ Breast Cancer
Scholarships and Fellowships: Trustee Scholarship, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: Project RISHI, KDSAP, EMSC, Imagining America, SCHO
Talk to me about: Investing options
Sean Solomon
Team: Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Economics/Mathematics
Minor: Healthcare Studies
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Temporal Dynamic Modeling of Multiple Myeloma Progression from Precursor States
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, University Scholarship, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC PURF
Involvements on Campus: Science Outreach, Trojan Youth Soccer League, JEP, USC Cycling Team, International Consulting Club, Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
Talk to me about: Triathlon and backpacking
Daniel Liu
Team: Prostate Cancer
See MoreMajor: Biochemistry
Minor: N/A
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: Integrative molecular characterization of circulating and disseminated tumor cells from high-risk localized prostate cancer patients
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Dornsife SOAR
Involvements on Campus: Troy Camp, Dornsife Ambassador, USC Resident Assistant
Talk to me about: Pokemon and food
Andrew Chen
Team: Lung Cancer
See MoreMajor: Biochemistry
Minor: Computer Programming
Joined: Spring 2020
Research Focus: Early detection of lung cancer using HD-SCA
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: Chaotic 3 Hip Hop, NSQK Dance
Talk to me about: Anything boba related
CURE Events
The CURE Symposium
The CURE Symposium is held twice a year in order to give CURE students an opportunity to present their work. Faculty, mentors, friends, and family are invited to attend this wonderful event showcasing the hard work of our CURE students.
Night at the Lab
Night at the Lab is held once a year in the fall. This event is put on entirely by undergraduates and invites cancer patients, researchers, clinicians, and community members to explore the type of work we do in the lab. Presentations by undergraduates, Drs. Peter Kuhn and Jim Hicks, collaborators, and patient advocates give attendees an in depth view of the current state of cancer care. We hope to see you at the next one!
Senior Presentations
At the end of every school year, our graduating seniors finish off their lab career with a presentation encompassing their college lives, both in and outside of the lab. We celebrate the end of late-night lab thoughts and all the hard work our seniors have put in throughout their time with us. Check out our latest virtual celebration of senior Kate Cunningham below!
Virtual celebration for Kate Cunningham’s graduation (2020) 
A look into Kate C.’s time in the lab 
Cheers, Kate! 
CURE students fighting on at the CURE Symposium 2020 
CURE student Mihir Kumar presenting at the 2020 CURE Symposium 
CURE student Dean Tessone presenting at the 2020 CURE Symposium 
Night At the Lab 2019 
Our CURE ushers at Night At the Lab (2019) 
CURE students leading Night at the Lab (2019)
Summer Program 2020: ACE the CURE
Reviews
“What I liked most about the program was the ability to interact with professionals in their respective fields, varying from research and clinical practice to design.”
ACE the CURE student
“Every person who talked to us helped me to see my future more clearly and to point me in the right direction. I am extremely grateful that they all took the time to give us their insight and advice, preparing us to be the scientist of tomorrow.”
ACE the CURE student
“The most memorable moment over the 8 weeks was seeing the students apply what they learned into their research work right away. It was really amazing to see their growth instantly.”
Mentor
Program Description
In light of the COVID-19 realities, CSI-Cancer announced ACE the CURE (Augmented Campus Education for the Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience), an 8-week Virtual Summer Program which included workshops, journal clubs, team building exercises, and professional development. This program could not have been developed without the motivation and support from all our staff and students who committed their time and resources in curating an exciting curriculum.
Each week the students were immersed in a theme led by renowned USC faculty and scientists. They actively engaged and participated in forward moving discussions while receiving personalized mentorship. By the end of the program, students presented a collaborative project along with their individual research project.
ACE the CURE was designed to provide our students with an intensive educational experience, while shaping the future generation of scientists in our community. Together, we are inventing the future of education in cancer research.
A summary of the schedule is here.
Collaborative Project
At the end of the program, the students presented a collaborative project on diversity, equity, and inclusion. One group of students led a workshop discussion on various topics including the history of system racism, common arguments and counter-arguments to today’s ideas, racism in STEM, and challenging our implicit biases. Another group of students curated a student-led diversity initiative that could be carried out throughout the school year. The CURE-led program, titled Research Exploration and Career Help (REACH), will partner with USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI) to bring research experience and niche career knowledge to high school students in local Los Angeles communities.
A huge thank you to all of our speakers! Fight On! 
Collaborative Project Part 1: Student-led discussion on diversity 
Collaborative Project Part 2: Curation of REACH program 
ACE the CURE student Carlisle Maney presenting at the 2020 Summer CURE Symposium 
ACE the CURE student Lily Bai presenting at the 2020 Summer CURE Symposium 
ACE the CURE student Sachin Narayan presenting at the 2020 Summer CURE Symposium 
CSI-Cancer attending the 2020 Summer CURE symposium
Fellowship Awardees
Congratulations to our outstanding students!
Summer 2020 Awardees
| Arushi Agrawal | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Andrew Chen | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Vera Hsu | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Mihir Kumar | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Carlisle Maney | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Salmaan Sayeed | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Sean Solomon | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Dean Tessone | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Eric Yang | SURF Gupta Family Fellowship |
Spring 2020 Awardees
| Kate Cunningham | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Eric Yang | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Ryan Storgard | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Carlise Maney | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Arushi Agrawal | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Olivia Hart | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Mihir Kumar | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Daniel Liu | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Vera Hsu | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Sean Solomon | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Fall 2019 Awardees
| Kate Cunningham | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Ayeshna Desai | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Ryan Storgard | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
| Arushi Agrawal | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Vera Hsu | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
| Isabelle Vu | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
