Stephanie J. Hachey
Biography
Stephanie J. Hachey, Ph.D., is Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine. A translational cancer biologist and immunologist, Hachey has developed human microphysiological systems to study tumor-immune-stromal interactions and therapeutic response across multiple cancer types, including colorectal, lung, breast, ovarian, and esophageal cancers. She serves as Principal Investigator on federally funded cancer research awards from the Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute, and has co-invented the ImmuniT platform for ex vivo enrichment and characterization of neoantigen-reactive T cells.
Hachey is Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientific Officer of ImmunoTarget Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing personalized immunotherapies for solid tumors. She has directed the scientific strategy and translational development of the ImmuniT platform and served as Principal Investigator on the company's Small Business Innovation Research Phase I award from the National Cancer Institute. Her research integrates bioengineering, molecular biology, and computational modeling to advance therapeutic development in human-relevant experimental systems.
Hachey serves as Chair of the UC Lung Cancer Consortium Tumor Biology Working Group, leading collaborative, multi-institutional translational research efforts across the University of California Cancer Centers. She received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and an M.S. in Biomedical and Translational Science from the same institution.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, 2019
- M.S. in Biomedical and Translational Science, University of California, Irvine, 2014
- B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2009
- A.S. in Biology, Cypress College, 2007
Distinctions
- Nikon Small World in Motion 2nd Place Award, Nikon Instruments, Inc., 2021
- ARCS Scholar Award, University of California, Irvine, 2017-2019
- New Venture Competition 1st Place Life Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 2020
- Barbara K. Burgess Award, University of California, Irvine, 2021
- Dean's Early Career Research Excellence Award, University of California, Irvine, 2023
- Grad Slam 2nd Place Award, University of California, Irvine, 2019
- Chancellor's Club Excellence Fellowship, University of California, Irvine, 2019
Areas of Expertise
- Translational Cancer Biology
- Vascularized Microphysiological Systems
- Tumor Microenvironment Interactions
- Patient-Derived Colorectal Models
- Neoantigen-Reactive T Cell Enrichment
- Computational Image Analysis
- Personalized Immunotherapy Development
Recent Publications
- Hachey SJ, Forsythe AG, Keshava HB, Hughes CCW, “ImmuniT Platform for Improved Neoantigen Prediction in Lung Cancer” (opens in new tab), MDPI Vaccines, vol. 13, no. 9, pp. 921, 2025.
- Hachey SJ, Hatch CJ, Gaebler D, Forsythe AG, Ewald ML, Chopra AL, Chen Z, Thapa K, Hodanu M, Fang JS, Hughes CCW, “Methods for Processing and Analyzing Images of Vascularized Micro-Organ and Tumor Systems” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 13, pp. 1585003, 2025.
- Nguyen-Ngoc KV, Jun Y, Sai S, Bender RHF, Kravets V, Zhu H, Hatch CJ, Schlichting M, Gaetani R, Mallick M, Hachey SJ, Christman KL, George SC, Hughes CCW, Sander M, “Engineered Vasculature Induces Functional Maturation of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Islet Organoids” (opens in new tab), Developmental Cell, vol. S1534-5807(25)00262-X, pp. 2455-2469.e7, 2025.
- Vuong L.M., Hachey S., Shiu J., Xie D.F., Salvador N., Brindani N., Bertozzi S.M., Summa M., Bertorelli R., Armirotti A., Pham R., Ku V.S.H., Limbekar S.D., Nguyen T., Choi B., Hughes C.C.W., De Vivo M., Ganesan A.K., “CDC42-effector interaction inhibitors alter patterns of vessel arborization in skin and tumors in vivo” (opens in new tab), Iscience, vol. 28, 2025.
- Gaebler D, Hachey SJ, Hughes CCW, “Improving tumor microenvironment assessment in chip systems through next-generation technology integration” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 12, pp. 1462293, 2024.
- Gaebler D, Hachey SJ, Hughes CCW, “Microphysiological Systems as Models for Immunologically 'Cold' Tumors” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol. 12, pp. 1389012, 2024.
- Hachey SJ, Hatch CJ, Gaebler D, Mocherla A, Nee K, Kessenbrock K, Hughes CCW, “Targeting Tumor-Stromal Interactions in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Using a Human Vascularized Micro-Tumor Model” (opens in new tab), Breast Cancer Research, vol. 26, 2023.
