The Whelan Lab
Research in the Whelan lab is motivated by the need to detect and treat ovarian cancer in its early stages. We approach the problem of ovarian cancer detection with a diverse tool kit drawn from bioanalytical chemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and nanoscience.
Recent Whelan Group News
March 16, 2026 - Two of our senior graduate students have recently been named as recipients of competitive awards. Anubhuti has been selected as a 2026 Schowen Summer Scholar. Caitlin has been chosen as a KU Cancer Center Jewell Summer Research Trainee. Congratulations to Anubhuti and Caitlin on this recognition!
February 11, 2026 - Rebecca gave a presentation titled "New insights on ovarian cancer biomarker CA125" to oSTEM as part of the Pride & Progress Lecture series. Many thanks to all who attended and special thanks to Aarjo Roy for the invitation!
January 6, 2026 - Rebecca presented at the University of Kansas Cancer Center as part of their weekly seminar series. It was a great opportunity to connect with our group's KUMC-based collaborators and to share our latest work on CA125 structural characterization with a cancer-focused audience. Many thanks to Dr. Danny Welch for hosting!
December 7, 2025 - Our most recent publication, "The role of surfactants in stabilizing fluorescence anisotropy for protein-aptamer binding affinity measurements," has been published in Biosensors as part of the special issue "Aptamer-based sensing: designs and applications." Congratulations to graduate student Bhagya Samarakoon and undergraduate student Susan Bilderback on this accomplishment!