Lab Members

Marcia C. Haigis is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Research, and co-Director of the Bertarelli Rare Cancer Initiative at Harvard Medical School. She is a co-leader of the Aging and Immunity Program of the Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and performed postdoctoral studies at MIT studying mitochondrial metabolism. Dr. Haigis is an active member of the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, an Affiliate of the Broad Institute, a member of the Ludwig Center at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Haigis has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of how mitochondria contribute to human health and diseases of aging. Her pioneering studies identified ways that mitochondria utilize fuels and signal in to support cell proliferation, pivotal in immune cell activation. Research in the Haigis laboratory has also led to a deeper appreciation and mechanistic understanding of how metabolites in the tumor microenvironment regulate T cell effector functions. Most recently, her work has shed light on our understanding of how diet, age, and obesity regulate anti-tumor immunity.  Dr. Haigis is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Brookdale Leadership in Aging Award, the Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar Award, the American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, the National Academy of Medicine Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Program. She is the recipient of the 2023 Samsung Ho-Am Prize in Medicine. Dr. Haigis was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2024. Dr. Haigis serves on numerous academic and for-profit scientific advisory boards. 

Shakchhi wears many hats (and wears them well). As Mass Spectrometry Director, she oversees the daily operation and maintenance of the lab's three in-house mass spectrometers, supporting a wide range of metabolomics, lipidomics, and stable isotope tracing projects. From coordinating instrument schedules to training new users and troubleshooting complex runs, she ensures that each project runs with precision, generating reliable data that drive meaningful scientific and clinical insights. As Lab Manager, Shakchhi leads onboarding and lab operations with equal parts precision and care. She organizes inspections, plans team events, and serves as the go-to resource for collaborators and lab members alike. Her cross-functional role sits at the heart of the Haigis lab's scientific and interpersonal ecosystem. 

Beyond the bench, Shakchhi is passionate about advancing health equity, sustainability in research, and mentoring the next generation of scientists. Her long-term goals are to combine her research background with clinical practice to better serve under-served communities. 

Also answers to: Sha, Shakichi, Shak, Shakira 

Fuel source of choice: Momo 

Isabel joins the Haigis Lab as lead for the Bertarelli Rare Cancer Initiative's scientific research, educational, and outreach activities. She leverages her solid training and background in medicine, basic and translational research as well as her experience managing research alliances with private partners to facilitate translation of research innovations and discoveries that transform medicine and impact patients' lives.

Hobbies: digital marketing, traveling, outdoor activities. 

Jamie grew up in the Bay Area, Northern CA, where her high school biology teacher got her to read Loren Eiseley ("The Snout") and set her on the biology research path. Jamie went to Stanford for her undergraduate, where she worked in Anne Brunet’s lab on neural stem cell aging. She stayed at Stanford for her MD/PhD, and in Tom Rando’s lab she investigated skeletal muscle stem cell quiescence, aging, and rejuvenation by exercise. Jamie then traveled to Boston for residency at MGH and Heme/Onc fellowship at MGH/BWH/DFCI. She is interested in sarcomas and metabolism.

Fun fact: All of my dogs have had the same name!

Erique completed his PhD at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, where he studied the role of mTORC2 in adipose tissue biology. Currently, he is exploring the communication of Erk-mTOR signaling pathways and metabolism within the tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Fun Fact: Erique is addicted to coffee (dark roast, without sugar and cream), discovering music, and Carnaval. He is also an AMC A-List member!!

James is a co-mentored post-doctoral fellow in Drs. Marcia Haigis and Arlene Sharpe laboratories. He completed his BSc at McMaster University, and MSc and PhD at the University of Toronto. Under the supervision of Dr. Pamela Ohashi and mentorship/guidance from Drs. Tak Mak and Naoto Hirano, his doctoral research focused on developing strategies to overcome T cell tolerance in the tumor microenvironment. James joined the Haigis and Sharpe labs to further understand how tumor microenvironment and anti-tumor immunity change with aging. 

