Lab Members

Meet the Balyasnikova Lab team members. We welcome requests for information about our work and collaboration opportunities.

Principal Investigator

Irina V. Balyasnikova, PhD

Professor of Neurological Surgery

irinabal( at )northwestern.edu
312-503-4868

PhD: National Cardiology Research Center, Moscow, Russia, Cardiology (1994) Postdoctoral Fellowship: University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Environmental Medicine (1997) Postdoctoral Fellowship: University of Illinois, Chicago, Anesthesiology (2000)

View Balyasnikova's Faculty Profile

My research focus is on the development of novel targeted approaches for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. In particular, I am interested in developing and utilizing antibodies and genetically engineered variants against tumor-specific antigens in order to enhance and deliver therapeutics specifically to brain and other tumors. Another area of my interest is in the development of stem cells as therapeutic carriers. It includes investigation of various routes of delivery, mechanism of migration of stem cells and non-invasive tracking of therapeutic stem cell to solid brain tumors and metastatic lesions.

Graduate Students

Joseph Duffy, MS

Rotating Graduate Student

Joseph joined the Balyasnikova Lab in the fall of 2020. He obtained his undergraduate and Master’s degree from Northern Michigan University where he was a graduate research assistant for the Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center. Joseph is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University studying Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis in Computational Biology.

Joseph is currently working on several projects, including investigating therapeutic properties of bispecific T- and NK cells engagers, IL13RA2-directed CAR T cells, and identifying immunotherapeutic resistance mechanisms in brain tumors. As a Ph.D. candidate, Joseph will explore the intersect between computational biology and benchtop research to engineer novel anti-cancer therapies.

Manuel Fierro, BA

2nd Year Ph.D. Student

Manuel Fierro is a Northwestern University graduate student, currently rotating in the lab. His research interest involves the study of cancer for the development of novel cellular immunotherapies. Manuel received his Bachelor of Art degree in Biology from California State University Northridge. He then went on to work on developing CAR-NK and CAR-Macrophage cellular therapies in University of California, San Diego. In the Balyasnikova lab, Manuel is working on developing a Tri-specific CAR-T cell for GBM.