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. Students should review the prerequisites leading up to BISC 410.
Thank you for your interest in the CURE program. The spring 2023 application is closed. Please continue to follow us for updates and information. If you have any questions, contact Allie Welsh, awelsh@usc.edu.
The CURE Team

Salmaan Sayeed
he/him
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, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: USC Mobile Clinic, USC Medesign, Intramural Soccer
Talk to me about: English Premier League!

Audrey Limb
she/her
Team: Breast Cancer
See MoreMajor: Human Biology
Minor: Health Innovation
Joined: Fall 2020
Research Focus: Investigation of circulating tumor cells expressing both epithelial and leukocyte markers at high abundance in the metastatic breast cancer setting.
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, Paul M. Halopoff Scholarship, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Dornsife SURF, ExL Awards
Involvements on Campus: Remedy Through Music, Peaks and Professors, Science Outreach
Talk to me about: Hiking, kickboxing, and LA coffee shops

Christina Chang
Team: Retinoblastoma
See MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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 :))

Dean Tessone
he/him
Team: Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Biological Sciences (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology)
Minor: Disruptive Innovation
Joined: Fall 2019
Research Focus: 1. Using advanced clustering techniques to identify molecular transcriptomic subtypes of MM in order to improve understanding of disease biology. 2. Classifying cells in the peripheral blood of MM patients for the development of advanced liquid biopsy
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Dornsife SURF, USC Dornsife SOAR Gillman Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: Trojan Knights, Troy Camp, HCTA, Phi Beta Kappa
Talk to me about: The best movie you’ve seen recently

Carla Collier
Team: Lung Cancer
See MoreMajor: Human Biology
Minor: Human Disease
Joined: Fall 2020
Research Focus: UAMS
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Dornsife SURF
Involvements on Campus: Colleges Against Cancer, LSA, JEP, Reader’s Plus, Interaxon, Kinder to College
Talk to me about: Books, coffee, and photography

Emmett Liljegren
Team: PACS
See MoreMajor: 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!

Sankalp Mrutyunjaya
he/him
Team: Bladder/UTUC
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology
Minor: Healthcare Studies
Joined: Fall 2021
Research Focus: Using machine learning to build prediction models for outcomes in patients diagnosed with bladder cancer and/or UTUC.
Scholarships and Fellowships: USC Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: Spanglish, Everyday Responder’s Project, USC Triathlon, Cathartic
Talk to me about: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, good food in LA, cooking

Amy Huang
Team: Bladder Cancer
See MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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

Lily Bai
she/her
Team: Lung Cancer
See MoreMajor: Human Biology and MS in Global Medicine
Minor: Healthcare Studies
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, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: Science Outreach, Habitats of Humanity, USC Interhealth Council, Violence Intervention Volunteers, Trojan Scholar Society
Talk to me about: Dogs, golf, fostering cats, chef things

Emmeline Lin
Team: Pancreatic Cancer
See MoreMajor: Human Biology
Minor: Healthcare Studies
Joined: Fall 2020
Research Focus: Using liquid biopsy to identify and compare possible biomarkers in the hepatic portal vein and peripheral blood of patients for earlier pancreatic cancer detection and characterization of disease progression.
Scholarships and Fellowships: Presidential Scholarship, USC URAP, USC Dornsife Continuing Students Scholarship, USC Dornsife SOAR, USC Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: Community Health Involvement Project, Asian American Christian Fellowship
Talk to me about: Plants and snowboarding

Carli Kaleta
Team: Multiple Myeloma
See MoreMajor: Quantitative Biology
Minor:
Joined: Spring 2021
Research Focus: High-resolution Single Cell Proteomic Analysis Pipeline for Characterization of Multiple Myeloma Progression.
Scholarships and Fellowships: Trudi Berwin Fellowship
Involvements on Campus: Make-A-Wish USC, Xpressions dance company, Genomics and Geobiology Undergraduate Research Experience, Kappa Alpha Theta
Talk to me about: The best restaurants around LA

Divya Suresh
Team: Pancreatic Cancer
See MoreMajor: 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 MoreMajor: 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

Anya Shah
Team:
See MoreMajor: Global Health
Minor: Natural Sciences
Joined: Spring 2022
Research Focus:
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
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
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 J. Characterization 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
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!
Fall 2022Lily Bai | Dornsife SOAR |
Christina Chang | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Amy Huang | Dornsife SOAR |
Carli Kaleta | Dornsife SOAR |
Srikar Kolluru | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Emmett Liljegren | Dornsife SOAR |
Audrey Limb | Dornsife SOAR |
Emmeline Lin | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Amelia Marvit | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Sankalp Mrutyunjaya | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Monica Rodriguez | Dornsife SOAR |
Salmaan Sayeed | Dornsife SOAR |
Anya Shah | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Divya Suresh | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Andrew Udov | Dornsife SOAR |
Brandon Ye | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Lily Bai | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Christina Chang | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Amy Huang | Trudi Berwin Student Support Fund (BUGS Program) SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Emmett Liljegren | Trudi Berwin Student Support Fund (BUGS Program) SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Emmeline Lin | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Amelia Marvit | 2022 Helen Leslie Milligan Turner Memorial Fellowship |
Andrew Udov | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Brandon Ye | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Arushi Agrawal | Order of The Laurel & The Palm |
Vera Hsu | Order of Troy |
Mihir Kumar | Order of The Laurel & The Palm |
Sachin Narayan | Order of The Laurel & The Palm |
Aidan Plant | Order of Troy |
Eric Yang | Order of The Laurel & The Palm |
Lily Bai | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Mihir Kumar | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Audrey Limb | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Emmeline Lin | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Salmaan Sayeed | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Kameron Shahabi | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Jena Tran | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Lily Bai | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Vera Hsu | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Nathan Kristanto | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Mihir Kumar | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Audrey Limb | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Emmeline Lin | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Salmaan Sayeed | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Kameron Shahabi | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Jena Tran | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Eric Yang | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Arushi Agrawal | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Carla Collier | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Carli Kaleta | Trudi Berwin Student Support Fellowship |
Nathan Kristanto | Trudi Berwin Student Support Fellowship |
Audrey Limb | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Emmeline Lin | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Jaden Mullin | SURF Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Salmaan Sayeed | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Olivia Hart | Order of Troy |
Mihir Kumar | Okin Scholarship in Biological Sciences |
Ryan Storgard | University Trustees Award John Petruska Memorial Award |
Arushi Agrawal | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Lily Bai | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Alex Hill | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Amanda Hmelar | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Vera Hsu | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Mihir Kumar | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Audrey Limb | SOAR Dornsife Gupta Family Undergraduate Fellowship |
Emmeline Lin | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Carlisle Maney | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Jaden Mullin | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Aidan Plant | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Rithik Rajani | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Salmaan Sayeed | SOAR Dornsife Stone Undergraduate Fellowship |
Sean Solomon | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Jena Tran | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Maddie Walker | SOAR Dornsife Stone Undergraduate Fellowship |
Arushi Agrawal | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Annie Amacker | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Lily Bai | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Olivia Hart | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Alex Hill | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Mihir Kumar | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Carlisle Maney | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Aidan Plant | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Salmaan Sayeed | SOAR Dornsife Undergraduate Fellowship |
Sean Solomon | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Ryan Storgard | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
Dean Tessone | SOAR Dornsife Gillman Fellowship |
Eric Yang | Provost Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
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 |
Kate Cunningham | Order of Troy |
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 |
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 |