Eric Smith, MD PhD
​Principal Investigator

Director of Translational Research,
Immune Effector Cell Therapies
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Eric Smith moved to Boston after spending the early part of his career in New York. He earned his MD and PhD (Genetics and Genomic Sciences) from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he also trained as a research track resident in internal medicine. He then moved to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for medical oncology fellowship and further research training. Post-fellowship he stayed on at MSKCC serving as faculty in the Center for Cell Engineering, Cellular Therapeutics Center, and the Myeloma Service before joining DFCI. Dr. Smith's pre-clinical work has resulted in nine awarded or pending patents; multiple products stemming from his lab work have been translated to the clinic. Outside of lab he enjoys biking, hiking, and swimming. ​

Cedric Louvet, PhD

Instructor

Cedric Louvet earned his PhD in Immunology in 2004 at the University of Nantes, France. During his thesis work he identified and studied genes linked to allograft rejection and tolerance with the aim to reveal novel mechanisms of immunoregulation. He joined the Jeff Bluestone lab at UCSF (2005-2009) for his postdoc to focus on clinically relevant genetically-modified mouse models of autoimmune diseases (type 1 diabetes and peripheral/central neuropathies) and developed a strong interest in T cell regulation and in the therapeutic potential of their manipulation. Back in France, he developed a basic science project aiming at elucidating the role of novel ion channels in the RORgt+ family including Th17/ILC3s (type 3 immunity) as well as in the regulation of antigen presentation to T cells by dendritic cells. More recently, he is translating his expertise in basic immunology into the emerging field of anti-tumor T-cell therapy to investigate original gene-engineering approaches for the immunotherapy of cancer.
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Tim Haggerty, PhD

Lab Manager/Senior Scientist

Tim graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Genetics from the University of Rochester.  Tim then went on to earn his PhD from Brandeis University studying Molecular and Cellular Biology.  He has a broad background working on cancer immunotherapy, autoimmune disease, and cancer.  He has worked at small start up companies with less than 10 people, big pharmaceutical companies, and medium sized biotechnology companies.  With over 30 years of experience as a bench scientist he has expertise in molecular biology, drug discovery (both small molecule and biologics), target discovery and validation, phenotypic screens, and cell biology assay development.  Tim has a passion for cancer immunotherapy with experience in genetic engineering of T cells to express transgenic TCRs and CARs to recognize kill cancer cells.  All of his experience has been in preclinical research and therapeutic discovery and development.  
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Kartika Venugopal , PhD

Post-doctoral fellow

Kartika earned her master’s degree in 2014 at the University of California, Irvine where she identified novel protein interaction partners for a serine-threonine death receptor kinase, DRAK2, and elucidated its role in immunological tolerance and autoimmunity. She then pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Florida, where her thesis work focused on understanding DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A; an epigenetic modifier gene) mutations as a biomarker for enhanced response to anti-leukemic therapy and investigated its methylation independent function in preserving genome integrity during DNA replication and repair.
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Vishal Khairnar,PhD

Post-doctoral fellow

Vishal holds a Master's degree in Biotechnology from Sardar Patel University in India. He then joined Dr. Karl Lang's lab (University Hospital Essen; Germany) where he investigated mechanisms crucial for activation of the host's innate and adaptive immune system, completing his Ph.D. in Immunology in 2017. Later he moved to the lab of Dr. Markus Müschen (City of Hope; Duarte, California) to pursue research in cancer immunology as a postdoctoral fellow. There he investigated therapeutic targets to overcome drug-resistant clones in B-cell malignancies by dissecting the interaction between PI3K/AKT signaling and autoimmune checkpoint activation. He received grants from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). He is excited to apply his background in viral and cancer immunology to develop novel adoptive cellular therapies in the Smith Lab.

Choiwing Yeung

Research Associate

Choiwing received a bachelor’s in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Hamilton College in 2019, where she completed a senior thesis investigating the viability of cell-penetrating peptides for molecular delivery in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. After graduating, Choiwing worked as a technician in the MGH Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases studying protective antibodies in peanut allergy. She discovered an interest in immunology during her time at the CIID and is excited to work on next generation immunotherapies in the Smith Lab. Choiwing plans to pursue a career as a physician and also has broad academic interests beyond science that include foreign language, anthropology, world politics, and global health. Outside the lab, she can be found parenting her growing botanical family, volunteering with organizations who aim to empower marginalized populations, cooking, crafting, and staying active outdoors.

Melody Tan

Research Associate

Melody Tan graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biological Engineering from MIT. Her undergraduate research focused on engineering strains and cell lines for optimizing protein expression systems. For her thesis, she developed a synthetic biology tool for modulating gene expression through translation efficiency. She also developed a strong interest in immunology through her coursework, and she is excited to transfer her protein expression experience to the field of T-cell therapies.

Natalie Sheetz

Administrative Support Specialist

​Natalie Sheetz is the administrator for the Smith Lab team.  She previously worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center providing administrative support to the Service Chief and Vice Chairs of the department of Interventional Radiology.  In that role she assisted with the development, planning and execution of projects in support of department operations and laboratory initiatives.  Outside of work, Natalie is going back to school in the evenings to earn a degree in Computer Science. 

Former Trainees

Carlos Fernandez (MSKCC)
Yunxin Chen (MSKCC)
​Urvi Shah (MSKCC)
Mette Staehr (MSKCC)
Reed Masakayan (MSKCC)
Ishan Tatake (MSKCC)
​Principal Investigator; Clinic Barcelona, IDIBAPS; lab page
Instructor; Singapore General Hospital, Duke-NUS Medical School​
Assistant Professor; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
​Postdoctoral Research Fellow; University of Southern Denmark
Associate Scientist; AgenTus Therapeutics
Internal Medicine Resident; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School