The Schafer Lab
Zach grew up in Springfield, Illinois, and is a 1997 graduate of Springfield High School. He earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Notre Dame in 2001. In 2006, he received his Ph.D. in Molecular Cancer Biology from Duke University in the laboratory of Dr. Sally Kornbluth. He then joined Dr. Joan Brugge’s laboratory in the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2009, he returned to Notre Dame to join the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences. He is currently the Coleman Foundation Associate Professor of Cancer Biology. Outside of the lab, you can find Zach with his family and/or at Notre Dame sporting events. He and his wife Veronica (also Class of 2001) are the proud parents of 5 kids: Noah (17), Ethan (15), Claire (12), Ava (10), and Simon (6). Read more about Zach here.
Zachary T. Schafer, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Jianping He, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Jianping earned his B.S. and Ph.D. from Xiamen University where he conducted research on nuclear receptors and selective autophagy in Qiao Wu’s laboratory. He then moved to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to work with Dr. Linda Van Aelst on organ specific metastasis as a postdoctoral fellow. Jianping joined the Schafer Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2019 and in 2023 was promoted to senior scientist.
James Schofield
Ph.D. Candidate
James (Jamie) is from Yardley, Pennsylvania and got his Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Following his time at UMD he worked at Johns Hopkins as a research technologist working on iPSC differentiation factors and was able to travel to South Korea to conduct research there through an exchange program. He began in the Schafer Lab in 2018 and is investigating metabolic rewiring within cancer cells which promotes resistance to immunotherapy. This research has allowed him to attend and speak at multiple conferences. In his free time he enjoys playing sports and exploring nature with his dog River.
Hannah is originally from Danielsville, PA, and she got her BS in Biology from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN. During her undergraduate studies, she gained research experience studying gene expression changes in chemoresistant ovarian cancer with Dr. Alexander Bobbs. After graduating at the height of COVID in 2020, she worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for a home healthcare agency and as a lab technician in the COVID surveillance testing lab at Notre Dame for a year while applying to grad school. She began her PhD studies at Notre Dame in 2021 and soon joined the Schafer Lab, where her work now focuses on lysosomal membrane permeabilization in ECM-detached cells. Outside the lab, Hannah enjoys cooking, rock climbing, defeating everyone that dares to challenge her to Mariokart, and running with her pup, Cisco.
Hannah Tanczos
Ph.D. Candidate
Matthew was born in St. Louis, Missouri and obtained his B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While an undergraduate, he participated in summer research at Washington University in St. Louis, assisting in identifying genes responsible for the regulation and differentiation of germline stem cells in C. elegans. At Illinois, Matthew also took the opportunity to gain teaching experience by serving as a teaching assistant for the Introductory Chemistry course. His passion for teaching and mentoring led him to join a volunteer teaching program post-graduation as a high school chemistry teacher at his Alma mater. Matthew then enrolled at Notre Dame and joined the Schafer Lab in Spring 2022, where his current research interest is elucidating the role of the mitochondrial phosphatase PGAM5 in cancer cell metabolism. In his free time, Matthew enjoys playing percussion instruments and loves spending time outdoors cycling and golfing in the Michiana area.
Matthew Fink
Ph.D. Candidate
Lauren Young
Ph.D. Student
Lauren earned her B.S. in Biology from Baylor University. In addition to undergraduate research at Baylor, she conducted research at the University of Texas at Austin on T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She began her rotation in the Schafer Lab in October 2023 and decided to join the lab in December 2023.
Zhengrong earned her B.S. in Clinical Medicine from China Three Gorges University and her M.S. in Clinical Medicine from Wuhan University. She has research experience at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University where she studied links between CDK4/6 inhibitors and PD-L1. She joined the lab in December 2023.
Zhengrong Huang
Ph.D. Student
Michael Douglas
Ph.D. Student
Michael is originally from Westland, MI and received his B.S. in Biology in 2019 from Adrian College. Following graduation, he was employed at the University of Michigan as a lab technician and lab manager, working on projects involving the functions of proteins involved in blood clotting and the transitional cellular states seen in pulmonary fibrosis. Michael began his work as a rotation student in the lab in January 2024, supporting current research inquiring into the role of PGAM5 in cancer cell metabolism.
