Our Lab

Ulrike (Uli) Gerdemann, MD

Originally from Germany, Uli has dedicated her career to advancing immunotherapy, focusing on the development of novel T-cell therapeutics through over a decade of training with leaders in the field. A committed physician-scientist, she cares for patients on the stem cell service, blending her clinical expertise with a drive to innovate in cellular therapy.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Uli is a mother of two who enjoys skiing, mountain biking, playing cello and finding moments to unwind with her family.

Marlana Winschel, Lab Manager

Marlana is the lab’s greatest asset, serving as the Lab Manager, lead technician, Biosafety Officer, and even managing the lab's social media presence. Outside of the lab she enjoys running, yoga, skiing, reading, and hiking/generally being outside.

Katherine Michaelis, MD, PhD, Postdoc

Katy is an Allergy and Immunology fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is interested in using advances in T cell biology to innovate cell therapies for patients with inborn errors of immunity, immune dysregulation, and cancer. She is also an award-winning baker always providing baked goods for the lab, and enjoys hiking and running.

Rebecca is a pediatric hematology-oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital. Co-mentored by Dr. Francesca Alvarez Calderone, she is focused on developing innovative CAR and TCR therapies for children with cancer.

Rebecca Sutherland, MD, Postdoc

Shramana Guchhait, MS, Research Assistant

Shramana received her master’s degree in biotechnology at John’s Hopkins University where she worked on CAR-NK cells before joining the lab in 2025 to continue pursuing her passion for advancing next-generation CAR-T immunotherapies to improve outcomes for cancer patients. When not busy with immune cells, Shramana enjoys dancing and has trained in six different dance styles. It is his favorite way to keep the rhythm going, both in and out of the lab.

Ryan Fleming, MS, Computational Biologist

Ryan has been working alongside Uli for over four years. He started as a lab technician, then pursued a master’s degree in computational biology, and returned to the lab post-graduation to tackle correlative biological studies. With exceptional skills both at the bench and on the computational side, Ryan is also an outstanding mentor to new lab members.

Austin Moore, MD, PhD is a infectious disease fellow. He joined the lab while in the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center to explore the field of computational biology, with a particular interest in uncovering mechanisms underlying CAR T cell neurotoxicity.

Lab Alumni

Gilian Selig, joined the lab as a bioengineering student at Harvard to pursue her thesis project. Co-mentored by Francesca Alvarez-Calderon, focused on identifying novel TCR targets. She is now pursing her master’s of science by research in surgical sciences at Oxford.

Rachel Hu, worked as a summer student from Wellesley College validating single-gene knockouts to improve CAR-T therapies.

Casey Son, worked as a summer student from Wellesley College validating single-gene knockouts to improve CAR-T therapies.

Raenne Cruz, worked as a computational summer student from Swarthmore College on TCR-seq projects.

Lab Collaborators

  • Francesca Alvarez Calderon, MD, PhD

    Instructor, Dana-Farber Cancer and Blood Disorder Center

  • Jim Kaminski, PhD

    Computational Biologist, Boston Children’s Hospital

  • Victor Tkachev, PhD

    Assistant Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital

  • Leslie Kean, MD, PhD

    Professor of Pediatrics, Dana-Farber/ Boston Children’s Hospital Cancer and Blood Disorder Center