Doug obtained his Ph.D. with David Rowley at Baylor College of Medicine in the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2007. He finished his postdoctoral fellowship in Urology at Vanderbilt University under Simon Hayward in 2013 and joined as faculty at UT Southwestern in 2014. He is currently an Associate Professor with tenure and Vice Chair of Research for the department of Urology and a member of the Green Center for Reproductive Biology. He is an active member of the Human Cell Atlas (humancellatlas.org), the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (hubmapconsortium.org) and the GenitoUrinary Development Molecular Anatomy Project (atlas-d2k.org). His research is focused on understanding the cellular pathogenesis of human lower urinary tract diseases.

Jash joined the Strand lab in January 2024 as a postdoctoral fellow. Prior to this, he received his integrated Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology from the Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar in India in 2014. He moved to the US to pursue a Master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology, graduating in December 2017. In August 2023, he completed a Ph.D in Dr. Nicole De Nisco’s lab in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas at Dallas. During his doctoral studies, Jash studied the host adaptive immune response during recurrent urinary tract infections in post-menopausal women. Currently as a postdoctoral researcher in the Strand lab he is investigating the role of interstitial fibroblasts in prostate branching morphogenesis during development and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).

Alicia obtained her Master’s in Biology at UT Dallas in 2003 and worked at UT Southwestern in the laboratories of Michael McPhaul and Kevin Luebke working on androgen signaling. In the Strand lab, she is responsible for managing orders as well as performing a number of single cell sequencing experiments. When Alicia isn’t in lab, she enjoys spending time with her family and her dogs.

John earned his Ph.D. in Free Radical and Radiation Biology in 2017 with Prabhat Goswami at the University of Iowa. He then joined the Department of Urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2017 as a postdoctoral fellow with Aditya Bagrodia and James Amatruda. In these roles, John’s research focused on overcoming therapy resistance in cancer and the development of improved methods for the detection of minimal residual germ cell tumors. Since joining the Strand Lab in 2022, John has been focused on the computational analysis of single cell and spatial transcriptomics data, and the development of methods to democratize the analysis and access of these data.

Ali joined the Strand Lab in 2024 as a research technician where she is responsible for managing a human tissue repository. She received her Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree at Texas A&M University in 2023.

Sam is a PhD candidate who joined the Strand Lab in 2023. He is a student in the molecular and cell biology program at UT Dallas where he is jointly mentored by Dr. De Nisco. His thesis work focuses on defining the immunological landscape of the human bladder, especially in the context of recurrent urinary tract infection. Prior to joining the Strand and De Nisco labs, Sam was research assistant in Dr. Yoshimoto’s lab at UT Health Science Center in Houston where he studied developmental pathways of fetal-derived B cells. He received his Bachelor of Science in biology from St. Edward’s University in 2019. In his free time Sam enjoys camping and exploring the DFW area with his wife and 2 dogs.

Emily joined the Strand Lab in 2023 as a graduate student in the Cancer Biology program at UT Southwestern. Prior to joining the lab, Emily was a research assistant in Dr. Subhamoy Dasgupta’s lab at Roswell Park Cancer Center for a year where she worked on the effect of hypoxia on glycolytic enzymes in the breast tumor microenvironment. She completed her Bachelor of Science at Rider University in 2021. She is currently working on creating a cellular atlas of human bladder cancer. In her free time, Emily enjoys volunteering at the local animal shelter.

Nik joined the Strand Lab in 2024 as a graduate student in the Cancer Biology program at UT Southwestern. He received his bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biology at the University of Cincinnati in 2021, where his undergraduate research project in Dr. David Askew’s lab focused on the stress response in a pathogenic fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus. Prior to joining the lab, Nik worked with Dr. Paul Andreassen at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where he studied the DNA damage response and genetic predisposition to cancer. His current research interests include hormone regulation in BPH and prostate cancer.

Lari joined the Strand Lab in 2024 as a graduate student in the Cellular and Molecular Biology program at UT Southwestern. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the California State University, Dominguez Hills. Prior to joining the lab, Lari worked with Dr. Erin McCauley and her project focused on the purification and structural elucidation of natural products from marine organisms that exhibited various biological activity. Her current research interests include understanding the cellular pathogenesis of benign urologic conditions such as detrusor dysfunction and the urethral response to urinary tract infection. When Lari isn’t in lab, she enjoys spending time with her dog Pinky.

Omkar joined the Strand Lab as a STARS student (Science Teach Access to Resources at Southwestern) in the summer of 2024. He is a high school senior at TAG Townview. As part of his poster project, he worked on mapping cell characterizations in genes such as NR3C4 (androgen receptors), SLPI, and KRT5 in the seminal vesicle and vas deferens through techniques involving RNA scope, immunofluorescence, and bioinformatics under R/Python. With a long-term focus on medical sciences, he hopes to continue pursuing research involving cellular biology. Outside the lab, he enjoys making music, running rounds at his local free clinic, developing community app projects, and leading his school’s Biology/STEM writing clubs.