Gulistan Agirman

Ph.D., Neuroscience (2020), University of Geneva and University of Liege

Research Interest:

Gut-brain interaction in neurodevelopmental disorder.

Jae Bahn (Assistant Project Scientist)

Ph.D., Comparative Experimental Medicine (2010) - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Research Interest:

RNA editing, splicing, and modifications

Alexandra Cara

Ph.D., Molecular & Integrative Physiology (2021), University of Michigan

Research Interest:

The temporal and spatial dynamics of estrogen signaling in the hypothalamus.

Laura Cortes

Ph.D., Neuroscience (2022) - Georgia State University.

Research Interest:

The neural underpinnings of thermoregulatory changes accompanying pregnancy

Ricardo Aparicio Crespo

Ph.D., Molecular Biology (2012) - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid

Research Interest:

Understanding the role of autophagy/mitophagy in neurodegenerative diseases and aging

Graciel Diamante

Ph.D., Environmental Toxicology (2017) - University of California, Riverside

Research Interest:

The complex interplay of metabolic disease and environmental factors.

Ping Fang

Ph.D., Neuroimmunology (2018) - Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Research Interest:

Interaction of gut immune system and neurodegenerative diseases

Giovanni Frighetto

Ph.D., Psychological Sciences (Neuroscience) (2020), University of Padova (Italy)

Research Interest:

Visual feature detection and visuomotor integration

Daniel (Sung Min) Ha

Ph.D., Bioinformatics & Bacterial Genomics (2019), Seoul National University

Research Interest:

Host-microbiome interaction using multi-omics systems biology approach.

Benjamin Hardcastle

Ph.D., Bioengineering (2016) - Imperial College London

Research Interest:

Neurobiology of fly vision

Leonila Lagunes

Ph.D., Biological Sciences (2020), University of California Irvine

Research Interest:

Computational approaches to understand cell signaling

Zhiheng Liu

Ph.D., Bioinformatics (2020), Peking University

Research Interest:

Bioinformatics, RNA biology, Sequencing technology

Jonathan Lynch (Assistant Project Scientist)

Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology (2014) - Stanford University

Research Interest:

Gut microbiota, animal-bacteria symbiosis

Ravinder Malik

Ph.D. Biotechnology (2013), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali (S. A. S. Nagar), Punjab, India.

Research Interest:

Drug discovery, small molecule enhancers of sarcospan to ameliorate Duchenne muscular dystrophy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, biomarker research in muscular dystrophy, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Jackie McCourt

Ph.D., Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics (2017) - University of Minnesota

Research Interest:

My research focuses on characterizing cardiac fibrosis in Duchenne muscular dystrophy-associated cardiomyopathy. Fibrosis, or the excess deposition of extracellular matrix, prevents efficient cardiac contraction, diminishes regenerative capacity, and is a major barrier to therapy. The central hypothesis I am testing is that the structural, mechanical, and proteomic profiles of the cardiac ECM in the context of muscular dystrophy represent a distinct pathological microenvironment that is resistant to remodeling and negatively impacts cardiac cell function.

India Nichols

Ph.D., Biological Sciences (2016) - Clark Atlanta University

Research Interest:

Almost everyone can relate to sleep disturbances at some point in their life, however women disproportionately report insomnia related disturbances. My overall research goals are to determine the biological mechanism of how stress regulates sleep and cognitive behavior in females. My career mission statement is to increase minority representation in biomedical science by educating undergraduate students in biological sciences while motivating and preparing them to be leaders in research, medicine, and education.

Sam Norris

Ph.D., Bioengineering (2019) - UCLA

Research Interest:

Cultured Meat, Tissue Engineering, and Polymer Chemistry

Ezgi Özcan

Ph.D., Food Science (2019), University of Massachusetts Amherst

Research Interest:

Interaction of food components with microbes in the gut and this interaction's effect on the brain function and neurodegenerative disease.

Joe Reynolds

Ph.D., Biology of Aging (2020), University of Southern California

Research Interest:

Skeletal Muscle Biology

Edward Schmid

Ph.D., Immunobiology (2016) - Yale University

Research Interest:

Mitophagy and actin dynamics in healthspan and lifespan determination

Pavan Thapak

Ph.D., Pharmacology and Toxicology (2019), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, India

Research Interest:

To understand the cellular and molecular dynamics underlying neurodegenerative disorders associated with drug discovery.