Christine Brown Lab

Maryam Aftabizadeh, Ph.D., earned her B.S. in biology in Tehran, Iran. Dr. Aftabizadeh moved to Germany to join a postgraduate program at RWTH Aachen, one of Germany’s Universities of Excellence, where she completed her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular cell biology. To pursue her interest in cancer biology and immunology, she joined the Department of Immuno-Oncology at City of Hope to work with Hua Yu, Ph.D., and, afterward, with a desire to understand the role of the tumor microenvironment in growth and progression of GBM, she joined the lab of Marcin Kortylewski, Ph.D., in the same department. She joined Dr. Brown’s lab as a staff scientist. Her project is concerned with, but not limited to, designing and executing immunochemical studies, including immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and mass cytometry (CyTOF), coupled with analyses using high dimensional imaging software to profile immune cell infiltrates in GBM tumors. Dr. Aftabizadeh’s goals are to understand and surmount barriers limiting application of CAR T cell immunotherapy to glioblastoma and other primary and metastatic brain tumors. These barriers include the immunosuppressive microenvironment, T cell persistence and exhaustion and tumor antigen escape.
 

Brenda Aguilar earned her B.S. in animal science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and her Registered Veterinary Technology License from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. She joined City of Hope in 1998 in the Division of Comparative Medicine/Animal Resources working as an Animal Health Technician. In 2003, Brenda joined the laboratory of Michael Jensen, M.D., as a research associate where she studied trafficking and anti-tumor efficacy of CAR T cells against glioblastoma. In 2015, Aguilar was promoted to staff scientist and is now the comparative medicine studies Aguilar currently works with Christine Brown, Ph.D., in the optimization of CAR T cell therapy for optimizing clinical parameters and translating this therapy to patients. She is also involved with a project that aims to understand the tumor microenvironment and tumor architecture of GBM using chromogenic multiplex immunohistochemistry.

Darya Alizadeh, Ph.D. is an assistant research professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope. Dr. Alizadeh earned her B.S. in engineering from University of Orumieh in Iran. Later, she earned her M.S. in molecular biology from California State University, Fullerton and her doctoral degree in cancer biology from the University of Arizona.
 
She then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at City of Hope studying glioma immunotherapy. Dr. Alizadeh has extensive expertise in immuno-oncology and immunotherapy. Her research focuses on identifying the drivers of immune response and resistance in brain tumors. As part of the CAR T cell therapy program at City of Hope, one of her primary research efforts is focused on deciphering the pathways that may impair the efficacy of CAR T cell therapy and to further develop strategies to target the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment to enhance immunotherapies for gliomas, including CAR T cell therapy. Her studies focus on elucidating the interplay between the endogenous immune system, CAR T cells and gliomas, both clinically and preclinically.
 
Dr. Alizadeh also provides scientific insight for correlative studies from the ongoing clinical trials focused on the treatment of recurrent glioma patients with CAR T cells. She is part of a multidisciplinary network of scientists and clinicians aiming to improve the outcome for cancer patients.

Mohsen Basiri, Ph.D., began his scientific journey with a B.S. in Biology from Shahid Beheshti University in Iran. He then earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics at Tarbiat Modares University. Dr. Basiri's research interests took him to the Royan Institute for his first postdoctoral fellowship, where he explored the potential of genetic manipulation and genome editing for stem cells differentiation and regenerative medicine. Driven by a desire to combat cancer, Dr. Basiri shifted his focus to immunotherapy during his second postdoctoral fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine's Center for Cell and Gene Therapy in Houston, Texas. There, he investigated the use of genetically engineered T cells for treatment of solid tumors.

Following his postdoctoral training, Dr. Basiri returned to the Royan Institute as an Assistant Professor. There, he continued his research on developing CAR T cell therapies and played a key role in establishing a cGMP-compliant facility for viral vector production and CAR T cell manufacturing. In 2023, Dr. Basiri joined Dr. Christine Brown's lab, where his current research endeavors center on developing novel synthetic proteins and gene editing approaches to enhance the safety and efficacy of adoptive T cell therapies for brain cancers.

