Team - THE BRAUN LAB

We are looking for individuals who are excited about what we do.

Please email a description of your interest in our work and your CV to Dr. Ted Braun.

Theodore Braun, MD PhD

Principal Investigator

Dr. Braun did his undergraduate work at Claremont Mckenna College. He then completed his MD/PhD at OHSU studying the neuroendocrine basis for Cancer Cachexia. His work established the critical role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as a major mediator of muscle loss in response to tumor growth. He then completed his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, WA. He then returned to OHSU to complete his fellowship in Hematology & Medical Oncology. His fellowship work defined the mechanism of oncogene synergy between mutations in CSF3R and CEBPA in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. This work demonstrated that CEBPA mutations alter the epigenetic landscape changing the manifestation of CSF3R mutations acquired later during disease development.
Dr. Braun sees patients with blood cancers at the OHSU Center for Hematologic Malignancies.

When not in the lab, Dr. Braun enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, and a multitude of outdoor activities in the beautiful pacific northwest including hiking, backpacking, kayaking and bicycling.

Will Yashar

BS, MD/PhD Candidate

Will earned his undergraduate degree in physics from MIT. He began his research career investigating translational radiotherapy devices at UCSD Moores Cancer Center. During his undergraduate education, he received training in a variety of scientific disciplines, including dark matter, bioinformatics, and medical devices. After graduating, Will went on to be a founding employee of a molecular diagnostics biotech start-up, Abreos Biosciences (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Aegirbio).

Will joined the OHSU MD/PhD Program in 2018 and has completed his clinical didactics training. He is now actively engaged in his PhD dissertation research in the laboratories of Drs. Theodore Braun, Brian Druker, and Emek Demir. Will's research interests include studying epigenetic mechanisms of leukemia initiation and therapeutic response, as well as developing computational techniques to better understand these phenomena.

Outside of work, Will enjoys staying active training for triathlons, cooking, and taking care of his buff tabby, Amelie.

Jommel Macaraeg

BS, Senior Research Assistant

Jommel was born and raised in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. He earned his B.S. in Biology with a minor in psychology from the University of Portland. He completed his senior thesis work in the lab of Dr. David Wynne studying the critical M-phase kinases needed to facilitate chromosome segregation in C. elegans. After graduating, Jommel joined the Braun Lab as a research assistant where he worked on targeted combination therapies for acute myeloid leukemia. He is now focused on underlying the oncogenic mechanisms of ASXL1 in myeloid malignancies. Jommel hopes to pursue his Ph.D in Cancer Biology the next few years.

In his free time, Jommel enjoys spending time with friends and family, exploring the Portland food scene, and taking care of his chunky corgi, Bao.

Akram Taherinasab

MS, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar

Akram completed her undergraduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Islamic Azad University of Tehran. She moved to Italy in August 2011 to start her master’s degree in Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology at the University of Pisa. During her master thesis at the department of experimental pathology of the University of Pisa, she focused on the excision of HIV-1 Provirus using Transcription Activator like Effectors (TALEN) gene editing technique. Upon graduating, Akram started to work on characterization of neurons derived from mouse ES cells at Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) of Pisa followed by a 4-month training at Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge where she learned a new technology called Laser-Tag for the space-specific recovery of biological molecules. In November 2017, she won a 3-year scholarship to start her PhD at the University of Sapienza. During her PhD, she worked on the characterization of adult Philadelphia negative B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) in cases enrolled in few national clinical protocols. Akram performed Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) on patient’s samples coming from all over Italy to better characterize these patients and get a better understanding of drug resistance and relapse in different ALL subtype patients. She also learned how to use a very sensitive technique called Digital Droplet PCR (ddPCR) in order to monitor patients for Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) and to detect mutations that confer resistance to targeted therapies in these patients. She spent 5-months of her PhD at the Catholic University of Leuven where she learned about single cell NGS techniques.

Akram loves traveling, working out, watching movies, camping, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends.

Mitsuhiro Tsuchiya

BS, MS, Senior Research Assistant

After completing his Bachelor and Master of science degrees in chemistry at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, Mitsuhiro Tsuchiya has engaged in life science research at institutes in Seattle and San Francisco. His previous research focuses were in the mechanisms of aging. He now conducts cancer research in beautiful Portland. He particularly enjoys the philosophical aspects of biology, while pursuing his goals in medical research.

