Mo Ebrahimkhani, M.D.
Principle Investigator
Principle Investigator
Mo Ebrahimkhani is an Associate Professor at Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh. Prior to his current position he was an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University and adjunct faculty of medicine at Mayo Clinic. He performed his Postdoctoral training at Department of Biological Engineering in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mo has an M.D. degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and was awarded a European Association for Study of Liver Sheila Sherlock fellowship to investigate regenerative processes at University College London. His lab combines human stem cells, synthetic biology and in vivo mouse models to understand tissue development and regeneration and develop technologies to modulate these processes in a personalized fashion. Mo is the recipient of several research awards including RO1s from NIH, Mayo Clinic accelerated regenerative medicine award and New Investigator Award from Arizona Biomedical Research Council.
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Jeremy VelazquezJeremy is a graduate student in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, pursuing his Ph.D. studies in our lab. He graduated from MIT in 2012 with a B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering. He worked as a technical assistant for two and a half years in Professor Linda Griffith’s lab, where he worked on multiple projects including human physiome-on-a-chip, biomaterial development for improvement of liver cell culture, and an NSF- funded project for the study of emergent behavior of integrated cellular systems. Here at Pitt, he works on designing and integrating synthetic genetic circuits into stem cells to control their fate and function. Specifically, he is interested in investigating ways to use modular, extrinsically and intrinsically responsive genetic switches to develop self-vascularizing liver organoids. He enjoys playing volleyball, video editing, hiking, gaming, and singing alone in the TC room (poorly).
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Ryan LeGrawRyan is a PhD student in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. After graduating from Northwestern University in 2014 with a BS in Chemical Engineering he worked as a research technician for two years in the laboratory of Dr. Hanno Hock in the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. At MGH, he worked on projects investigating the role of ETV6 in hematopoiesis and specifically in vivo murine B cell development. At Pitt Ryan works on the development pluripotent stem cell-based liver organoid models using synthetic gene circuits and their application for ex vivo hematopoiesis. He enjoys playing guitar, live music, podcasts, Boston sports, running, and hiking.
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Joshua HislopJoshua Hislop is a graduate student pursuing his Ph.D in Bioengineering with a focus on Molecular, Cellular, and Systems Engineering. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2018 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He is working on projects investigating cell fate decisions as well as synthetic biology based tissue patterning during development. Joshua's goal is to integrate synthetic biology, neural development and network creation to eventually apply this approach towards the creation of biologically-based novel neural interface devices. Outside of lab, Josh enjoys playing board and card games, creating adventures for his Dungeons and Dragons group, camping, backpacking, and honing his skills as a third degree black belt in taekwondo.
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Farzaneh MoghadamFarzaneh is a post-doctoral research scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated from the University of Tehran with a B.S. degree in biology. Farzaneh got a PhD in Biological design engineering from Arizona State University, where she focused on developing safe and enhanced CRISPR based gene therapy candidates. Here at Pitt, she works on the applications of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology in genome engineering both in vivo and in the context of a liver micro-physiological system. Besides research, her passion is science communications focusing on girls’ interests in STEM and women empowerment through accessing higher education at worldwide view.
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Joe MaggioreJoe is an MD-PhD candidate in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Pittsburgh. Joe is in his second year of medical school and plans to pursue his Ph.D. in Bioengineering. Joe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 with a BSE degree in Bioengineering. There, he worked in the Kacy Cullen Lab where he investigated the in vivo efficacy of a novel tissue engineered nerve graft in sustaining spinal cord cell survival. Joe additionally has conducted research with the Estée Lauder Companies in advanced technologies for skin biology. Joe is interested in commercially translatable tissue engineered constructs that take advantage of developmental biological morphogenetic processes. At Pitt, Joe works with SciVelo, through the Innovation Institute, as a Junior Commercial Translation Associate where he helps researchers develop commercial translation pathways for novel work. Joe enjoys playing and listening to music, as well as reading.
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Jing ZhangJing is a PhD student from IBGP program at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. She graduated from Capital Normal University, China with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2018 and UC Davis in 2020 with a M.S. in Molecular Physiology. In her most recent experience, she studied a subtype of beta cells (Virgin beta cells) in islets of Langerhans in the pancreas in the lab of Dr. Mark Huising at UC Davis. Growing up in a medical staff family, her goal is to devise novel gene therapies to human disease. Outside of lab, she enjoys watching movies, trying new food, and photography.