Dominic Bellavari, B.S., is a research associate in the Christine Brown lab at City of Hope

Wuyang (Franklin) Chen is a research associate who joined Dr. Christine Brown’s lab in 2020, where he focuses Dr. Brown's guidance on developing innovative immunotherapy approaches, particularly CAR T cell therapy, for the treatment of glioblastoma. He has contributed to multiple projects, including TGF-beta receptor knockout CAR T cells, designed to enhance T cell function by overcoming the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, iPSC-derived CAR T cells, which leverage induced pluripotent stem cells for scalable and allogeneic CAR T cell production, and dual CAR T cell therapies, which improve targeting scope and precision by recognizing multiple tumor antigens simultaneously. In the future, he hopes to continue developing these advancements into clinical applications, bringing next-generation immunotherapies to patients.

He earned his bachelor’s degrees in Biochemistry and Applied Mathematics at UCLA, then earned a master’s degree in biomedical science at the California University of Science and Medicine, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree at Western University of Health Sciences. He hopes to become a hematology-oncologist.

Jyun Hao Chen earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis. Following the completion of his degree he participated in a one-year internship at the University of Southern California where his research focused on stem cells differentiation, such as a ureteric bud. He continued at the University of Southern California as a technician to help investigate how to differentiate inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into brain pericytes. He is currently working on incorporating meditope technology into CAR designs, conferring new functionality to CAR T cells.

Kaixin Du, earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology in a Joint Graduate Program of National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS) and Beijing Normal University, where she established a huge interest in cancer biology and immunology. She then joined Prof. Christine Brown’s lab at City of Hope as postdoctoral fellow. Kaixin’s current research focuses on enhancing CAR T cells therapeutic efficacy in solid tumor (e.g. glioblastoma and melanoma) through multiple levels of engineering.

Bita was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, and earned her B.Sc. in plant pathology and M.Sc. in biotechnology at the Immam Khomeini International University (graduated with distinction). In her first master’s thesis, she focused on surveying the effect of nano particles, as elicitors, on gene expression in plant cell cultures which resulted in two publications. Due to her interest in gene editing, she then joined a transgenic animal lab at Stem Cell Technology Research Center in Tehran, focusing on generating mouse models by CRISPR, Cas9, resulting in two additional publications. In 2019, she came to the U.S to continue her education at the University of California, Irvine. In 2021, she joined the lab of Dr. Christine Brown PhD to pursue her interest in drug development specifically for cancer and earned a second Master’s in Translational Medicine through a joint program between Keck Graduate Institute and the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope. Her project focused on improving IL13Ra2-directed CAR T cells through the gene editing strategies, specifically knocking out CD70 on the IL13Ra2-directed CAR T cells. She is currently pursuing a PhD, under the mentorship of Dr. Brown, by investigating novel targets to expand the current repertoire of CAR T cells targeting glioblastoma.

Dr. Gutova’s research is centered on developing novel regenerative and immunotherapeutic strategies to address neurological damage and cognitive impairments caused by cancer treatments. Specifically, she investigates the therapeutic potential of neural stem cells (NSCs) and their extracellular vesicles (EVs) to reduce neuronal damage and chronic inflammation, with the goal of preventing neural cell death and promoting tissue regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS). Her work targets conditions such as chemotherapy and radiation-induced neurotoxicity, which significantly impact the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors.

In parallel, Dr. Gutova is developing clinically relevant 3D in vitro models of glioblastoma and normal human brain (“mini brains”) derived from NSCs to better mimic the brain complex architecture and tumor microenvironment, collaboratively with Dr. Michael Barish. These platforms enable robust evaluation of CAR T cell immunotherapy and the assessment of long-term neurotoxicity, including effects on synaptic integrity and neural network function. In collaboration with Drs. Christine Brown and Russell Rockne, she is also studying the role of interstitial fluid flow (IFF), vascular normalization, and mathematical modeling in enhancing CAR T cell trafficking and therapeutic efficacy. Our translational approach leverages advanced MRI techniques and clinically available agents to modulate IFF, with the goal of improving CAR T therapy through personalized, physiology-informed strategies.

Jonathan Hibbard, Ph.D. is an assistant research professor in the Christine Brown Lab at City of Hope.

Cheng-Fu (Jeff) Kuo earned B.S. in Life Science from National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan, and later completed his M.S. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from University of Southern California where his research mainly focused on hepatitis B and C viruses. Jeff finished his Ph.D. training in the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences and continued his research as a postdoc fellow at City of Hope. His projects involve in combining meditope technology into CAR designs, conferring new functionality to the CAR T cells. The novel platform for CAR design will greatly improve CAR T cells manufacture and therapeutic potential. 