Favorite Food: K-bbq, KFC (Korean Fried Chicken), sushi 

Hobbies: investing (stocks, crypto, etc) & travelling

Ji Seul completed his Ph.D at Seoul National University in the lab of Jae Bum Kim. In his doctoral research, he investigated roles of HIF in the regulation of lipid catabolism and thermogenesis in adipocytes. Ji Seul is interested in studying how adipocytes sense and control metabolites upon metabolic diseases.

Hobbies: Cooking, traveling

Annie is co-mentored post-doctoral fellow in Drs. Marcia Haigis and Bernardo Sabatini laboratories. She completed her M.D. at Tzu Chi University in Taiwan and then she pursued her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University under the supervision of Dr. Chi Dang, where she studied MYC disruption of molecular clock in cancer cells. In collaboration with Dr. Amita Sehgal, she also found drosophila Myc is required in maintaining circadian behavior and metabolism in fruit flies. She then completed her neurology residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and matched into the neuro-oncology fellowship program at MGH/DFCI/BWH. Annie is particularly interested in studying the mechanism of metabolic regulation of neurotransmitters in glioma.  

Hobbies: traveling, skiing, and trying interesting restaurants 

My childhood dream: Becoming a congresswoman 

Songhua completed his Ph.D at Fudan University in the lab of Shimin Zhao, studying how metabolites regulates metabolism through forming covalent modification to proteins. During his Ph.D, he found a novel protein lipidation, namely tryptophan polyunsaturated fatty-acylation. In his post-doc, Songhua is more interested in immunometabolism, and he also maintains a great interest in SIRT4, the last puzzle of mitochondrial Sirtuins.

Favorite Food: Hot Pot, sushi

Favorite Movie & Actors: King of Comedy, Stephen Chow

Zongyu was born in Tianjin, China, and he believes that Tianjin has the best breakfast in the world. He completed his undergraduate degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing and his Ph.D. at Yale University as the first student in Dr. Rachel Perry’s Lab. He joined Haigis Lab because he is interested in LC/MS-based metabolomics, and he wants to apply this technique to various types of lymphocytes. 

Fun Fact: Zongyu is a black belt holder in Taekwondo, but now he totally forgets how to use this martial art.

Originally from Ireland, Eleanor completed her undergraduate degree at Trinity College Dublin, where she first developed an interest in immunometabolism. She then earned a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge under the mentorship of Dr. Randall Johnson, focusing on the impact of hypoxia-induced metabolites on CD8+ T cell fate and function. Eleanor's current work in the Haigis lab focuses on unraveling the role of T cell metabolism in anti-tumor immunity.

Hobbies: Traveling, hiking, rowing, and trying to convince immunologists that oxygen is cool. 

Favorite food: Bread. 

Lydia completed her PhD at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland OH under the mentorship of Dr. Stanley Huang. There she studied how stress responses regulate immunosuppressive polarization of macrophages through metabolic and epigenetic means. For her Postdoc, Lydia is interested in understanding how tumor-immune cell communication influences immune evasion and pro-tumoral function through maniuplation of tumor or immune cell metabolism. 

Fun fact: I once accidentally headbutted a shark 

Hobbies: I love hiking, video games, and collecting house plants (I currently own over 30 varieties!) 

Jaime was born and raised in Florida, completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Northwestern University, and her MD and PhD degrees at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After training in internal medicine at MGH, she matriculated into the hematology/oncology fellowship program at DFCI and is particularly interested in thoracic oncology. She joined the Haigis lab to study mechanisms of metabolic and proteostasis dysregulation in cancer and the interplay between oncogenesis and aging. 

Spirit animal: The Dachshund 

Originally from New Jersey, Eriene has lived in Boston since moving here for college at Tufts where she majored in Biochemistry and Applied Mathematics. She then came to Harvard to complete her MD/PhD in Anna Greka's lab studying the mechanism of a rare kidney disease caused by mutations in CoQ biosynthesis pathway and using kidney organoids for disease modeling. She completed her residency in internal medicine at MGH and is now a nephrology fellow at MGH/BWH. She is interested in understanding the role of metabolism in chronic kidney disease and in the development of kidney fibrosis. 

