Lab Members
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology
Affiliate, Institute for Data Science in Oncology
JDButner@MDAnderson.org
Alexander Silalahi, Ph.D.
Research Investigator
Alexander Silalahi, Ph.D., is a research investigator in the Butner Lab at MD Anderson. His research focuses on mathematical and computational modeling of tumor dynamics and treatment response, with particular emphasis on optimizing combination therapies involving radiotherapy and immunotherapy.
Dr. Silalahi earned his Ph.D. in physics from Florida State University, where he focused on computational approaches to study biomolecular interactions and dynamics. He completed postdoctoral training in theoretical and computational modeling of liquid¨Cliquid phase separation (LLPS) in biological systems, emphasizing continuum approaches. His work centered on the formation and regulation of biomolecular condensates ¡ª membraneless organelles driven by LLPS ¡ª with broader implications for transcription regulation, cancer progression and neurodegenerative diseases involving pathological protein aggregation.
At MD Anderson, Dr. Silalahi integrates his interdisciplinary background in physics, biophysics and applied mathematics to develop predictive models aimed at advancing personalized cancer therapy and bridging quantitative modeling with clinical decision-making.
Gayatri Prakash, B.S.
Medical Student and Master's Student
Texas A&M Engineering in Medicine Program
Gayatri received her B.S. in biological engineering in 2021 from Cornell University. She is now a fourth-year medical student in the Texas A&M School of Engineering Medicine (EnMed), where she is also earning her master¡¯s degree in engineering. She is interested in applying her engineering skills to solve clinical problems, with a focus on building machine learning models for improving therapeutic therapeutic strategies. More specifically, she is working on integrating mechanistic modeling and machine learning to predict lesion-specific immunotherapy response, as well as quantitative analysis of wounds to improve outcomes in at home chronic wound care.