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!

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 available in spring semesters. Students should review the prerequisites leading up to BISC 410.

The Fall 2023 application is closed! Please check back in January for updates on the Spring 2024 application.

Please contact Allie Welsh, awelsh@usc.edu, with any questions.


The CURE Team

Christina Chang

Team: Retinoblastoma

See More

Major: Biochemistry

Minor: Public Health, East Asian Languages and Culture

Joined: Fall 2021

Research Focus:

Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, USC Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Involvements on Campus: Science Outreach, AMWA

Talk to me about: Dramas and table tennis

Brandon Ye (he/him)

Team: UTUC

See More

Major: Quantitative Biology

Minor:

Joined: Fall 2021

Research Focus: Substantiating predictive models for metastatic relapse in newly diagnosed UTUC patients utilizing a multi-cancer liquid biopsy approach.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, USC Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship, USC Dornsife SURF

Involvements on Campus: Healthcare Markets Initiative @ USC Schaeffer, USC MEDesign, Science Outreach

Talk to me about: NBA basketball, spikeball, and John Mayer

Srikar Kolluru (he/him)

Team: Legacy LMD, MUC1 CAR-T

See More

Major: Human Biology

Minor: Business

Joined: Spring 2022

Research Focus: Understanding disease progression and cellular enumeration in terminal LMD patients.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Spring 2022 Gala Foundation Innovation & Convergence Scholarship

Involvements on Campus:

Talk to me about: Anything Marvel related, running, and Harry Potter

Monica Rodriguez (she/her)

Team: RNA

See More

Major: Quantitative Biology

Minor: Culture Competence in Medicine

Joined: Spring 2022

Research Focus: Correlating copy number status with gene expression.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Trustee Scholarship

Involvements on Campus: Mobile Clinic, Trojan Democrats, Undergraduate Student Government, iGEM, Biology Club

Talk to me about: Horror movies, LA Dodgers, locally owned restaurants, ghosts books, Taylor Swift

Theresa Luo

Team: Multiple Myeloma

See More

Major: Chemistry

Minor:

Joined: Spring 2022

Research Focus: Genome analysis of peripheral blood assays from clinical data.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Trustee Scholarship

Involvements on Campus: Science Outreach, USC MEMO, USC SCAPE

Talk to me about: Anything Marvel or Disney related :))

Emmett Liljegren

Team: PACS

See More

Major: Human Biology

Minor: Global Health

Joined: Fall 2021

Research Focus: Platelets, endothelial cells, and COVID-19.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Trustee Scholarship, Trudi Berwin Student Support Fellowship, USC Dornsife SURF

Involvements on Campus: QuASA, JEP

Talk to me about: Coffee, music, baking, hiking, and science!

Amy Huang

Team: Bladder Cancer

See More

Major: Biological Sciences

Minor: Healthcare Studies

Joined: Fall 2021

Research Focus:

Scholarships and Fellowships: Trudi Berwin Student Support Fellowship, USC Dornsife SURF

Involvements on Campus:

Talk to me about:

Kaelyn Cho

Team: RNA

See More

Major: Biomedical Engineering (Electrical Emphasis)

Minor:

Joined: Spring 2021

Research Focus: Understanding differences in white blood cell RNA expression patterns

Scholarships and Fellowships:

Involvements on Campus: ASBME, FSAE electric, Hellions of Troy

Talk to me about: Theology

Andrew Udov (he/Him)

Team: Prostate Cancer

See More

Major: Human Biology

Minor:

Joined: Spring 2022

Research Focus: Developing methods to track CAR T-cells within metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients and longitudinally studying the effectiveness of the therapy.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Trustee Scholarship, USC Dornsife SURF

Involvements on Campus: USC EMSC, USC Mobile Clinic, Southern California Healthcare Outreach

Talk to me about: UFC and bowling

Vidur Mushran

Team: Data Science

See More

Major: Neuroscience

Minor:

Joined: Spring 2023

Research Focus: Developing a rare cell characterization map for clustering and defining liquid biopsy profiles

Scholarships and Fellowships:

Involvements on Campus: Trojan Marching Band

Talk to me about: Squash and classical guitar

anya Shah

Team: Lung Cancer

See More

Major: Global Health

Minor: Natural Sciences

Joined: Spring 2022

Research Focus:

Scholarships and Fellowships:

Involvements on Campus:

Talk to me about:

Divya Suresh

Team: Pancreatic Cancer

See More

Major: Biological Sciences

Minor: Business

Joined: Fall 2021

Research Focus: Identification of biomarkers for pancreatic cancer diagnosis using the HDSCA3.0 workflow.

Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship

Involvements on Campus: Alpha Epsilon Delta, Worldmed @ UPC, USC Scholars Leading Scholars, Trojan Scholar Society, Prison Education Project

Talk to me about: Weightlifting and rap music

Amelia Marvit (She/her)

Team: Breast Cancer

See More

Major: Human Biology

Minor: Healthcare Studies

Joined: Spring 2022

Research Focus: Using peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid liquid biopsies to track responses to CAR-T therapy for HER2-positive breast to brain metastases.

Scholarships and Fellowships: 2022 Helen Leslie Milligan Turner Memorial Fellowship, Paul M. Halopoff Scholarship, Society of Trojan Women Scholarship, Women in Science and Engineering Fellow, USC Alumni Scholarship Match Award, USC Alumni Association SCion Scholarship, Robert Glenn Rapp Foundation Endowed Scholarship

Involvements on Campus: Chabad at USC, Biology Club, AMWA, Garden Club, Peer Tutoring, JEP, Women in Science and Engineering, Human Biology Association

Talk to me about: Time travel, garden snails, and scooters

samuel liu

Team: Data Science

See More

Major: Chemistry, Data Science

Minor:

Joined: Spring 2023

Research Focus: Developing a channel classifier nodel for rare cell characterization

Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholar, Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Involvements on Campus:

Talk to me about: Hiking, Indie rock, NFL football

stella kahl

Team: Data Science

See More

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Minor:

Joined: Spring 2023

Research Focus: Streamlining, automating, and optimizing rare cell stratification methods for advanced scientific discovery

Scholarships and Fellowships:

Involvements on Campus:

Talk to me about:


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. 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.


Conferences and Publications

Conferences

April 2023 – American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

  • Lily Bai presented her poster, Longitudinal tracking of circulating rare events in the liquid biopsy stage III-IV NSCLC patients during treatment
  • Emmeline Lin presented her poster, Liquid biopsy to detect biomarkers in early-stage surgically-resected pancreatic cancer
  • Salmaan Sayeed presented his poster, Circulating rare events inform disease progression in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma undergoing surgery
  • Carli Kaleta and Dean Tessone presented poster, Single cell characterization of circulating plasma cells and BCMA levels in patients with multiple myeloma

April 2023 – West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (WCBSURC)

  • Audrey Limb presented her poster, Liquid biopsy as a method to detect biomarkers in early-stage surgically-resected pancreatic cancer
  • Amelia Marvit presented her poster, Liquid biopsy to monitor HER2 CAR-T therapy for breast to brain metastases
  • Sankalp Mrutyunjaya presented his poster, Predicting survival outcomes for patients with bladder cancer and upper tract urothelial carcinoma
  • Divya Suresh presented her poster, Characterization of cellular and acellular analytes from the liquid biopsy of pancreatic cancer patients during endoscopy ultrasound

April 2023 – USC Undergraduate Symposium

  • Carla Collier presented her poster, Monitoring treatment response in HNSCC and NSCLC patients using liquid biopsy
  • Amelia Marvit presented her poster, Liquid biopsy to monitor HER2 CAR-T therapy for breast to brain metastases
  • Sankalp Mrutyunjaya presented his poster, Predicting survival outcomes for patients with bladder cancer and upper tract urothelial carcinoma
  • Anya Shah presented her poster, Liquid biopsy as a companion diagnostic method for lung cancer
  • Andrew Udov presented his poster, Longitudinal circulating rare cell analysis of CAR-T therapy within metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients
  • Brandon Ye presented his poster, Substantiating predictive models for metastatic relapse in newly diagnosed upper tract urothelial carcinoma patients utilizing a multi-cancer machine learning approach
2022 Conferences

May 2022 – Los Angeles Bioscience Ecosystem Summit (LABEST) 2022

  • Lily Bai, Junior majoring in Human Biology and Global Medicine, presented her poster, Longitudinal tracking of circulating rare events in liquid biopsy of stage III-IV NSCLC patients during treatment

April 2022 – American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

  • Sachin Narayan, Senior majoring in Global Health, presented his poster, Circulating tumor cell kinetics and rare cell morphology monitor disease progression in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

April 2022 – West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (WCBSURC)

