Texas Tech University Health Science Center
Department of Surgery
Rahman/Melkus Lab
About Us
Our team mission is to develop novel approaches to treat breast cancer and encourage the next generation of physician scientists to pursue research contributing to improving women’s health.
Dr. Rahman established a research organization that includes both a breast cancer surgeon (herself) and a basic science immunologist, Dr. Melkus. Dr. Rahman is the medical director of UMC Cancer Center and director of the Breast Center of Excellence Center. She is one of the few breast cancer surgeons in Texas exploring ultrasound guided breast cancer cryoablation as an alternative to surgery to improve women’s breast cancer health. She identified that cancer cryoablation may provide immunological benefits over current standard of care surgical protocols and has committed to pursue better understanding of cryoablation and how to apply it to treat high-risk metastatic breast cancers. She recruited Dr. Melkus, with expertise in both mouse and human immunology, to join her team and participated in developing our breast cancer cryoablation murine model. Together, our team pursues relevant clinical questions and address them using basic laboratory science research which will be translated for clinic purposes.
Our Research Team has strong relationships and collaborations within TTUHSC and TTU. Our team includes providing graduate students, medical students, post-doctoral fellows and medical residents the opportunity to do research, present their work and build their resume to be highly competitive when applying for scholarships, grants, fellowships and job positions.
Research Team
Team Leaders
Rakhshanda Layeequr Rahman, M.D.
Professor, Department of Surgery, TTUHSC
Director, Breast Center of Excellence
Medical Director of the UMC Cancer Center
Education
Fellowships:
Fellowship in Disease of the Breast, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, 2004.
Fellowship in General and Breast Surgery, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. 2001.
Residency:
Residency in General Surgery, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. 1999.
Medical School:
Internship, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. 1994.
MBBS, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. 1993.
Phone Number: (806) 743-2370
Email: rakhshanda.rahman@ttuhsc.edu
Background:
Dr. Rahman joined Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in 2009, and is the founding executive director of the multi-campus Breast Center of Excellence established in 2010. She spearheaded the development of the first breast center of excellence in west Texas accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC). The prospective data management program and community outreach program at the center received commendations at the national level. Dr. Rahman is the Project Director for the Access to Breast and Cervical Care for West Texas (ABC2WT) project funded through CPRIT which provides breast and cervical cancer education and screening across the 26 counties of Texas Panhandle. She maintains an active clinical research program, educational and leadership portfolio and serves on several local, regional and national boards and committees including American Society of Breast Surgeons and National Consortium of Breast Centers.
Research Interests: Breast Cancer, Metastasis, Ultrasonic cryoablation of breast cancer, Abscopal Effect, Cancer immunology, Women’s Health.
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1J1mYpb58eU9Gd/bibliography/public/
Michael W. Melkus, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, TTUHSC
Education
Post Doctoral
Post Doctoral Fellow: Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Pharmacy, 2015
Post Doctoral Fellow: Hospital Paul Brousse (INSERM U935), Viljuif France 2011
Post Doctoral Fellow: I-STEM, Evry France 2009
Graduate School
PhD in Immunology: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 2006
MS in Microbiology: Texas Tech University, 1995
Phone Number: (806) 743-3379
Email: michael.melkus@ttuhsc.edu
Background:
Dr. Melkus is a native of the Texas Panhandle born in Amarillo, TX. He did his undergraduate work at TTU and earned his Ph.D. in Immunology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. His dissertation work focused on developing a functional human immune system in a mouse model to study human tropic infectious diseases (HIV). He completed postdoctoral fellowships at ISTEM and Paul Brousse Hospital in France studying Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and hematopoiesis derived from embryonic stem cells. After returning from overseas, he did a post-doctoral fellowship investigating prostate cancer stem cells at Amarillo School of Pharmacy, TTUHSC. He joined the faculty in the Department of Pediatrics School of Medicine, Amarillo in 2015 as a Research Assistant Professor. Dr. Melkus was recruited to the Department of Surgery in Lubbock to work with Dr. Rahman, a breast cancer surgeon, researching the immune response (abscopal effect) following cryoablation of breast cancer.
Research Interests: Cancer immuno-biology, breast cancer, breast cancer cryoablation, modulation of the immune system, infectious disease, immunity and vaccinology.
Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1z363q65N4TQR/bibliography/51429455/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending.
The Team
Sonia Y. Khan
MS4, SOM, TTUHSC
Sonia is a third-year medical student. She has chosen a career path in surgical oncology. She joined the TTUHSC Breast Center of Excellence as a part of the Texas Tech Apprenticeship Program (TTAP) under the supervision of Dr. Rahman. She is an integral part of our breast cancer cryoablation immunology research team using TILs to evaluate the abscopal effect.
Flávia Sardela de Miranda
PhD Candidate, TTUHSC
Flavia is a graduate student in the Biochemistry, Cellular & Molecular Biology program. She is investigating cryoablation of breast cancer and the abscopal effect using our murine model of breast cancer. She is identifing key immune cells that are activated post cryoablation and their role in the abscopal effect. She is also investigating immune modulators in combination wtih cryoablation to enhance the anti-tumor response.
Maribel Castro
MS3, SOM, TTUHSC
Maribel is a second-year medical student. Maribel joined our lab as a volunteer and is now our expert in immunofluorescence imaging. She is investigating using immunofluorescence to identify increased activated T cells in primary tumors and metastatic tumors post cryoablation.
Hector Garcia
MS3, SOM, TTUHSC
Hector is a second-year medical student. He joined our lab as part of the Medical Student Summer Research Program (SSRP). He is currently investigating the combinational use of the immune modulator anti-CTLA4 to increase the immune response comparing surgery vs. cryoablation in our murine model of breast cancer.
Affiliated with the Lab
Luis Brandi, M.D. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pathology, TTUHSC
Hafiz Khan, Ph.D. Professor, Dept. of Public Health, TTUHSC
Catherine Jones, M.D. Associate Professor, Dept. of Internal Medicine, TTUHSC
Atli S. Valgardsson, M.D. Resident, Dept. of Surgery, TTUHSC
ALUMNI.
Victoria Chu, M.D. - Internal Medicine Resident. Univ of Texas Medical School - Houston, TX.
Annie Snitman, M.D. - General Surgery Resident. Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, TX.
Zaina Habrawi, M.D. – Breast Surgeon. The Surgical Specialists of New York, LLP. - New York, NY
Mustafa Amani, M.D. – Breast Surgical Oncology, Health First Cancer Institute. - Melbourne, FL.
Anthony Scott, M.D. - General Surgery-Breast, Atrium Health Navicent Medical Center - Macon, GA.
