Déja is a Cancer Biology graduate student at Meharry Medical College and joined the Johnson Lab through the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance in 2022. Originally from North Carolina, Déja came to Nashville in 2021 after completing her B.S. in Bioengineering at North Carolina A&T State University. Déja’s current research focuses on PTHrP and its effect on bone metastasis while also studying relevant dormancy factors as well as the interactions between the bone and immune cell microenvironment. Outside of the lab, Déja enjoys dancing, yoga, and spending time with friends and family.

Gwen is a 1^st year cancer biology graduate student in the Johnson lab. She is originally from Westfield, IN and received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. Gwen worked in the Graduate Research Education Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN before joining Vanderbilt through the IGP in August 2021. Her research focuses on the effects of immunotherapy treatment on the skeleton in breast cancer metastasis. Outside of the lab, Gwen enjoys baking, trying new coffee shops, and staying active through climbing, strength training, and sand volleyball.

I received my PhD from Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) in New Delhi, India in 2020. My thesis work was focused on lipid metabolism in tuberculosis. I was trying to find out how Mtb rewires its physiology to adapt to lipid rich niche which it faces in human granuloma post infection. I joined Beth’s lab in January 2021 as a post-doctoral researcher. Currently, I am studying the importance of lipid metabolism in the maintenance of bone homeostasis.

Elizabeth graduated from Roger Williams University in 2021 with a degree in Engineering and specialization in Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on the mechanism by which hypertension promotes osteoclast formation. She is currently a graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. program at Vanderbilt.  

Our work combines principles from synthetic biology, gene editing, and regenerative engineering to design cells as therapeutic agents. Leveraging our expertise, we develop engineered tissue constructs to treat and study diseases principally of the musculoskeletal and central nervous systems.

Brunger Lab Website

James is a French student, who holds a French BS in Medical Sciences (2019) and is currently enrolled in the MS Program in Biomedical Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He joined the Johnson lab in the VCBB for research on the dormancy phenotype in bone metastatic disease.

Ian is a French student, who holds a French BS in Medical Sciences (2019) and is currently enrolled in the MS Program in Biomedical Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He joined the Rhoades lab in the VCBB for research on the role of trabecular architecture in tumor-induced bone disease. 

Natalie is from Nashville, TN and graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she received a BA through the College Scholars Program in Cancer Biology & Cellular Metabolism. She is a graduate student in the Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program and is conducting research under the mentorship of Dr. Julie Rhoades. Her project focuses on myeloid cell regulation in bone metastatic disease.

David Florian graduated from the University of Virginia in 2017 with degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics. His research focuses on modeling and imaging the bone-tumor microenvironment to study the complex process of metastatic seeding and outgrowth of tumor cells in the bone marrow.