Emma Albano
Undergraduate Student
Emma is a senior undergraduate student originally from Charleston, South Carolina.
Brett McLaughlin
Undergraduate Student
Brett is a senior undergraduate student originally from Purchase, New York.
Mackenzie Kelleher
Undergraduate Student
Mackenzie is a junior undergraduate student originally from Medford, New Jersey.
Connor McCloskey
Undergraduate Student
Connor is a junior undergraduate student originally from Crown Point, Indiana.
Frances Ubogu
Undergraduate Student
Frances is a junior undergraduate student originally from Lagos, Nigeria.
Paulina Harnisch
Undergraduate Student
Paulina is a junior undergraduate student originally from River Forest, Illinois.
Allen Karottu
Undergraduate Student
Allen is a sophomore undergraduate student originally from Bronx, NY.
Lab Alumni
Dr. Lisa Hom
Ph.D, April 2023
Dr. Jordan Cockfield-Iratishe
Ph.D, November 2021
Dr. Matyas Abel Tsegaye
Ph.D, May 2021
Dr. Mark Hawk
Ph.D, October 2018
Dr. Joshua Mason
Ph.D, August 2017
Dr. Raju Rayavarapu
Ph.D, November 2015
Dr. Kelsey Weigel
Ph.D, October 2015
Dr. Cassandra (Buchheit) Gorsuch
Ph.D, March 2015
Dr. Calli (Davison) Versagli
Ph.D, March 2014
Amy Leliaert
Lab Manager, 2009-2012
Kimberly Hagel
Technician, 2015-2016
Dr. Ana Jakimenko
Postdoc, 2010-2012
Isabella Gomez, Class of 2023
Shannon Culbert, Class of 2023
Casey Leimbach, Class of 2022
Abigail Abikoye, Class of 2022
Ireland Murphy, Class of 2022
Yuki Yoshioka, Class of 2021
Samantha Ekanayake, Class of 2021
Kyle McGeehan, Class of 2020
Michael Sokolowski, Class of 2020
Ryan Middleton, Class of 2020
Meridith Balbach, Class of 2019
Jamie Campbell, Class of 2019
Mati Nemera, Class of 2018
Seungyup Sun, Class of 2018
Hannah Meissner, Class of 2017
Stephan Hu, Class of 2017
Daniel Pape, Class of 2017
Luke McCormack, Class of 2016
Melissa Shaw, Class of 2016
Marissa Guo, Class of 2016
Luqun Shen, Class of 2016
Sienna Durbin, Class of 2015
Nicholas Pagani, Class of 2014
Patrick Fagan, Class of 2014
Brendan Heiden, Class of 2014
Anamaria Filipac, Class of 2014
Brooke Conti, Class of 2013
Allison Steiner, Class of 2012
Victoria Zellmer, Class of 2012
Matthew Thau, Class of 2011
Elizabeth Nagel, Class of 2011
Brittany Angarola, Class of 2011
Former Undergraduate Students
Laura Rodriguez-Hernandez, Goshen College
Jayden Wang, Penn High School
Katherine Bellia, University of Notre Dame
Luke Reynolds, Marian High School
Jane Kimani, Indiana University-Bloomington
Micah Williams, William Jewell College
Dalton Hironaka, Whitter College
Ishan Antony, Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland)
Lihua Sun, Fudan University (China)
Rose (Pinyan) Liu, Sichuan University (China)
Taylor White, Suffolk University
José Valentín López, University of Puerto Rico
Spencer Shuff, Concord High School
Layra Cintrón-Rivera, Fairfield University
Cameron Ekanayake, Edwardsburg High School
Junjun Zuo, Fudan University (China)
Sydney Shuff, Concord High School
Russell Williams, Indiana University-South Bend
Dwayne Thomas, Loyola University Maryland
Robert McMickle, Loyola Marymount University
Eunice Lozada-Delgado, University of Puerto Rico
Kelsea Hosoda, University of Hawaii
Michael Furdyna, University of Chicago
Former Summer Students