Scientific Staff

Joseph Desrosiers, CMI Core Lab Manager

Joseph Desrosiers is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island’s Biotechnology Program and has a B.S. in Biotechnolgy Manufacturing. He is currently the Lab Manager for the Institute for Immunology and Informatics CMI Core Laboratory. His background is in T-Cell Immunology, with extensive knowledge in immunosorbent assays, flow cytometry and cryopreservation. He also maintains the TRIAD groups transgenic mouse colonies.

Denise Hise, Research Associate / Data Analyst II

Denise Hise holds dual master’s degrees in computer science and biomedical science.  She joined the Bioinformatics Core at iCubed in 2013 where she hopes to pursue her love of microbiology and immunology through immunoinformatics as applied to vaccines, while continuing her life’s work in databases and user interfaces.

Barbara-anne Martin, Research Associate

Barbara-anne’s career in biological research began in an immunology lab at M.D. Anderson Hospital & Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.  There she worked with patient cancer cells, searched for a protein marker for prostate cancer, and characterized precursor proteins for human B cell growth factor.  Barbara-anne then spent a few years at Rhode Island Hospital researching wound healing. She transitioned from academic research to a large  pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, where she spent 16 years in Cell Toxicology, Infectious Diseases, and Neuroscience departments.  Her projects included drug safety in hepatocyte cultures, enzyme characterization, looking for biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease and neuroinflammatory diseases.  Currently Barbara-anne dedicates her time working on protein production and immunological characterization.

Susannah Colt, Research Coordinator

Susannah joined iCubed in 2012 as a research coordinator with the Laboratory for Viral Immunity and Pathogenesis.  She received bachelors degrees in biological sciences and anthropology from the University of Rhode Island.  After earning a graduate degree in public health from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Susannah worked with the World Health Organization in the Federated States of Micronesia managing a survey of leptospirosis among the people of Pohnpei State.  Here at iCubed, she helps to coordinate international cohort studies and assists with basic research relating to the pathogenesis and immunity of dengue infections.

Rui Liu, Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Rui Liu joined iCubed as a postdoctoral fellow in 2012. Her research focuses on both the Multi-Path project and a pilot project titled “Advancement of Concatameric Epitope Vaccines by Characterization of Combinatorial Epitope Assemblies for Optimal Expression, Solubility and Immunogenicity.” Prior to iCubed, Dr. Liu worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the pharmacology department at Okayama University in Japan, where she also received her Ph.D. in pharmacology. There she studied the immune role of one transmembrane multiligand receptor, called RAGE, to its ligand’s axis. In the future, Dr. Liu hopes to design and develop vaccines for cystic fibrosis patients.