Lab Members | The Chan Lab

Meet the Lab

Gary C. Chan, PhD

Principal Investigator

Gary is an Associate Professor in the Microbiology & Immunology Department. He is from Alberta, Canada and obtained his PhD from Univeristy of Alberta. Gary continued his career at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center until coming to SUNY Upstate in 2010. His research interests include Human cytomegalovirus pathogenesis and persistence.

Email: Chang@upstate.edu

Christine Burrer

Research Support Technician

Chris has been a technician for the Microbiology & Immunology department for more than 30yrs. She has helped several labs set-up and get running, including our very own. She hails from Massena, NY and obtained her B.S. at SUNY Plattsburg. In her free time Chris often visits her children, Leah and Alex, or can be found cuddling her cute cats, Manny & Chandler.

Email: burrerc@upstate.edu

Jennifer graduated from Yale in 2014 with a BS in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology. Her project in the Chan lab focuses on novel antivirals targeting host proteins during quiescent infection of myeloid cells. She originally hails from Michigan and enjoys eating, napping, and photoshopping pictures of her cat, Turtle.

Email: CheungJ@upstate.edu

Jennifer Cheung

MD/PhD Candidate

Brittany graduated from SUNY Potsdam in 2018 with a BS in Biochemistry. She studies HCMV mediated survival in peripheral blood monocytes and monocytes derived from latently infected CD34+ stem cells. She is a local from Chittenango, NY and loves her cat Zeke.

Email: GeilerB@upstate.edu

Brittany Geiler

PhD Candidate

Dilruba Akter obtained her BS and MS degree in Microbiology from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. In her PhD project, she is investigating the role of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) in expression and replication of viral genes during HCMV lytic infection. Dilruba loves

K-drama, to read and listen to music.

Email: AkterDi@upstate.edu

Dilruba Akter

PhD Candidate

Juthi Biswas received her B.Sc (Hons.) and M.Sc in Microbiology from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. After her graduation, she joined Jagannath University as a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology. Currently, she is investigating transcriptional regulation of HCMV immediate early gene expression. In her spare time, Juthi loves to paint and listen folk music.

Email: BiswasJ@upstate.edu

Juthi Biswas

Shima obtained her BS degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Tehran, Iran. Shima’s project investigates how HCMV’s entry process rewires host stress responses to drive gene expression of prosurvival factors which are critical in promoting the survival and dissemination of infected monocytes. Shima is from a small city in the south of Iran. She enjoys cooking, hiking, hanging out with her cat, May, and her friends.

Email: MoradpoS@upstate.edu

Shima Moradpour

PhD Candidate

Graduate Student

Monir obtained his BS and MS degrees in Microbiology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He then pursued another MS degree from Soonchunhyang University, South Korea. In the Chan lab he is investigating monocyte subclass switching/differentiation in response to HCMV infection. During his free time, he enjoys watching TV shows and taking walks.

Email: HossainM@upstate.edu