Our People
The Eck laboratory is made up of a collaborative mix of graduate students, research fellows, and scientific staff. Lab members come from multiple backgrounds including biochemistry, biophysics, chemistry, and molecular biology.
Michael Eck
Principal Investigator
Longwood Center, LC 4313
Michael_Eck (at) dfci.harvard.edu
eck (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Eck received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed his Postdoctoral training under Dr. Stephen Harrison in Structural Biology at the Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School before joining DFCI in 1996. Dr. Eck is currently a Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the structure and regulation of tyrosine kinases in cancer and on structure-based approaches to discovery of novel inhibitors. The Eck lab also studies the structure of formin proteins and their role in assembling the actin cytoskeleton.
Principal Investigator
Longwood Center, LC 4313
Michael_Eck (at) dfci.harvard.edu
eck (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Eck received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed his Postdoctoral training under Dr. Stephen Harrison in Structural Biology at the Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School before joining DFCI in 1996. Dr. Eck is currently a Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the structure and regulation of tyrosine kinases in cancer and on structure-based approaches to discovery of novel inhibitors. The Eck lab also studies the structure of formin proteins and their role in assembling the actin cytoskeleton.
Hyesung Jeon
Lead Scientist
Longwood Center, LC 4311
hjeon (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Jeon earned her PhD in Chemistry and Biophysics from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Boston University. Dr. Jeon is an experienced, independent structural biologist specializing in molecular electron microscopy with a long-term interest in cell surface receptors and their interactions with ligands and intracellular signaling components. She works with multiple structural biology groups at DFCI including the Blacklow and Eck lab. In addition to her talents as an electron microscopist, Dr. Jeon has experience in X-Ray Crystallography, and broad skills as a cell biologist and protein biochemist. She has authored or co-authored more than forty publications over the past decade, and trained a number of successful graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Byunghak Ha
Senior Scientist
Longwood Center, LC 4302
bhak (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Ha received his Ph.D. in Biological Science from the Seoul National University. He completed his postdoctoral training in Dr. Titus Boggon's lab at Yale University. He joined the Eck lab in 2020 and is involved in BRAF kinase research.
Senior Scientist
Longwood Center, LC 4302
bhak (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Ha received his Ph.D. in Biological Science from the Seoul National University. He completed his postdoctoral training in Dr. Titus Boggon's lab at Yale University. He joined the Eck lab in 2020 and is involved in BRAF kinase research.
Emilie Leroy
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
eleroy (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Leroy received a Ph.D in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Brussels, Belgium) while in the lab of Pr. SN Constantinescu, where she studied the structure and function of JAK2 mutants involved in blood disorders. Although her current research focuses on structural biology, she initially specialized in biochemistry, cell biology and signaling.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
eleroy (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Leroy received a Ph.D in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Brussels, Belgium) while in the lab of Pr. SN Constantinescu, where she studied the structure and function of JAK2 mutants involved in blood disorders. Although her current research focuses on structural biology, she initially specialized in biochemistry, cell biology and signaling.
Marina Candido Primi
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
mprimi (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Primi received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She was previously a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in the lab of Dr. Tina Izard studying the structure of cytoskeletal tumor suppressor proteins and developing inhibitors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Marina joined the Eck lab in 2021 and works on JAK inhibitors.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
mprimi (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Primi received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She was previously a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in the lab of Dr. Tina Izard studying the structure of cytoskeletal tumor suppressor proteins and developing inhibitors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Marina joined the Eck lab in 2021 and works on JAK inhibitors.
Sayan Charkraborty
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
schakr10 (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Sayan received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University (NCSU) under the guidance of Dr. Guozhou Xu where he worked on structural characterization of Leucine Rich Repeat Receptor Kinases (LRR-RK) in plants. Sayan was previously a postdoc at Weill Cornell Medicine in Dr. Alessio Accardi’s lab working on membrane phospholipid scramblases. In 2023, he joined the Eck lab to work on the structure and mechanistic basis of RAS mediated cell signaling in cancer.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
schakr10 (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Sayan received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University (NCSU) under the guidance of Dr. Guozhou Xu where he worked on structural characterization of Leucine Rich Repeat Receptor Kinases (LRR-RK) in plants. Sayan was previously a postdoc at Weill Cornell Medicine in Dr. Alessio Accardi’s lab working on membrane phospholipid scramblases. In 2023, he joined the Eck lab to work on the structure and mechanistic basis of RAS mediated cell signaling in cancer.
Stephen Collins
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
scollins (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Collins received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the lab of Dr. W. Todd Miller, where he focused on inhibitor development toward HER2 cancer associated mutants. He joined the Eck lab in 2022 were he contributes towards the devolvement of EGFR inhibitors.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
scollins (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Collins received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the lab of Dr. W. Todd Miller, where he focused on inhibitor development toward HER2 cancer associated mutants. He joined the Eck lab in 2022 were he contributes towards the devolvement of EGFR inhibitors.