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William DionWill is a graduate student in the Integrated Systems Biology Ph.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University in 2015. After a few years of working in manufacturing as an analytical chemist and supervisor, he began his M.S. in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Werner at Michigan Technological University. This group focuses on the evolution of body color pattern development in non-model Drosophila species. Here, he investigated the modular abdominal patterning of three species: D. guttifera, D. palustris, and D. subpalustris. Through his work, he developed an interest in how unique forms evolved in nature. He is interested in using the tools available in synthetic biology and Evo-Devo to study the development of novel morphologies. He enjoys spending time outdoors and occasionally embarrassing himself on the golf course.
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Mattew RytelA Pittsburgh native, Matt received his bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Biology from Brown University in 2020. Matt was a varsity soccer player in college, and graduated with honors in his concentration, Sigma XI honors in research, and magna cum laude. As an undergraduate, Matt worked with Dr. Pamela Moalli of the Magee Women’s Research Institute, where he studied the immune response to surgical meshes, uncovering an inverse relationship between Tregs and fibrosis around the biomaterial. Subsequently, Matt interned at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, where he worked on developing a probiotic with Dr. Steven Little. At Brown, Matt studied the impact of Agent Orange exposure on the epigenome of Vietnam War veterans in Dr. Karl Kelsey’s lab. Now, for his postbaccalaureate time before pursuing a career in medicine, Matt is working as a technical assistant in the engineered liver organoid team. Outside of the lab, Matt enjoys playing guitar, skiing, cycling, hiking, cooking, and gardening.
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Alex HillAlex is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a BS in Bioengineering. He is interested in tissue engineering and synthetic biology, and the application of these fields towards developmental research and medicine. In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing board and card games, and playing casual sports with friends.
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Vishnu MaddipatlaVishnu is an undergraduate Neuroscience Major at the University of Pittsburgh. He plans on pursuing a career in medicine as well as medical technology research. Vishnu hopes to utilize synthetic developmental biology and neural engineering to develop novel medical technologies. Outside of research, Vishnu enjoys playing spikeball, biking, and is always looking forward to learning something new!
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Saman SarrafSaman studied medicine at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. After working in the medical products industry for several years, mostly in business development and management functions, he restarted doing clinical research in 2014 and worked as a research assistant/coordinator for about 6 years at hospital centers in New York City mainly in the field of oncology. He then decided to move toward translational research inspired by his long-lived enthusiasm for the science and ingrained curiosity about mechanisms and disease biology. In the words of Richard Feynman, "there is a difference between the name of the thing and what goes on... [between] when we are teaching words, and when we are teaching science itself." Saman too hopes his new endeavor gives him the chance to not just recollect words and names but embark on the journey of finding out what goes on and why. In addition to being a researcher, Saman helps the PIs with the organization of labs and team work coordination.
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Wioletta Musekamp (Assistant to PI)
Wioletta Musekamp received her diploma in business administration (M.A. equivalent) from European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. She also holds a master’s degree in European Studies. Prior to moving to the United States, she worked as Department Coordinator at the Center for Key Competences and Research-oriented Learning at European University Viadrina. Wioletta has lived and worked in Poland, Germany, Missouri, and Texas. She enjoys traveling, reading, and good movies.
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Honorary member
Hero, Our Honorary member of the SKMO lab! Hero is interested in science from early on AND he is very energetic, hard working and always ready for fun activities. You can't make him tired! |
Alumni
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Sharanya Kalasekar (Postdoctoral research associate)-2016
Derek Titus (Master student, 2016) Angela Hemesath (undergraduate, 2016) Shaun Wootten (undergraduate, 2016) Suyen Go (undergraduate, 2016-2017) Joshua Hsu (undergraduate, 2016-2017) Shay Carter (Master Student, 2016-2017) Ceasar Udave (undergraduate, 2016-2017) Warner Kostes (undergraduate, 2016-2018) Maitriyee Mahanta (undergraduate, 2018-2019) Matthew Pandelakis (undergraduate, 2016-2019) Jeremy Ellis (undergraduate and lab technical assistant, 2018-2019) |