Our Team
Kosuke Funato, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Kosuke received his PhD from the University of Tokyo, Japan. After postdoctoral training at Viviane Tabar Lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York), he joined UGA as an Assistant Professor to continue pursuing his research on malignant brain tumors. He is a father, runner, and ceramic artist.
Hitomi N. Royston
Ph.D. Candidate
Hitomi is originally from Japan. She lived in San Diego, CA, for the past 20 years and graduated from the University of California, San Diego, as a neuroscience major & chemistry minor. Her focus is on the subtype-specific tumorigenesis of pediatric glioblastoma.She is very excited to learn the cutting-edge techniques in stem cell research at Funato's lab, along with her colleagues and fellow scientists.
Autumn Brooke Hampton
Undergraduate Researcher
Autumn Brooke Hampton is a third-year student at the University of Georgia, double majoring in Biomedical Physiology and Sociology. She has been characterized as a CURO Honors Scholar, Woodruff Scholar, LSAMP Research Scholar, and a Crane Scholar at UGA since enrolling here! She has leadership and service experience in the campus organizations that she is involved in. She serves as the President of the University Union Student Programming Board, an Operations Coordinator for Kesem UGA, and a Co-Founder & Director of Events for the Biomedical Physiology Society. She is on the pre-medicine track, and she aspires to be an Obstetrician-Gynecologist (OBGYN), specializing in oncology! She plans to attend medical school after obtaining both of her undergraduate degrees, but she will take a gap year and apply in the 2026 cycle.
In terms of her role in the Funato Lab, she has been active in the lab since November 2021 as an undergraduate researcher. With the assistance of the Center for Undergraduate Opportunities, she has been able to engage in early research at UGA, assisting studies on the identification of the origin of pediatric glioblastomas using human embryonic stem cells. It was exciting for her to present a work-in-progress research project to people who might be unfamiliar with it. She believes that this opportunity to conduct research for four consecutive years has been amazing and that is has advanced some of her life skills, such as resilience, perseverance, and time management.
Autumn loves to bake rather than cooking. Her favorite song is currently "Hug Me" by Pharrell Williams and Trey Parker. She also loves to go thrift shopping for vintage lamps!
Alums
Dhruv Bhagat
2023-2024 Lab technician
Current position: Medical student, Augusta University-UGA Medical Partnership
I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia in 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. I am interested in pursuing a career in medical science and am excited to learn about the cellular mechanisms of pediatric glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
Evonne Pinto
2022 - 2024 Undergraduate researcher
Current position: Medical student, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
We welcome graduate students!
We accept graduate students through the Integrated Life Sciences (ILS) program. Please visit https://ils.uga.edu/ for details.