New Beginnings and Warm Welcomes at the OTO-COATI Lab

Summer is bringing exciting transitions to the OTO-COATI Lab! We’re thrilled to welcome two new medical students to our research team and to celebrate the next chapters for three of our outstanding lab members who are moving on to graduate and medical school.

The OTO-COATI Lab celebrating exciting changes in June 2025 (From left: Dr. Grillone, Devin Lucas, Grace Chow, Gabriele Spokas, Nikhita Santebennur, Dr. Krisciunas, Winston Liu, Lucas Berry, Varun Gopal, Mitali Sakharkar, & Lalita Sabat)

We’re excited to welcome Nikhita Santebennur, a third-year medical student at Boston University, who has joined the lab to coordinate our studies using spectroscopy to detect head and neck cancer. We’re also pleased to have Varun Gopal, a rising second-year medical student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who will be pursuing new research on clinical outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer.

At the same time, we’re saying heartfelt goodbyes (for now!) to three incredible team members:

Lalita Sabat, OTO-COATI Lab fellow, has completed her research fellowship and will begin medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
Grace Chow, clinical research coordinator, is off to study medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Gabriele Spokas, research specialist, is heading to the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Public Health to pursue a Master’s of Health Administration.

We are so grateful to Lalita, Grace, and Gabriele for the energy, dedication, and insight they brought to our work. While we’ll miss having them in the lab day-to-day, we are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and excited for what’s ahead. And though they may be leaving Boston, we look forward to continuing to collaborate with them as they embark on their next adventures.

Congratulations to all, and welcome to our new team members!