Hobbies: hiking, knitting, sourdough bread baking 

Hyunji is a Ph.D. student in the BBS program and is co-mentored between Drs. Marcia Haigis and Miao Cui laboratories. Born and raised in South Korea, she completed her BSc and MSc at University of Seoul. She studied plasmonic nanoparticles for bio-sensing and bio-imaging during her master’s under the supervision of Dr. Inhee Choi. After that, she worked as a research trainee in the lab of Dr. Luke P. Lee at Harvard Medical School, where she developed her interest in biomedical research. She is currently interested in exploring heart regeneration from metabolic perspectives. Outside the lab, Hyunji writes books about city plants and enjoys bouldering, live music, playing board games, and being in nature. 

Fun fact: She majored in horticulture in undergrads, but her home plants never survive long. (Good with outside garden)

Yutong (Mary) received her bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She did her undergraduate research in the Johnson Lab, working on antibody-polymer conjugates for cancer treatments. She is currently interested in integrating chemical methods to study metabolite signaling.

Hobbies: traveling, playing board game!

Xutong is a PhD student in the Immunology program and is co-mentored between Drs. Marcia Haigis and Vijay Kuchroo laboratories. She completed her BS/MS at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied mitochondrial metabolism in CD8 T cell exhaustion under the supervision of Dr. Erika Pearce. She is currently interested in investigating the epigentic and metabolic drivers in T cell aging. 

Hobbies: horror movies, jigsaw puzzles 

Sheila received her B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her undergraduate research in the lab of Dave Pagliarini was focused on identifying enzymes and precursors involved in coenzyme Q biosynthesis. She is currently interested in exploring how alterations in T cell metabolism improve antitumor immunity. 

Favorite show: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Born and raised in a small town in central Italy, Leonardo earned his BSc in Biotechnology and MSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics as a student of Ghislieri College at the University of Pavia. He conducted research at the AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM-ETS) in Dr. d'Adda di Fagagna's lab, studying the role of the DNA damage response in the aging process of N. furzeri. During his msater's, he also worked on a technology development project at the National Research Council of Italy (IGM CNR) under the supervision of Dr. Crespan. He then joined Prof. Loparo's lab at Harvard Medical School to study the regulation of NHEJ end-processing. Currently, Leonardo is a PhD student in the BBS program, investigating the connection between sirtuin activity and cancer metabolism. 

Hobbies: Playing guitar and shooting pictures with my film camera 

Ayantu grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before moving to the US for her undergrad studies. She completed her BS/MSc in Biochemistry at Brandeis University, where she studied under Prof Dorothee Kern investigating the differential regulation and evolution of two tyrosine receptor kinases, Src and Abl. After college, she joined the cell pharmacology team at C4 therapeutics where she further developed her interests in translational oncology. She joined the Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program in 2019 and is currently pursuing her PhD in Immunology. She is broadly interested in the intersection of immunity, metabolism and cancer and is exploring the effect of different lipids on CD8 T cell function.

Enjoys (not necessarily good at!): dancing, kickboxing, sushi, late night existential conversations (+ sushi)

Fave(ish) shows: HTGAWM, most Netflix limited series 

Fave(ish) books: Americanah, The Vanishing Half

Comfort shows: Friends, Community, Jo Koy standups 

Jingpeng graduated from Tufts University with a BA in Biochemistry and a minor in Biotechnology, where he developed an interest in signaling pathways and cell death mechanisms associated with kinase activation. In the Haigis lab, he works with Dr. Jaime Schneider as a research assistant, focusing on identifying key metabolic pathways altered in lung cancer. Building on his prior and current research experience, Jingpeng has developed a deep interest in translational work that bridges laboratory discoveries to clinical applications. 

Fun fact: JP loves cooking and used to be a fry cook at a boba tea shop

Hobbies: long-distance running and listening to music on the train 

Joe graduated with a BA in Biology with a Minor in Environmental Studies from College of the Holy Cross. As a research assistant in the lab, his focus is on mass spectrometry. He also assists multiple postdocs in their research through bench work and analysis, works as an animal technician, as well as other administrative duties.

Favorite Food: Squirrel

Hobbies: Archery, bicycling, hunting.