- Hachey, SJ, Gaebler D, Hughes CCW, “Establishing A Physiologic Human Vascularized Micro-Tumor Model for Cancer Research” (opens in new tab), Journal of Visualized Experiments, vol. 2023-September, no. 199, 2023.
- Sedighim S, Frank MI, Heutlinger O, Lee C, Hachey SJ, Keshava HB, “A Systematic Review of Short-Term Outcomes of Minimally Invasive Thoracoscopic Surgery for Lung Cancer after Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy” (opens in new tab), Cancers (Basel), vol. 15, no. 15, pp. 3908, 2023.
- Stephanie J. Hachey, Alexander G. Forsythe, Ali Mahtabifard, Hari B. Keshava, Christopher Hughes, “A Novel Platform to Enrich for Tumor-Specific T Cells in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer”, Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 41, no. 16 suppl, pp. 2556-2556, 2023.
- Jingjing Yu, Stephanie J. Hachey, Amber Gonda, Brittany G. Sullivan, Arsha Ostowari, Christopher Hughes, Maheswari Senthil, “Novel Vascularized Microtumor (VMT) Model Of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis With Mesothelium-Lined Chambers And Submesothelial Stroma That Mimic The Peritoneal Cavity”, Annals of Surgical Oncology, no. Suppl 2, pp. 521-521, 2023.
- Hachey SJ, Sobrino A, Lee JG, Jafari MD, Klempner SJ, Puttock EJ, Edwards RA, Lowengrub JS, Waterman ML, Zell JA, Hughes CCW, “A Human Vascularized Micro-Tumor Model of Patient-Derived Colorectal Cancer Recapitulates Clinical Disease” (opens in new tab), Translational Research, vol. 255, pp. 97-108, 2022.
- Jahid S, Ortega JA, Vuong LM, Acquistapace IM, Hachey SJ, Flesher JL, La Serra MA, Brindani N, La Sala G, Manigrasso J, Arencibia JM, Bertozzi SM, Summa M, Bertorelli R, Armirotti A, Jin R, Liu Z, Chen CF, Edwards R, Hughes CCW, et al., “Structure-based Design of CDC42 Effector Interaction Inhibitors for the Treatment of Cancer”, Cell Reports, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 110760, 2022.
- Juat DJ, Hachey SJ, Billimek J, Del Rosario MP, Nelson EL, Hughes CCW, Zell JA, “Adoptive T-Cell Therapy in Advanced Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review” (opens in new tab), Oncologist, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 210-219, 2022.
- Juliet Wolford, Brittany Pham, Stephanie J. Hachey, Krishnansu Tewari, Christopher C.W. Hughes, “An in vitro vascularized micro-tumor model of ovarian cancer”, Gynecologic Oncology, vol. 162, pp. S88-S89, 2022.
- Jahid S., Ortega J.A., Vuong L.M., Acquistapace I.M., Hachey S.J., Flesher J.L., La Serra M.A., Brindani N., La Sala G., Manigrasso J., Arencibia J.M., Bertozzi S.M., Summa M., Bertorelli R., Armirotti A., Jin R., Liu Z., Chen C.-F., Edwards R., Hughes C.C.W., et al., “Erratum: Structure-based design of CDC42 effector interaction inhibitors for the treatment of cancer (Cell Reports (2022) 39(1), (S221112472200393X), (10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110641))” (opens in new tab), Cell Reports, vol. 39, 2022.
- Hachey SJ, Movsesyan S, Nguyen QH, Burton-Sojo G, Tankanzyan A, Wu J, Hoang T, Zhao D, Wang S, Hatch MM, Celaya E, Gomez S, Chen GT, Davis RT, Nee K, Pervolarakis N, Lawson DA, Kessenbrock K, Lee AP, Lowengrub J, et al., “An In Vitro Vascularized Micro-Tumor Model of Human Colorectal Cancer Recapitulates In Vivo Responses to Standard-of-Care Therapy” (opens in new tab), Lab on A Chip, vol. 21, no. 7, pp. 1333-1351, 2021.
- Hachey SJ, Hughes CCW, “Applications of Tumor Chip Technology” (opens in new tab), Lab on A Chip, vol. 18, no. 19, pp. 2893-2912, 2018.
Contact Information
Email: shachey@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-8143
Address: 2216 Biological Sciences III
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Last updated on 5/19/2026.