His curiosity naturally extends well into his personal life. He appreciates and explores Mother Nature. He also actively participates in diverse forms of art, including sports, and much more.

Aliya Quintal

BS, Research Assistant II

Aliya graduated from Washington State University with a B.S in Genetics and Cell Biology. While in undergrad, she studied plant genetics in the lab of Dr. Norman Lewis. Her senior thesis focused on producing genetically altered alfalfa plants for future studies on the International Space Station. After graduating, she became a research assistant in the Braun lab with an interest in learning more about cancer biology and epigenetic mechanisms.

Aliya also enjoys hiking in the pacific northwest, making friends, and trying new foods. She hopes to eventually pursue a graduate degree in Cancer Biology.

Itallia V Pacentine

BSc, PhD, MSc, Computational Biologist II

Dr. Itallia V. Pacentine was born and raised in Southern California. After receiving concurrent BSc degrees in Neuroscience and Biology, she moved to Portland to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience. She joined Dr. Teresa Nicolson’s lab in 2014 to study a complex of proteins that are essential in hearing and balance. In 2018, she defended her dissertation titled "Molecular composition and protein interactions in the mechano-electrical transduction complex of zebrafish sensory hair cells." She then completed a postdoctorate with Peter Barr-Gillespie, in which she developed a novel technique for imaging myosin motor proteins in intact hair cells. In 2020, Dr. Pacentine received a postdoctoral fellowship in Biomedical Informatics through the National Library of Medicine, in which she trained in bioinformatic approaches. Dr. Pacentine joined the Braun lab in October 2022 to study Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Her goal is to close the loop on wet and dry lab techniques, combining these traditionally disparate techniques into a single cohesive workflow. She is using this “humid” research approach on two major projects: 1. Characterizing Minimal Residual Disease post-chemotherapy, which is believed to cause relapse. 2. Characterizing AMLs with more mature cell presentation (“monocytic”), which is mainly seen in relapse after the standard-of-treatment Venetoclax/Azacitidine.

Itallia enjoys taekwon do, home renovations, bingeing new shows, tea, and hanging out with friends.

Kasuni Wattarantenne

BS, MS, Research Associate

Kasuni was born and raised in Sri Lanka. She earned her Bachelors degree in Biology from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Her senior thesis project was on physiological and molecular characterization of the soil bacterium Rhizobium bacteria isolated from Psophocarpus tetragonolobus root nodules. She moved to the United States to attend graduate school and obtained a Masters degree in plant genetics in 2017. Her research thesis project was investigating the MEIOTIC PROPHASE AMINOPEPTIDASE 1 (MPA1) regulatory effects on ploidy determination in Arabidopsis thaliana.

In Braun lab she studies MRD in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) by attempting to enrich and characterize MRD using a variety of cutting-edge techniques. In addition to that she is also working on understanding the drug resistance in AML clones after targeted therapies that eventually give rise to relapse in patients.

She practices yoga and dance in her free time and enjoys hiking and spending time in nature with her family and friends.

Madison Hall

BS, PhD Student

Madison graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Davis in 2021. As an undergrad, she studied the role of epigenetic changes in pancreatic cancer progression as part of the Hwang Lab. While the pandemic kept her out of the physical lab for a time, it allowed her to discover a love for bioinformatics. In 2022, she joined the PBMS graduate program at OHSU. As part of the Braun Lab, she is interested in combining computational analysis and bench skills to study the role of ASXL1 in myeloid malignancies.

Outside of the lab, Madison enjoys taekwondo, crocheting/knitting, and spending time outside.

Samantha Worme

BS, Computational Biologist I

Samantha earned her B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University, where she attended courses on oncogenetics and first became interested in cancer research. She stayed in Montreal to pursue a Master’s degree in the Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill. Her thesis presented analysis of single-cell expression data from patients with acute myeloid leukemia, which while clinically diverse, displayed maturation gradients and expression of stemness-related signatures. Through her Master’s project, she developed a passion for bioinformatics and gained experience with single-cell omics experimental design and analysis. After graduating, she continued on as a research assistant, contributing to multiple projects related to pediatric brain tumors. In the Braun lab, she aims to characterize how transcription factors involved in healthy blood cell production are dysregulated in leukemia development.

In her free time, Samantha enjoys reading, exploring local coffee shops and wine bars, and spending time with friends and family (especially her mom’s Shiba Inus).