Meet Our Team

Dr. Jon Weidanz, NTGC founding director, is an internationally recognized leader in cancer immunotherapy through his pioneering work to attack and destroy cancer cells by targeting Major Histocompatibility Complexes (MHC) presenting tumor specific peptides. To this end, Weidanz invented and produced novel protein constructs called single-chain T cell receptors and T cell receptor mimicking antibodies. He has 19 patents and 20 additional pending patents, including 5 patents out-licensed for commercial use. He has founded or co-founded four startup ventures. Dr. Weidanz has collectively more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and published conference proceedings. He was awarded the title of Distinguished University Professor from Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) as well as was recognized as an outstanding teacher by being awarded the President’s Excellence in Teaching award and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teacher award. He has received more than $45 million in grants, contracts and investment support. Weidanz founded and was chair of the Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology at TTUHSC with the mission to build discovery and translational research programs in immunology and immunotherapy. He also established The Center for Immunotherapeutic Research; a university designated Center of Research Excellence. Dr. Weidanz joined The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in January of 2016 as the associate vice president for research and professor of biology. He came to UTA to provide leadership and guidance to develop and expand research across campus in life and health science and to guide new investments in facilities on campus. He is a recipient of STARs funding by the UT System.

Dr. Florence Haseltine is a presidential distinguished professor and executive director of health research at The University of Texas at Arlington. She received her undergraduate degree in biophysics from The University of California-Berkeley and her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She obtained an M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed her internship at The University of Pennsylvania, followed by a residency at the Boston Hospital for Women (Brigham & Women’s Hospital). While serving as associate professor at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Haseltine completed fellowship training in genetics and in reproductive endocrinology. She then became the director of the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She founded the society for the Advancement of Women’s Health Research (SWHR) and co-founded the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. She was named Emerita Scientist upon her retirement from the NIH. She then designed databases for medical advocacy groups before her recruitment to UTA. Dr. Haseltine is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors and also received a Lifetime Achievement Award for the Health and Dignity of Women and Girls from the Friends of the United Nations Population Fund.

As senior research engineering scientist, Dr. Zibiao Guo has more than 20 years of experience genotyping and using various sequencing-based approaches, including next-generation sequencing. He was previously a research assistant professor at the Feinstone Center for Genomic Research at The University of Memphis. There, Dr. Guo provided next generation sequencing technical support to the entire university community, as well as external customers. He also played a large role in project consultation and experimental design for NGS projects. Dr. Guo also has broad experience in NGS data analysis. Previous to his appointment at The University of Memphis, Dr. Guo worked as a senior core research scientist for the genomics and genotyping core facility at The University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he ran and managed technicians running Affymetrix, Agilent and Illumina next generation platforms. Another major strength of Dr. Guo is his breadth of NGS experience across a diversity of approaches, including RNA-Seq, ChIPeq, amplicon sequencing and 16S metagenomics sequencing.

Anajane Smith worked for 30 years at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and was manager of the Clinical Immunogenetics Laboratory. Her knowledge and expertise was critical to obtaining CLIA certification for the North Texas Genome Center. Her primary technical experience is with HLA sequencing and rtPCR technology. She received her undergraduate and masters degree from The University of California at Berkeley and has been recognized by the American Society of Human Histocompatibility as an outstanding member.

Taylor Gunby obtained her BS/MS of chemistry from Western Illinois University. During her academia career she completed 3 years of research, obtained many grants including a minority grant from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Her primary work was with phage display technology researching the infectivity and binding of bacteriophage.  Taylor has won multiple research presentation awards and has two published abstracts.