Meet the Team

Principal Investigator

Dr. Alicea received her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico, where she first discovered her passion for research while studying breast cancer cells. She earned her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from The Wistar Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Ashani Weeraratna. Her work focused on how aging impacts the tumor microenvironment and contributes to therapy resistance. She completed her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University under the mentorship of Denis Wirtz. Her work investigated how the tumor microenvironment drives melanoma progression and explored ways to improve CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors. Her lab focuses on the tumor microenvironment, metabolism, and personalizing therapy.

Outside the lab, Dr. Alicea enjoys spending quality time with her family, diving into books from her home mini library, playing board games, traveling, baking, and interior design. If she hadn’t pursued a career in science, she imagines she would have become either an interior designer or a detective.

Dinesh Ganesan

 Dinesh Ganesan is an undergraduate student at UMBC majoring in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology with minors in Entrepreneurship and Computer Science. He is interested in how computational tools can be used in addressing biological problems, specifically in healthcare.

He is interested in cancer biology, biomedical engineering, and translational research. He hopes to develop medical devices that are both practical and affordable to people of all income levels in the future.

Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, working out at the gym, playing various sports, and eating his favorite foods. If he were not pursuing a career in science, he could see himself diving into Business full-time.

Faith Karanja

Meyerhoff Scholars Program (M35)

Honors College

Biological Sciences Major | Sociology Minor

Faith Karanja is a junior Meyerhoff Scholar who is pursuing a Biological Sciences major with a minor in Sociology. She is interested in a career that combines both clinical practice and biomedical research.

Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing the guitar, crocheting, listening to music, and spending quality time with friends and family.

Azeb Cyrus

Meyerhoff Scholars Program (M35)