Sana Parveen, PhD

Sana Parveen is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). She earned her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, India, and joined Dr. Hui‑Zi Chen’s lab in August 2022.

Her doctoral research at CCMB focused on complex interactions among key signaling pathways that regulate eukaryotic mRNA translation, including mTORC1, stress kinases, ERK, and p38 MAPKs. Her work also included characterizing geneticin‑resistant epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) in hepatocellular carcinoma cells through whole‑transcriptome analysis. She additionally coauthored a review on pharmacologically active compounds derived from marine sources, underscoring her interest in cancer and therapeutic mechanisms.

At MCW, her research focuses on elucidating the epigenetic mechanisms underlying lung cancer, particularly those driven by the histone methyltransferase EZH2. EZH2 is highly expressed in small cell lung cancer and plays a central role in chemotherapy and immunotherapy resistance. Her work in Dr. Chen’s lab explores the mechanisms of EZH2 mediated immunotherapy resistance and identifies novel EZH2 regulated gene pathways with potential for therapeutic intervention. During this time, she developed extensive expertise in high‑throughput next‑generation sequencing (NGS) techniques and bioinformatics analyses, including RNA‑seq, ATAC‑seq, and Micro‑C (3D genome mapping). In collaboration with Tempus AI, she is currently analyzing real world small cell lung cancer (SCLC) datasets that integrate genomic, transcriptomic, and clinical data to characterize disease heterogeneity and identify predictive biomarkers of treatment response. Alongside her research, she contributes to MCW’s Postdoctoral Advisory Committee, helping organize scientific and community‑building events for postdocs.