On October 6, 2025, Dr. Priscilla Tang defended her thesis, “The multifaceted roles of redox-dependent adaptations in metastatic ovarian cancer.”

This was followed by Dr. Amal Taher Elhaw on November 25, 2025 presenting her thesis work: “Early detachment-induced adaptations in ovarian cancer: RHOV as a novel driver of peritoneal metastasis”.

We are so proud of both Priscilla and Amal for their outstanding research and can’t wait to see where their science journey takes them next!

In addition to winning many awards for their science, Priscilla and Amal contributed to the following manuscripts during their graduate studies:

Elhaw AT*, Tang PW*, Kamlapurkar S, Al-Saad S, Srinivasan S, LID, Tseng, GC, Straub AC, Hempel N. Mapping Transcriptomic signatures downstream of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase SOD2 in OVCA433 multicellular aggregates. Adv Redox Res. 2025. Dec 17:100141. doi.org/10.1016/j.arres.2025.100141.

Elhaw AT, Tang PW, Cheng YY, Kamlapurkar S, Javed Z, Al-Saad S, White SR, Abdelnaby AE, Khan H, Choi AS, Cole AR, Kim YS, Atiya HI, Trebak M, Zervantonakis I, Buckanovich RJ, Aird KM, Coffman LG, Mythreye K, Hempel N. RHOV is a Detachment-Responsive Rho GTPase Necessary for Ovarian Cancer Peritoneal Metastasis. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Aug 13:2025.08.12.669944. doi: 10.1101/2025.08.12.669944. PMID: 40832333; PMCID: PMC12363840.

Cheng YY, Worley BL, Javed Z, Elhaw AT, Tang PW, Al-Saad S, Kamlapurkar S, White SR, Uboveja A, Mythreye K, Aird KM, Czyzyk TA, Hempel N. Loss of Predicted Cell Adhesion Molecule MPZL3 Promotes EMT in Ovarian Cancer. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Jul 1;5(7):1180-1193. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-24-0591. PMID: 40631617; PMCID: PMC12277487.

Garcia GL, Orellana T, Gorecki G, Frisbie L, Baruwal R, Suresh S, Goldfeld E, Beddows I, MacFawn IP, Britt AK, Hale MM, Elhaw AT, Isett BR, Hempel N, Bao R, Shen H, Buckanovich RJ, Finkel T, Drapkin R, Soong TR, Bruno TC, Atiya HI, Coffman LG. Aged and BRCA-Mutated Stromal Cells Drive Epithelial Cell Transformation. Cancer Discov. 2025 Jun 3;15(6):1203-1224. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-0805. PMID: 40084985; PMCID: PMC12130807.

Pathak T, Benson JC, Tang PW, Trebak M, Hempel N. Crosstalk between calcium and reactive oxygen species signaling in cancer revisited. Cell Calcium. 2025 May;127:103014. doi: 10.1016/j.ceca.2025.103014. Epub 2025 Mar 18. PMID: 40139005; PMCID: PMC12579432.

Javed Z, Shin DH, Pan W, White SR, Elhaw AT, Kim YS, Kamlapurkar S, Cheng YY, Benson JC, Abdelnaby AE, Phaëton R, Wang HG, Yang S, Sullivan MLG, St Croix CM, Watkins SC, Mullett SJ, Gelhaus SL, Lee N, Coffman LG, Aird KM, Trebak M, Mythreye K, Walter V, Hempel N. Drp1 splice variants regulate ovarian cancer mitochondrial dynamics and tumor progression. EMBO Rep. 2024 Oct;25(10):4281-4310. doi: 10.1038/s44319-024-00232-4. Epub 2024 Aug 27. PMID: 39191946; PMCID: PMC11467262.

Chang C, Cheng YY, Kamlapurkar S, White S, Tang PW, Elhaw AT, Javed Z, Aird KM, Mythreye K, Phaëton R, Hempel N. GPX3 supports ovarian cancer tumor progression in vivo and promotes expression of GDF15. Gynecol Oncol. 2024 Jun;185:8-16. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2024.02.004. Epub 2024 Feb 10. PMID: 38342006; PMCID: PMC11179984.

Benson JC, Romito O, Abdelnaby AE, Xin P, Pathak T, Weir SE, Kirk V, Castaneda F, Yoast RE, Emrich SM, Tang PW, Yule DI, Hempel N, Potier-Cartereau M, Sneyd J, Trebak M. A multiple-oscillator mechanism underlies antigen-induced Ca²⁺ oscillations in Jurkat T-cells. J Biol Chem. 2023 Nov;299(11):105310. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105310. Epub 2023 Sep 29. PMID: 37778728; PMCID: PMC10641176.

Tang PW, Frisbie L, Hempel N, Coffman L. Insights into the tumor-stromal-immune cell metabolism cross talk in ovarian cancer. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2023 Sep 1;325(3):C731-C749. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00588.2022. Epub 2023 Aug 7. PMID: 37545409.

Kim YS*, Tang PW*, Welles JE, Pan W, Javed Z, Elhaw AT, Mythreye K, Kimball SR, Hempel N. HuR-dependent SOD2 protein synthesis is an early adaptation to anchorage-independence. Redox Biol. 2022 Jul;53:102329. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2022.102329. Epub 2022 May 13. PMID: 35594792; PMCID: PMC9121325.

Monavarian M, Elhaw AT, Tang PW, Javed Z, Shonibare Z, Scalise CB, Arend R, Jolly MK, Sewell-Loftin MK, Hempel N, Mythreye K. Emerging perspectives on growth factor metabolic relationships in the ovarian cancer ascites environment. Semin Cancer Biol. 2022 Nov;86(Pt 2):709-719. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2022.03.004. Epub 2022 Mar 5. PMID: 35259492; PMCID: PMC9441472.

*co-first authors