  • Emmeline Lin, Junior majoring in Human Biology, won Outstanding Poster Presentation for her poster, Liquid biopsy as a method to detect biomarkers in early-stage surgically-resected pancreatic cancer
  • Lily Bai, Junior majoring in Human Biology and Global Medicine, won 1st place in Session 3 for her poster, Longitudinal tracking of circulating rare events in liquid biopsy of stage III-IV NSCLC patients during treatment
  • Salmaan Sayeed, Junior majoring in Neuroscience, presented his poster, Characterization of cellular and acellular analytes from pre-cystectomy liquid biopsies in patients newly diagnosed with primary bladder cancer

Publications

Seo J, Kumar M, Mason J, Blackhall F, Matsumoto N, Dive C, Hicks J, Kuhn P, Shishido S. Plasticity of circulating tumor cells in small cell lung cancer. Sci Rep. 13, 11775 (2023).

2022 Publications

Qi E, Courcoubetis G, Liljegren E, Herrera E, Nguyen N, Nadri M, Ghandehari S, Kazemian E, Reckamp K, Merin N, Merchant A, Mason J, Figueiredo J, Shishido S, Kuhn P. Investigation of liquid biopsy analytes in peripheral blood of individuals after SARS-CoV-2 infection. eBioMedicine. 2023, Vol 90, 104519.

Ndacayisaba L, Rappard K, Shishido S, Setayesh S, Tang G, Lin P, Matsumoto N, Hsu C, Nevarez R, Ruiz C, Naghdloo A, Yang E, Kelly K, Hicks J, Mason J, Orlowski R, Manasanch E, Kuhn P. Characterization of BCMA expression in circulating rare single cells of patients with plasma cell neoplasms. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(21), 13427.

Narayan S, Courcoubetis G, Mason J, Naghdloo A, Kolencik D, Patterson S, Kuhn P, Shishido S. Defining a liquid biopsy profile of circulating tumor cells and oncosomes in metastatic colorectal cancer for clinical utility. Cancers 2022, 14(19), 4891.

Setayesh S, Hart O, Naghdloo A, Higa N, Nieva J, Lu J, Hwang S, Wilkinson K, Kidd M, Anderson A, Velasco C, Kolatkar A, Matsumoto N, Nevarez R, Hicks J, Mason J, Shishido S, Kuhn P. Multianalyte Liquid Biopsy to Aid the Diagnostic Workup of Breast Cancer. npj Breast Cancer. 8, 112 (2022).

Ndacayisaba L, Rappard K, Shishido S, Ruiz C, Matsumoto N, Navarez R, Tang G, Lin P, Setayesh S, Naghdloo A, Hsu C, Maney C, Symer D, Bethel K, Kelly K, Merchant A, Orlowski R, Hicks J, Mason J, Manasanch E, Kuhn P. Enrichment-Free Single-Cell Detection and Morphogenomic Profiling of Myeloma Patient Samples to Delineate Circulating Rare Plasma Cell Clones. Current Oncology, 2022, 29, 2954-2972

Shishido S, Ghoreifi A, Sayeed S, Courcoubetis G, Huang A, Ye B, Mrutyunjaya S, Gill I, Kuhn P, Mason J, Djaladat H. Liquid Biopsy Landscape in Patients with Primary Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma. Cancers, 2022, 14(12), 3007.

Shishido S, Sayeed S, Courcoubetis G, Djaladat H, Miranda G, Pienta K, Nieva J, Hansel D, Desai M, Gill I, Kuhn P, Mason JCharacterization of cellular and acelluar analytes from pre-cystectomy liquid biopsies in patients newly diagnosed with primary bladder cancer. Cancers 2022; 14(3), 758

Kolencik D, Narayan S, Thiele JA, McKinley D, Gerdtsson A, Welter L, Hosek P, Ostasov P, Vycital O, Bruha J, Fiala O, Sorejs O, Liska V, Pitule P, Kuhn P, Shishido S. Circulating tumor cell kinetics and morphology from the liquid biopsy predict disease progression in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer following resection. Cancers 2022, 14(3), 642

2021 Publications

Chai S, Matsumoto N, Storgard R, Peng C, Aparicio A, Ormseth B, Rappard K, Cunningham K, Kolatkar A, Nevarez R, Tu K, Hsu C, Malihi P, Corn P, Zurita A, Hicks J, Kuhn P, Ruiz C. Platelet-coated circulating tumor cells are a predictive biomarker in patients with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer. Molecular Cancer Research 2021, 19(12), 2036-2045.


Fellowships/Awards

Congratulations to our outstanding students!