Dongman Jang
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
djang (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Jang received his Ph.D. in Pharmacy in the lab of Dr. Byung Woo Han from Seoul National University in Korea, where he studied structural and biochemical properties of cancer-related human proteins, including Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARgamma). After his graduation, he joined the lab of Dr. Hyoun Sook Kim at National Cancer Center of Korea as a postdoctoral fellow to further study structure-based drug design. In 2022, he joined the Eck lab to work on tyrosine kinases.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
djang (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Jang received his Ph.D. in Pharmacy in the lab of Dr. Byung Woo Han from Seoul National University in Korea, where he studied structural and biochemical properties of cancer-related human proteins, including Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARgamma). After his graduation, he joined the lab of Dr. Hyoun Sook Kim at National Cancer Center of Korea as a postdoctoral fellow to further study structure-based drug design. In 2022, he joined the Eck lab to work on tyrosine kinases.
Dimitrios Gazgalis
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
dgazgalis (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Gazgalis is a computational chemist who obtained his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Northeastern University working on the protein dynamics of potassium channels. He joined the Eck lab in 2022 and works on computer aided drug design and mechanisms of oncogenic activation in protein kinases.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Longwood Center, LC 4302
dgazgalis (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Dr. Gazgalis is a computational chemist who obtained his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Northeastern University working on the protein dynamics of potassium channels. He joined the Eck lab in 2022 and works on computer aided drug design and mechanisms of oncogenic activation in protein kinases.
Emre Tkacik
Graduate Student
Longwood Center, LC 4302
etkacik (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Emre joined the Eck lab in 2020 and is a graduate student in the Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology Program at HMS. He is working on RAF kinase signaling. Prior to Harvard, Emre attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Summers.
Graduate Student
Longwood Center, LC 4302
etkacik (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Emre joined the Eck lab in 2020 and is a graduate student in the Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology Program at HMS. He is working on RAF kinase signaling. Prior to Harvard, Emre attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Summers.
William Gazlay
Graduate Student
Longwood Center, LC 4302
gazlay (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Will joined the Eck Lab as part of a collaborative effort to complete his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts-Boston working in the lab of Dr. Jason Evans. At UMass, he studied the positional sensitivity of synthetic triglycerides via mass spectrometry and performed bottom-up proteomics experiments. In the Eck Lab, he is working on phosphoproteomics.
Graduate Student
Longwood Center, LC 4302
gazlay (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Will joined the Eck Lab as part of a collaborative effort to complete his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts-Boston working in the lab of Dr. Jason Evans. At UMass, he studied the positional sensitivity of synthetic triglycerides via mass spectrometry and performed bottom-up proteomics experiments. In the Eck Lab, he is working on phosphoproteomics.
Sehee Oh
Research Technician
Longwood Center, LC 4302
sehee (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Research Technician
Longwood Center, LC 4302
sehee (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Hyelim Kang
Research Technician
Longwood Center, LC 4302
hkang (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Hyelim earned her Pharm.D in pharmacy from Seoul National University in 2022. At Seoul National University, she studied medicinal chemistry related to the synthesis of novel TRPV1 antagonists.
Research Technician
Longwood Center, LC 4302
hkang (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Hyelim earned her Pharm.D in pharmacy from Seoul National University in 2022. At Seoul National University, she studied medicinal chemistry related to the synthesis of novel TRPV1 antagonists.
Kayla Boxer
Research Technician
Longwood Center, LC 4302
kboxer (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Kayla earned her B.S. in Chemical Biology from Brandeis University in 2023. At Brandeis, she studied PROTACS that directly target the 26S proteasome.
Research Technician
Longwood Center, LC 4302
kboxer (at) crystal.harvard.edu
Kayla earned her B.S. in Chemical Biology from Brandeis University in 2023. At Brandeis, she studied PROTACS that directly target the 26S proteasome.
John Genova
Technical Director
Longwood Center, LC 3302
John_Genova (at) dfci.harvard.edu
Dr. Genova earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Brown University. Dr. Genova joined the Eck lab as the Technical Director in 2015. John's primary goals are to maintain the necessary equipment for X-ray crystallographic data collection and to train personnel in the safe use of the equipment.
Technical Director
Longwood Center, LC 3302
John_Genova (at) dfci.harvard.edu
Dr. Genova earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Brown University. Dr. Genova joined the Eck lab as the Technical Director in 2015. John's primary goals are to maintain the necessary equipment for X-ray crystallographic data collection and to train personnel in the safe use of the equipment.