Rate My Professor Cole Woody

Cole Woody is a junior biology major with a minor in chemistry at the University of Houston's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, where he conducts groundbreaking research in cancer immunotherapy. Hailing from Sugar Land, Texas, Woody's interest in genetics was sparked by the X-Men films, leading him to focus on how mutations can be harnessed to combat cancer through personalized mRNA vaccines. As a junior research associate at the UH Sequencing Core, mentored by Dr. Preethi Gunaratne, professor of Biology and Biochemistry, he has developed key bioinformatic tools including the MHCole Pipeline, which predicts peptide-HLA binding affinities with nearly 100% improved data processing efficiency, and the In Silico Fusion Validation Platform for fusion validation. His research aims to identify tumor-specific neoantigens to enhance patient survival and reduce cancer recurrence.

Woody collaborates extensively with MD Anderson Cancer Center's Dr. Steven Hsesheng Lin's laboratory, contributing to a pivotal study published in Frontiers in Immunology in 2025 titled 'Identification of immunogenic KIF5B-RET fusion neopeptides driving T cell responses in lung adenocarcinoma.' In this work and related efforts, he validated that mRNA-based COVID vaccines boost immunotherapy efficacy, showing patients vaccinated within 100 days prior were twice as likely to survive three years post-treatment, with measurable increases in cancer-targeting T cells detected using his custom-designed antibodies. Woody has also interned at the National Institutes of Health, spearheading preclinical vaccine development for inv(16) acute myeloid leukemia, and at Harvard Medical School's Sharpe Laboratory under Dr. Arlene Sharpe, exploring immune checkpoint loss in regulatory T cells. His accolades include the Barry Goldwater Scholarship as the first UH sophomore recipient, the Phi Beta Kappa Key into Public Service award, recognition on the UH Scholars Walk, and the fall 2024 PURS award. Featured in UH Provost Profiles and news stories, Woody plans to pursue an MD-PhD to advance immuno-oncology at institutions like the NIH. He is a member of the UH Honors College.