Summer 2023

Carla CollierDornsife SURF
Samuel LiuProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Monica RodriguezDornsife SURF
Andrew Udov Dornsife SURF
Brandon YeProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Spring 2023

Lily BaiDornsife SOAR
Christina ChangProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amy HuangDornsife SOAR
Srikar Kolluru Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Emmett Liljegren Dornsife SOAR
Theresa Luo Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amelia MarvitProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Monica RodriguezDornsife SOAR
Anya ShahProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Divya SureshProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Andrew UdovDornsife SOAR
Brandon YeProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Fall 2022

Lily BaiDornsife SOAR
Christina ChangProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amy HuangDornsife SOAR
Carli Kaleta Dornsife SOAR
Srikar Kolluru Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Emmett Liljegren Dornsife SOAR
Audrey LimbDornsife SOAR
Emmeline LinProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amelia MarvitProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Sankalp MrutyunjayaProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Monica RodriguezDornsife SOAR
Salmaan SayeedDornsife SOAR
Anya ShahProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Divya SureshProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Andrew UdovDornsife SOAR
Brandon YeProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Summer 2022

Lily BaiProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Christina ChangProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amy HuangTrudi Berwin Student Support Fund (BUGS Program)
SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Emmett LiljegrenTrudi Berwin Student Support Fund (BUGS Program)
SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Emmeline LinProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Amelia Marvit2022 Helen Leslie Milligan Turner Memorial Fellowship
Andrew UdovSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Brandon YeSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship

Class of 2022

Arushi Agrawal Order of The Laurel & The Palm
Vera HsuOrder of Troy
Mihir KumarOrder of The Laurel & The Palm
Sachin Narayan Order of The Laurel & The Palm
Aidan PlantOrder of Troy
Eric YangOrder of The Laurel & The Palm

Spring 2022
Lily BaiSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Mihir KumarProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Audrey LimbSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Emmeline LinProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Salmaan Sayeed Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Kameron ShahabiProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Jena TranSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Fall 2021
Lily BaiSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Vera HsuSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Nathan KristantoProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Mihir KumarSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Audrey LimbSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Emmeline LinProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Salmaan SayeedProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Kameron ShahabiProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Jena TranSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Eric YangProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Summer 2021
Arushi AgrawalSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Carla CollierSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Carli KaletaTrudi Berwin Student Support Fellowship
Nathan KristantoTrudi Berwin Student Support Fellowship
Audrey LimbSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Emmeline LinProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Jaden MullinSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Salmaan SayeedProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Class of 2021

Olivia HartOrder of Troy
Mihir Kumar Okin Scholarship in Biological Sciences
Ryan StorgardUniversity Trustees Award
John Petruska Memorial Award

Spring 2021
Arushi AgrawalSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Lily BaiSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Alex HillSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Amanda HmelarSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Vera HsuSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Mihir KumarProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Audrey LimbSOAR Dornsife Gupta Family Undergraduate Fellowship
Emmeline LinSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Carlisle ManeyProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Jaden MullinSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Aidan PlantSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Rithik RajaniProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Salmaan SayeedSOAR Dornsife Stone Undergraduate Fellowship
Sean SolomonProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Jena TranSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Maddie WalkerSOAR Dornsife Stone Undergraduate Fellowship
Fall 2020
Arushi AgrawalProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Annie AmackerSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Lily BaiSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Olivia HartSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Alex HillSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Mihir KumarSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Carlisle ManeyProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Aidan PlantSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Salmaan SayeedSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Sean SolomonProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Ryan StorgardProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Dean TessoneSOAR Dornsife Gillman Fellowship
Eric YangProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Summer 2020

Arushi AgrawalSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Andrew ChenSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Vera HsuSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Mihir KumarSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Carlisle ManeyProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Salmaan SayeedSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Sean SolomonProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Dean TessoneSURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Eric YangSURF Gupta Family Fellowship
Class of 2020

Kate CunninghamOrder of Troy

Spring 2020
Kate CunninghamProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Eric YangProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Ryan StorgardProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Carlise ManeyProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Arushi AgrawalProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Olivia HartSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Mihir KumarSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Daniel LiuSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Vera HsuSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Sean SolomonSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Fall 2019
Kate CunninghamProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Ayeshna DesaiProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Ryan StorgardProvost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Arushi AgrawalSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Vera HsuSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship
Isabelle VuSOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship