Current Lab Members

Ralph D. Sanderson, Ph.D.

Dr. Sanderson is Endowed Professor of Cancer Pathobiology and Director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology. He received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology in 1986 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Advisor, Richard Mayne) followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Merton Bernfield at Stanford University. He joined the faculty in Pathology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1989 and rose to the rank of professor in 2000. There, he held the Drs. Mae and Anderson Nettleship Chair in Oncologic Pathology and also served as Director of Basic Research for the Arkansas Cancer Research Center. He joined the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology in the Department of Pathology at UAB in 2006 and became Division Director in 2018. Since establishing his independent research laboratory in 1989, his lab has focused on understanding the function of the syndecan-1 heparan sulfate proteoglycan and the heparan sulfate degrading enzyme heparanase in myeloma progression and metastasis. Discoveries by the Sanderson Lab helped form the basis for developing and testing inhibitors against heparanase as cancer therapeutics.

Shyam Kumar Barndari, Ph.D.

Dr. Bandari is a Research Associate focused on understanding the role of exosomes (and chemoexosomes), in driving aggressive myeloma progression, metastasis and chemoresistance. He grew up in Nizamabad, India, completed a Bachelors in Biotechnology from Osmania University and Masters in Biotechnology from Bangalore University. After completing his masters, he worked as a junior research fellow at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology in India. He completed his Ph.D. in Developmental Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Muenster, Germany in Kay Grobe’s lab. He joined the Sanderson Lab as a post-doctoral fellow in 2015 and was promoted to Researcher V in 2018. Shyam enjoys sports; especially watching and playing cricket. In his free time he enjoys music and spending time with his 2-year-old son, Ishaan.

Kaushlendra Tripathi, Ph.D.

Dr. Tripathi is a Research Associate focused on deciphering the role of hypoxia induced myeloma derived exosomes in angiogenesis. He has also demonstrated that heparanase promotes myeloma stemness and in vivo tumorigenesis. He completed his Masters in Biotechnology from Pantnagar University in India followed by a Ph.D. in Life Sciences from the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India. He worked as a Research Associate at the Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile, Alabama and joined the Sanderson Lab in 2017 as a postdoctoral fellow. He was promoted to Researcher V in 2018. When not in the lab, he enjoys reading scientific journals and having scientific discussions with colleagues.

Alumni: where are they now?

Ph.D. Trainees

  • Brian Liebersbach, M.D., Ph.D., Private practice physician
  • Michelle Stanley, Ph.D., Professor, Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Minnesota
  • Wei Liu, Ph.D., Professor of plastic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and Associate Director, National Tissue Engineering Center of China and Shanghai Institute of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
  • H. Marie Lacy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  • Yekaterina Khotskaya, Ph.D., Biopharma Partnership Manager, AACP Project GENIE
  • Joseph Ritchie, Ph.D., Executive Field Medical Scientist at Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Mark Stewart, Vice President, Science Policy, Friends of Cancer Research

Postdoctoral Trainees, Fellows, Visiting Scholars

  • Lanne Y. Maes, M.D., Medical Director at American Red Cross Mid-Atlantic & Appalachian Regions
  • Kevin Langford, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology, Stephen F. Austin University
  • Carla Y. Pumphrey, M.D., Ph.D., Hospitalist, Jefferson Regional Medical Center
  • Magne Borset, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Ilene Bayer-Garner, M.D., Private practice physician
  • Yang Yang, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology, UAB
  • Yuemeng Dai, M.D., Ph.D., Private practice, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  • Toru Uyama, Ph.D., Research Associate, Kagawa University, School of Medicine, Japan
  • Anurag Purushothaman, Ph.D., Instructor, Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  • Vishnu Ramani, Ph.D., Global Marketing Manager, BD Biosciences
  • Rada Amin, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, University of Nebraska