Eric Ma earned a B.S. in Chemistry with a Minor in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Since joining the Christine Brown lab in May 2021, he has been working with Margarita Gutova, M.D. on identifying new approaches for therapeutic cell delivery.

Xiujian Ma earned his M.D. from Heidelberg University, where he concurrently completed his Ph.D. program at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany. His doctoral research focused on developing patient-derived tumor organoids, refining his proficiency in cutting-edge experimental models. He previously completed a five-year Bachelor of Medicine at Wuhan University in Wuhan, China, and subsequently undertook a three-year neurosurgery residency at Beijing Tiantan Hospital in Beijing, China, significantly enriching his expertise in brain-related pathologies.

Xiujian Ma is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Christine Brown’s lab at City of Hope. His research is dedicated to advancing CAR T cell therapies for brain tumors by elucidating the interactions between CAR T cells and the tumor microenvironment to pinpoint actionable therapeutic targets. 

Christian Masia earned his B.S. in Molecular Biology & Physiology with a minor in Chemistry from Cal State Long Beach. During his time at CSLB, he participated in research in the lab of Dr. Deborah Fraser, studying the innate immune protein C1q’s role in atherosclerosis, while working as a PCIA certified rock-climbing instructor. After graduating at the start of the pandemic he went to work as a clinical lab technologist for Perkin Elmer Genomics where he ran Covid-19 PCR tests. After two years at PEG he decided that I wanted to return to the research world to further his education and eventually apply to graduate school. He is a Duarte native and has chosen City of Hope to get back to where he grew up.

Robyn Wong Nee earned a B.S. in chemistry and integrative biology at University of California, Berkeley. She began her research as an undergraduate, publishing her work on the phylogeography of the African Helmeted Terrapin. She was then selected as a CIRM Bridges intern, successfully completing her work with Dr. William Weiss and Dr. Qi-Wen Fan at University of California, San Francisco. Her project focused on small molecule inhibition of the mTOR pathway as a combination therapy in glioblastoma. In 2016, she joined the team of Christine Brown, Ph.D., at City of Hope and has worked closely with Darya Alizadeh, Ph.D., to dissect the mechanism of maintaining an IL15-mediated stem cell-like phenotype in CAR T cells. Her current work is focused on understanding the tumor microenvironment in syngeneic mouse models of glioblastoma.

Hernán Reza, M.S., grew up in Pico Rivera, California, and earned his B.S. in microbiology with a minor in chemistry and M.S. in biological sciences at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Mentored by Dr. Jill Adler-Moore, he focused on the development and optimization of a novel liposomal vaccine against the fungal infection pulmonary aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus. Reza is currently pursuing his doctorate at the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope. His work with Christine Brown, Ph.D., and Zhiqiang (Daniel) Wang, Ph.D., focuses on improving the efficacy of CAR T cell therapy against solid tumors, targeting the adenosinergic pathway in the tumor microenvironment via gene editing technology.

Vanessa Salvary joined City of Hope in August 2020 with a passion for research and helping people. She received her B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and plans to pursue a graduate degree to further her research career in the field of data analysis and immunology. She earned her Laboratory Animal Technician certification in February 2020 and is currently pursuing her Laboratory Animal Technologist certificate. She has seven years of experience working with animals in research and veterinary hospital settings. Salvary is eager to be part of the TCTRL team to develop and translate her benchwork and computational skills to help advance treatment and restore wellness and hope for GBM patients.

Gaby Sanchez, M.S, is a research associate in the Christine Brown lab at City of Hope.

Supraja Saravanakumar earned a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from the University of California, Davis and an M.P.H. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to working at Dr. Christine Brown’s lab, Supraja worked with Dr. Mark Huising at UC Davis on the proliferation of virgin B-cells in pancreatic islets and with Dr. Markus Muschen at City of Hope on the developmental partitioning of SYK and ZAP70 kinases in B-ALL and B-CLL. She initially joined Dr. Brown’s lab in 2020 working with Sharareh Gholamin, M.D. on targeting SPP1 to overcome myeloid-driven resistance to CAR-T therapy. 

In 2022, Supraja left to pursue her M.P.H., with a focus on addressing health equity and improving maternal and child health outcomes locally and internationally. Following graduation, she returned to Dr. Brown’s lab in 2025, now working with Mohsen Basiri, Ph.D. on the functional signaling capacities of modular chimeric cytokine receptors in glioblastoma. 

