SFCAP: People

The Team:
Senior Staff
	David Agus Dr. Agus is Director of the SFCAP, Research Director of the CSMC Louis Warshaw Prostate Cancer Center (PCC) and an internationally recognized investigator in the field of genitourinary cancers. Dr. Agus' research has focused on the the factors influencing the development and progression of prostate cancer. In addition, Dr. Agus is conducting research focused on understanding the biology of cancer and the development of new therapeutics for prostate cancer. His laboratory has made important contributions regarding the Her-kinase axis and related therapeutics. In addition, Dr. Agus is leading a variety of clinical trials Prostate Cancer and other diseases. Dr. Agus graduated cum laude with honors in molecular biology from Princeton University, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his medical internship and residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Agus was an attending physician in the Department of Medical Oncology and head of the Laboratory of Tumor Biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Agus also served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cornell University Medical Center. keywords: Clinical & Medical Oncology, Clinical Trials
	Parag Mallick Dr. Mallick's primary appointment is as Director of Clinical Proteomics at the SFCAP. In addition, he is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Mallick recieved his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis, and his graduate degree with David Eisenberg at UCLA. His postdoctoral research, with Ruedi Aebersold at the Institute for Systems Biology, focused on quantitative and clinical proteomics. His current research interests focus on development of tools for quantitative, proteome-scale analyses of protein structure and function and on the application of those tools to global profiling for predictive, personalized cancer diagnosis and prognosis. His research bridges the interface between experimental studies and analytic computational challenges. keywords: Bioinformatics, Systems Biology, Proteomics
	Jonathan Katz Dr. Jonathan Katz is Director of Operations and a Research Scientist with the SFCAP. Dr. Katz' primary research focus has been in developing and implementing techniques to produce molecular profiles from biological samples. Using his experience with Fourier-transform mass spectrometry, complex sample processing and molecular profiling, he has developed high-throughput techniques that produce informative, very high resolution, multidimensional mass spectral profiles. He, along with the team at Cedars-Sinai as well as off-campus collaborators, have been developing techniques to interrogate these profiles in order to discover molecular fingerprints of biological state, clinical outcome and underlying biochemical processes. keywords: Biochemistry, Instrumentation, Analytical Chemistry, Proteomics
	Roland Luthy Before joining SFCAP as a Senior Scientist Roland Luethy was director of bioinformatics research in the TimeLogic unit of Active Motif Inc. Before joining TimeLogic he was part of the Computational Biology Department at Amgen for over nine years, participating in large scale genome and proteome projects. He was a staff scientist in the Biocomputing group of the Swiss Institute for Cancer Research (ISREC) and a post-doc at UCLA. He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Bern, Switzerland. Roland has developed algorithms for sequence analysis, gene predictions, protein family detection, protein three dimensional structure prediction and tandem masspec database searching. keywords: Bioinformatics, Sequence Analysis, MS/MS Interpretation
	Maryann Vogelsang Dr. Maryann Vogelsang is a Senior Scientist with the SFCAP. Dr. Vogelsang's primary research focus has been in developing and implementing experimental protocols for handling of biological samples. Using her experience in protein chemistry and macromolecular structural and biophysical characterization she has been working closely with our clinical collaborators to discover markers of therapeutic response. keywords: Biochemistry, Protein Chemistry, Nanotechnology, Clinical Proteomics
	Robert Grothe Rob Grothe is developing mathematical methods to identify the proteins contained in blood samples using Fourier-transform mass spectrometry (FTMS). The approach draws on Rob's doctoral training in the Electronic Systems and Signals Research Laboratory (ESSRL) at Washington University in St. Louis. In ESSRL, diverse problems like MRI and radar imaging are addressed by determining the particular instance of an object (e.g. a protein) that maximizes the likelihood of observing the given data. Identifying more proteins more accurately is crucial in using FTMS to deliver personalized medicine. keywords: Bioinformatics, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, FTMS, data analysis, protein identification
Postdoctoral Fellows
	Jeremy Collette keywords: Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Physical Organic Chemistry, Protein Conjugation, Fluorescence
	Kian Kani keywords: Cellular Biology, Cancer Biology
Software Developers & Data Analysts
	Darren Kessner Darren designs and develops custom software for the analysis of proteomics data at SFCAP. His computer programs help our scientists identify proteins in blood samples. Darren's educational background is in Mathematics (BS from UCLA, MA from Princeton University), and he has been a professional software developer since 1998. He has worked on a wide range of software projects, from anti-virus scan/repair technology to digital compositing software for creating visual effects in films. keywords: mathematics, algorithms, scientific computing
	Robert Burke
	Sul-Min Kim Sul-Min received an MS in Bioinformatics from UCLA's David Eisenberg lab studying the structural genomics of M. tuberculosis (classifying protein structures within the pathogen). Currently he is researching ways to standardize clinical trial annotations, which would facilitate the analysis of clinical variables across two or more different clinical trials. Also develops bioinformatics tools for mass spectrometry data analysis and management. keywords: bioinformatics, clinical annotations, medical records, data analysis
	Eva Orpelli
Graduate Students
	Michael Janis
Research Associates
	Damien Wood Damien graduated from UCLA in 2006 with BS in Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology. He is currently working at SFCAP as a reserach associate whose focus has been proteomics and high throughput, high technology research.

Alumni