Adjunct Affiliate Faculty
Michelle Barcelon, PharmD, BCPS, BCCP
Internal Medicine Pharmacy Clinical Specialist
Office: OFFSITE
Bhuvanesh Dave, PhD
Allied Faculty, BPSCI
Drug Discovery, Cancer Research
Office: J212 (JLABS Houston)
The goal of Spanios under the guidance of Dr. Dave is to address the unmet need of model systems in rare cancer research. Cancer is a collection of related diseases in which some of the body’s cells begin to divide uncontrollably and spread into surrounding tissues. There are 200 distinct types of cancers 186 of which are categorized as rare cancers. At any given time, of the total number of people suffering from cancer, half of them are battling some type of rare cancer. Twenty percent of all adult tumors, and all hematologic cancers are rare. All pediatric cancers are rare and second leading cause of death in children in the US. Rare cancers are a leading cause of death globally.
We utilize patient derived organoid model systems and test experimental as well as repositioned drugs using for cancer. We use molecular biology, microscopy, and pathway analysis to decipher our results.
Specific research areas are:
- Drug Discovery (Sarcoma Research)
- Immunocompetent Organoid Development in Rare Cancers.
- Development of 3D models with physiological blood supply.
Robert Mancini, PharmD, BCOP
BMT Pharmacy Program Coordinator, PGY2 Residency Program Director, St. Luke's Mountain States Tumor Institute
Oncology Pharmacy
Office: OFFSITE
Stephanie Perez
Term Assistant Professor of Medical Education, WWAMI School of Medical Education
Human Physiology
Office: PSB 111
Aoxiang "Oliver" Tao, BPharm, PhD
Allied Faculty
Applications Scientist
SilcsBio LLC Baltimore, MD
Dr. Tao is currently an Applications Scientist in Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) at SilcsBio LLC. He has contributed to the development of Grand-Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation in the Site Identification by Ligand Competitive Saturation (SILCS) methodology. Dr. Tao has broad interests in computer programming for scientific computation, User Interface (UI) design and development for professional CADD software, and improvement of User Experience (UX) for scientific researchers. He has also collaborated with pharmaceutical and biotech companies on the rational design of small molecule drugs and antibodies.
Dr. Tao received a BS degree in Pharmacy from Xiangtan University, China and completed his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science at Idaho State University College of Pharmacy in 2020.