Sean Sepulveda's interest in biology began at a young age. His fascination with how spiders liquify their food sparked curiosity in enzymes and led to an interest in biochemistry, which was his major at University of California, Irvine. His accomplishments included a first author paper, exploring the effects of injury and stress on the aging process in fruit flies. This was followed by a journey to the East Coast that would last 12 years and is where he discovered his love of cancer immunotherapy after seeing a picture of lung cancer before and after immunotherapy at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He also pursued and completed a master's degree in cell and molecular biology at Boston University. After studying specific T cell responses at Massachusetts General Hospital, he moved to California and is currently studying glioblastoma at City of Hope.
 

Siya Shah graduated from UCLA in 2023 with a B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics with Departmental Honors and a minor in Bioinformatics. As an undergrad, she studied the role of developmental transcription factors in natural killer (NK) cell function and was the recipient of the Whitcome Undergraduate Summer 2022 Research Fellowship. She joined Dr. Christine Brown’s lab in July 2023 and is working with Darya Alizadeh, PhD., and her team to understand the interactions between the endogenous immune system and CAR T-cells in syngeneic mouse models of glioblastoma.

Renate Starr, M.S. earned her B.S in biological sciences from the University of CA, Irvine and her M.S. from California Polytechnic University, Pomona. Her career at City of Hope began in 2005 when she joined the lab of Dr. Michael Jensen, M.D., as a research associate II. Under the direction of Dr. Christine Brown, her initial research focus was to culture cancer stem cells derived from glioblastoma and evaluated their targetability by CAR T cells. In 2010, Dr. Jensen left City of Hope and leadership of the lab was transferred to Dr. Stephen Forman, M.D. That same year, Starr was promoted to a senior research associate and took on the additional role of being the lab manager for the Forman lab also known as the T cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory. In 2015, Starr was promoted to staff scientist and in 2020 she received the title of Director of the TCTRL Laboratory Operations. Over the years, the TCTRL  has evolved to include five labs, including Dr. Stephen Forman, M.D., Dr. Christine Brown, PhD., Dr. Xiuli Wang, PhD., Dr. Saul Priceman, PhD and Dr. Elizabeth Budde, M.D., PhD.. Dr. Christine Brown continues to be an amazing leader, mentor and friend during the almost 2 decades of working together and Starr counts herself very lucky to have been given the opportunity to grow and evolve alongside the TCTRL program.

Zhen Tong earned a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from the University of California, Davis, and a M.S. in Environmental Health Science at the University of California, Los Angeles where his research mainly focused on environmental carcinogen and fatty acids-rich diets interplay on lung cancer. Zhen is currently a graduate student in the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope and his project is focused on Regulated Control of CAR T cell Expansion and Persistence for Improved Safety and Efficacy.

Yolanda Villasenor is a research associate II in the Christine Brown Lab at City of Hope.

Simiao Wang earned a B.S. in biological sciences from China Agricultural University in Beijing, China and later completed her M.S. in biochemistry and molecular medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, where her research mainly focused on hippocampal neural stem cells derived from human iPSCs and CHARGE syndrome. Wang is currently a graduate student in the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope and her project is focused on tumor heterogeneity, tumor microenvironment, and CAR T cell therapy using tumor organoids as a research model.

Dr. Shengchao Xu earned his M.D. from Xiangya Medical School, Central South University and Ph.D. in Neurosurgery from Xiangya Hospital, Central South University where his research mainly focused on pathogenic mechanism and targeted therapy of gliomas especially glioblastoma. After graduation, he joined Dr. Christine Brown's lab at City of Hope as postdoctoral fellow. Shengchao's research focuses on optimizing CAR constructs to better kill GBM and investigating the interaction between CAR T cells and tumor microenvironment.

Xin (Cindy) Yang earned a M.S. in animal science with a specialized focus on biotechnology/stem cell biology from Purdue University. Yang joined City of Hope in 2015 and has been actively researching CAR T cell therapy against glioblastoma multiform under the leadership of Christine Brown, Ph.D. Yang's interest in perfecting CAR T cell therapy include, but are not limited to, exploring new CAR targets, CAR structure designs, patient product bioactivities and associated clinical responses. She is passionate about promoting translational technology applications and collaborations on emerging fields.