Miyamoto Lab Members

David Miyamoto, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

David Miyamoto is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School, an Investigator in the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. After studying Chemistry at Harvard College, he received his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard Medical School, where he completed thesis work with Dr. Timothy Mitchison. His post-doctoral research was with Drs. Daniel Haber and Shyamala Maheswaran at MGH. His current research focuses on the development of novel molecular biomarkers to guide prostate and bladder cancer therapy. Dr. Miyamoto is also a board-certified radiation oncologist specializing in genitourinary malignancies who sees patients in the MGH Department of Radiation Oncology and the Mass General Cancer Center. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing the violin, hanging out with his Maltipoo, and watching anime with his daughters.

Keisuke Otani, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Keisuke Otani is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Miyamoto Lab. After receiving his MD degree from Osaka University in Japan, he worked at Osaka University Medical Hospital and Osaka Medical Center for Cancers and Cardiovascular Diseases (present: Osaka International Cancer Institute) and completed his residency program in radiation oncology. He then received his PhD in basic medicine at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine. Before joining this lab, he belonged to the radiotherapy team for prostate cancer in Osaka University Medical Hospital, utilizing techniques including IMRT, stereotactic radiotherapy, low-dose-rate brachytherapy, and high-dose-rate brachytherapy.

Yukako Otani, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Yukako is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Miyamoto Lab. Prior to arriving in Boston, she studied the molecular mechanisms of osteoclast differentiation at Osaka University in Japan. Yukako is working on developing novel patient-derived organoid cultures to study the bladder cancer tumor microenvironment. Outside of the lab, she enjoys sports and seeing movies.

Yoshiyuki Miyazawa, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Yoshiyuki is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Miyamoto Lab. He graduated from Gunma University School of Medicine in Japan with an MD degree. He then completed his residency in urology and became a board-certified urologist. Later, he researched the anti-tumor effects of statins in prostate cancer at the Gunma University School of Medicine, where he received his PhD. He has continued his research in urologic oncology, with a focus on prostate cancer. For him, spending time with his family is priceless. Please visit his Blog!

Hidenari Hirata, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Hidenari is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Miyamoto Lab. After receiving his MD degree from Kyushu University in Japan, he completed his residency in radiation oncology and became a board-certified radiation oncologist. He did research in cancer genetics in the Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, where he completed his PhD thesis. He has continued analyzing patient-derived biospecimens to characterize molecular features of therapeutic response while seeing patients undergoing radiotherapy. Before joining the Miyamoto Lab, he performed photon radiotherapy and proton beam therapy at the National Cancer Center Hospital East. He enjoys spending time with his family and playing in the park with his children.

Pooja Chauhan, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (joint with Willers Lab)

Pooja is a postdoctoral research fellow jointly in the Miyamoto Lab and Willers Lab. She earned her PhD in Life Sciences from JNU, India, where she studied the spatio-temporal expression and regulation of SG2NA, a cell cycle regulatory gene. In her post-doctoral research at Hebrew University, Israel, she studied 1) the molecular mechanisms of cisplatin resistance in various human cancers and 2) the role of chromatin dynamics on DNA damage sensitivity and repair (nucleotide excision repair) using genomic and biochemical approaches. Currently, in the Miyamoto and Willers Labs, Pooja is developing and applying genomic sequencing methods to characterize the DNA damage caused by proton radiation with the aim to identify novel cancer biomarkers. Pooja loves to spend her free time in reading, cooking and spend time with her family and friends.

Oluwakemi Badusi

Research Technician (per diem)

Oluwakemi Badusi graduated from Wellesley College in 2021 with a degree in Chemistry. In the Miyamoto Lab, she is excited to learn new techniques to process and analyze patient-derived biospecimens including sequencing RNA. Outside of the lab, she enjoys cooking and hanging out with friends. Oluwakemi loves working in the Miyamoto Lab because of the supportive learning atmosphere!

Ella Chung

Research Technician

Rea Pittie

Research Technician (joint with Willers Lab)

Daniel Rodden

Research Technician

Gavan Dagnese

Research Technician

Alumni

  • Justin Kelly (Research technician, joint with Haber/Maheswaran Lab)
  • Olivia Benson (Research technician, joint with Willers Lab)
  • Nicola Barbesino (Research technician, joint with Willers Lab)
  • Jacob Ukleja (Research technician)
  • Klara Bader (Masters student – 2022)
  • Noriyuki Okonogi (Postdoctoral research fellow, joint with Held Lab)
  • Emma Qingyuan Yang (Postdoctoral research fellow, joint with Willers Lab)
  • David Konieczkowski (Radiation oncology resident)
  • William Hwang (Radiation oncology resident)
  • Erika Kusaka (Research technician)
  • Rebecca Fisher (Research technician)
  • Kathleen Bedingfield (Summer intern – 2019)
  • Haley Pleskow (Research technician)