Lab Members

Dr. Michelle Williams

Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Pharmacology and Chemical BiologyUniversity of Pittsburgh
Member of Cancer Biology Program and Women's Cancer Research CenterUPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Email: MMW178@pitt.edu

My love for science began as a high school student in the Pittsburgh area when I participated in the University of Pittsburgh Phagehunting Program organized by the lab of Dr. Graham Hatfull. I continued to pursue research opportunities during my undergraduate career at Allegheny College that cultivated a passion for cancer research and honed my overall career goal to reduce cancer mortalities by better understanding the mechanisms supporting therapy resistance and metastasis. I completed my Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University (VU) in the lab of Dr. Rebecca Cook. My research tested the effects of Mcl-1, a cell death inhibitor, on luminal breast cancer therapy resistance. My postdoctoral projects conducted in the lab of Dr. Jennifer Richer at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU AMC) melded my previous expertise in breast cancer biology with tumor immunology by testing the effects of metastatic breast cancer cells on immune suppression via secreted factors, focusing on cytokines and metabolites. This work laid the foundation for the current research projects in the lab that are assessing the impact of tumor cell signaling and metabolism on the microenvironment of breast cancer liver metastasis.

Throughout my scientific journey, I've also dedicated my time to mentorship and leadership activities. As a postdoc, I cultivated working relationships with clinicians and patient advocates who have strongly influenced the goals of my research program. Outside of the lab, I enjoy spending time reading a good book, Irish dancing, hiking, or biking.

Lauren McCue

Animal Research AssociateUniversity of Pittsburgh, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical BiologyUPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Growing up in Macon, Georgia my fascination with science began when my choir teacher told us something about how music is processed in the brain (trying to get us motivated to memorize our parts properly) – what she said was wrong, but looking up the topic after class sent me down a rabbit hole I’m still falling down today. I moved to Texas to pursue a degree in Neuroscience from Texas Christian University. There I gained my first lab experience working in Dr. Boehm’s Lab, helping conduct research on Alzheimer’s disease using a mouse model. Mornings and evenings moving mice in and out of sleep deprivation chambers forced me to become comfortable with the animals very quickly, no room for nerves when handling anxious sleep deprived mice. After graduating I joined Dr. Cowan’s lab at MUSC as a Research Specialist, working on addiction research using drug self-administration methods in rat models. This allowed me to gain more wet lab skills along with both surgical and behavioral procedure skills with animals. Eventually I made the transition to working in the Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Core at MUSC as the Lead Technician, working primarily with mice, running experimental assays for a variety of labs and PIs studying a broad array of neurological disorders. Wanting to broaden my research lens and relocate somewhere less likely to flood every few days, I made the move to Pittsburgh to join Dr. Williams’s lab as the Animal Research Associate.

While research is my passion and my day job, outside of lab I coach youth soccer on the weekends, craft and make art, read as much as possible, and listen to live music.

Angelica Phan

Research TechnicianUniversity of Pittsburgh, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical BiologyUPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Angelica is from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and she recently received her B.S. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, she was an undergraduate researcher in Professor Elizabeth Nolan’s lab, where she studied the effects of a host-defense metal-sequestering protein on infectious bacteria. She recently joined the Williams Lab as a research technician and is excited to contribute to the lab's research! Outside of the lab, Angelica enjoys reading, playing video games, and exploring new places.

Graduate Students

Lexi HIll

1st Year Graduate StudentOncology Graduate ProgramUniversity of Pittsburgh / UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Lexi is from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. She earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania – Bloomsburg. Her master's thesis focused on the effects of the polyphenol compound resveratrol on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers in a zebrafish hepatocellular carcinoma xenograft model. Alongside her studies, she worked as a graduate assistant, assisting in the preparation and instruction of undergraduate laboratory courses. Currently, Lexi is a first-year PhD student in the Oncology Graduate Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Her rotation project investigates the role of tumor-secreted bilirubin in modulating Kupffer cell activity to promote liver metastases.

Tom HintelMann

1st Year Graduate StudentOncology Graduate ProgramUniversity of Pittsburgh / UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Tom is originally from New Jersey and earned his degree in Chemistry from Monmouth University in 2024. At Monmouth he was mentored by Dr. Martin Hicks where he worked on RNA therapeutics for glioblastoma and Dr. Johnathan Ouellette where he studied riboswitches. Tom has spent two summers living in Texas. In 2022 he studied breast cancer at Texas Tech University Health Science center (TTUHSC) under Dr. Kevin Pruitt and Dr. Michael Melkus. In 2023 he studied SWI/SNF chromatin remolding under the guidance of Dr. Blain Bartholomew at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Currently, Tom is a Ph.D. Student in the Oncology Graduate program. In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer, watching sports, trying new restaurants and cooking.

Past Rotation Students

Lauren Grove

1st Year Graduate StudentOncology Graduate ProgramUniversity of Pittsburgh / UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Lauren is originally from Rhode Island and went to Northeastern University for her undergraduate degree where she received B.S. in Bioengineering. She has previous experience working in a research co-op during undergrad at the Center of Precision Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital looking at HER3 signaling in triple negative breast cancer. Lauren also worked as associate scientist on the Functional Genomics team at Tango Therapeutics working towards early target discovery. Lauren is currently in her first year as a PhD student in the Oncology Graduate Program at University of Pittsburgh and is rotating in the lab. Her rotation project tests the effects of tumor heme metabolism on suppressive cytokine production and subsequent T cell dysfunction.

If you are interested in a postdoctoral position in the Williams Lab please email: MMW178@pitt.edu

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse