Neha Madanagopal
ISCRMU Fellow
Stevens Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Stevens Lab
Year awarded 2026
The culture of hepatocytes is critical for developing therapies to replace human-to-human liver transplants. One way to do this is in the form of hepatocyte organoids, which are generally cultured in Matrigel. However, this hydrogel has a largely undefined composition and lot-to-lot variability, creating the need for a standardized extracellular matrix. In the Stevens Lab, Neha Madanagopal uses ELISA, immunofluorescent staining, and image processing algorithms to investigate how other proteins like fibrin will facilitate the culture of hepatocyte organoids.
Tristan Wasley
Graduate Student Fellow
Regnier Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Regnier Lab
Year awarded 2026
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects nearly 1 in 500 people in the US and causes the walls of the heart to thicken, leading to outcomes as severe as heart failure and sudden death. Genetic mutations play a large role in causing HCM, with one of the most common sites of mutation being cardiac Myosin Binding Protein-C (cMyBP-C). However, the exact molecular mechanism by which cMyBP-C mutations cause disease remains unclear. This ISCRM Fellowship will allow Tristan to build a human stem cell–derived heart muscle model in which cMyBP-C can be rapidly swapped out and replaced with mutant versions, making it possible to characterize many mutations in the same cellular context. In parallel, he will use molecular dynamics simulations to model how these mutations alter the structure of cMyBP-C and its interactions with myosin. By investigating this disease pathway across multiple biological scales, Tristan aims to more clearly elucidate the mechanisms that drive contractile dysfunction
Runrun Chen
Graduate Student Fellow
Qu Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Qu Lab
Year awarded 2026
Humans have a limited innate capacity to regenerate musculoskeletal tissues following digit or limb amputation. The Qu Lab uses the mouse digit tip model to investigate mammalian appendage regeneration. Current evidence suggests that regenerative failure is not due to an irreversible loss of regenerative potential, but rather to the absence of essential morphogenetic cues. Previous studies have shown that delivering appropriate morphogenetic proteins with spatial and temporal control can partially restore regeneration in the mouse digit. In the Qu Lab, Runrun Chen aims to develop an injectable, magnetically responsive microgel system for the controlled delivery of multiple morphogenetic proteins. By using magnetic forces to spatially position microgels within tissue and tuning their release profiles, this system can establish spatially and temporally controlled morphogenetic signaling at the injury site. Ultimately, this approach aims to recreate key regenerative signals needed to promote coordinated digit regeneration.
Sasha Friese
Graduate Student Fellow
Min Yang Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Min Yang Lab
Year awarded 2026
Chromosomal instability (CIN) typically triggers cell death or malignant transformation. How placental trophoblasts are paradoxically able to tolerate extensive aneuploidy without functional impairment in a non-cancerous context remains poorly understood. With the support of an ISCRM fellowship, Sasha will investigate how autophagy and lysosomal activity play a role in trophoblast resilience using CIN-reflective trophoblast stem cells (TSCs). She will define whether autophagic/lysosomal gene expression scales directly with aneuploid burden, and determine whether TSCs become functionally dependent on autophagosome-lysosome fusion for survival under CIN, revealing how a normal cell tolerates genomic chaos without malignancy.
Audrey Hayes
Graduate Student Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Year awarded 2026
Vascular stability – the capacity of mature endothelium to maintain barrier integrity, resist aberrant sprouting, and support proper perfusion – is essential for tissue homeostasis. Loss of vascular stability is a defining feature of several debilitating and/or lethal conditions which are linked to and worsen with age. The Ruohola-Baker laboratory has recently shown that novokines – agonists built from two minibinders which force unrelated receptors into proximity – can hijack endogenous receptor machinery to drive novel signaling. With funding as an ISCRM Fellow, Audrey will design minibinders against vascular-relevant receptors and convert them into novokines. These novel signaling modalities will be screened for their effects on endothelial barrier permeability using a transwell barrier assay, alongside further characterization of their effects on endothelial differentiation. Successful novokines will enable advances in differentiated endothelial maturity and stability beyond what native growth factors can achieve alone.
Akhila Bourampeta
UW Bothell Fellow
Davis Lab
UW Bothell Fellow
Davis Lab
Year awarded 2026
Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is a genetic disease caused by CTG sequence repeat expansion in the DMPK gene, resulting in toxic RNAs that cause loss of function of MBNL1 protein and subsequently cardiac dysfunction. MBNL1 is an RNA-binding protein that is localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm. It remains unclear how MBNL1 localization is affected in DM and how this affects heart function. In the Davis Lab, Akhila Bourampeta will test whether MBNL1 localization differs between healthy vs disease cardiomyocytes and how the CTG repeat length affects the protein distribution, using imaging and protein assays.
Kairui Jiang
Graduate Student Fellow
Pun and Mack Labs
Graduate Student Fellow
Pun and Mack Labs
Year awarded 2026
Kairui Jiang is developing aptamer-based tools to isolate specific cell populations from human iPSC-derived neuromuscular cultures. In the Pun and Mack labs, he will apply an NRP2-binding aptamer to enrich and study NRP2-expressing cells, including cholinergic motor neuron-like subpopulations, myogenic progenitor-like cells, and neural progenitor-like cells that may interact with developing muscle. Using a scalable, traceless purification strategy, this work aims to improve how researchers separate, culture, and functionally test stem cell-derived neuromuscular cell states for disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and future cell-based therapy development.
Brennan Mahoney
Graduate Student Fellow
Reh Lab
Brennan Mahoney
Graduate Student Fellow
Reh Lab
Year awarded 2026
Mammals are vulnerable to a number of diseases that cause blindness through permanent retinal cell loss. Previous work has shown that expression of the proneural transcription factor Ascl1 in mouse Muller glia can induce regeneration of bipolar neurons, but whether or not this process can recover vision in disease is unknown. In the Reh Lab, Brennan Mahoney is characterizing the process of regeneration and potential visual recovery in an animal model of Retinopathy of Prematurity; a leading cause of childhood blindness, which tests the feasibility of Muller glia-based reprogramming as a treatment for blindness.
Elizabeth Chuesh
UW Bothell Fellow
Robinson Lab
UW Bothell Fellow
Robinson Lab
Year awarded 2026
Sex hormones can influence healing outcomes in the knee meniscus. To study this as an undergraduate student, Elizabeth aims to investigate sex differences in the human meniscus cell response. Elizabeth Chuesh will perform decoupling of nascent matrix production and cell migration after injury stimulus to study potential sex differences in response to estradiol treatment. With estradiol treatment, a methionine analog, and immunocytochemistry, she can visualize healing outcomes across sex differences with a bigger picture of understanding how to support equitable healthcare.
Hayden Bhavsar
Graduate Student Fellow
Musculoskeletal Systems Biology Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Musculoskeletal Systems Biology Lab
Year awarded 2026
How our bones develop influences our risk of osteoporosis and other skeletal disorders. In the Musculoskeletal Systems Biology Lab, led by Ronald Young Kwon, Hayden Bhavsar studies bone development by identifying genes expressed in osteoblasts and defining transcriptionally distinct subpopulations within the developing bone, using computational methods to integrate and analyze gene expression data. With the support of an ISCRM fellowship, he will establish a regenerative model and investigate how mechanical signaling shapes osteoblast gene expression at the interface between tendon and bone.
Tsedenya Beruk
AVELA Fellow
Marcinek Lab
AVELA Fellow
Marcinek Lab
Year awarded 2026
Mitochondrial function declines with age, reducing the ability of skeletal and cardiac muscle to efficiently produce the energy needed for normal function. In the Marcinek Lab, Tsedenya Beruk is investigating how the activity of mitochondrial respiratory complexes and dehydrogenases changes during aging. She is measuring enzyme activity in muscle samples treated with or without Urolithin A, a compound that enhances mitochondrial quality. This research aims to better understand the mechanisms of age-related mitochondrial dysfunction and identify potential strategies to support healthy muscle and heart aging.
Tia Schlosser
University of Montana
REU Student
Kwon Lab
University of Montana
REU Student
Kwon Lab
Year awarded 2026
RANK, the primary regulator of osteoclastogenesis, mediates the effects of denosumab, an anti-RANKL antibody that provides antiresorptive therapy to millions of people affected by conditions such as osteoporosis. The drug typically reduces bone formation by inhibiting bone remodeling, but has occasionally been observed to paradoxically maintain or increase bone formation in patients. The Kwon lab has identified RANK as an osteoblastic marker in developing zebrafish, providing an opportunity to further investigate the mechanism by which RANK signaling acts in the osteoblast lineage. Zebrafish, and other evolutionary distant species, may provide insight into the ancestral roles of RANK in mammalian bone development. Through the utilization of single-cell RNA sequencing, Tia Schlosser will investigate the evolution of osteoblasts and RANK across species to advance the understanding of RANK/RANKL signaling in human bone.
Madhavi Karthik
ISCRMU Fellow
Wills Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Wills Lab
Year awarded 2026
Tadpoles of closely related frog species Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis exhibit varying capacities of regenerative success depending on their developmental stage and structure type, making them an excellent model for tissue regeneration. Previous work from the Wills lab shows that a metabolic pathway called the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is required for tail regeneration in young X. tropicalis tadpoles. With support from the ISCRMU fellowship, Madhavi will investigate whether the PPP is required for development or appendage regeneration in older tadpoles in both Xenopus species.
Catlyn Wetzel
REU Fellow
Bengtsson Lab
REU Fellow
Bengtsson Lab
Year awarded 2026
As an ISCRM REU intern, Catlyn Wetzel will employ CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technologies to develop a promoterless gene trap cell line. Dr. Bengtsson’s lab is working on gene therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder which leads to muscle breakdown and eventual heart failure, caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene. Dystrophin, a protein necessary for muscle functioning and structure, is vital in shock absorption and stabilization of the muscle. In DMD, the gene encoding for dystrophin is non-functional, meaning dystrophin is not produced; muscles quickly break down and cannot repair fast enough. This cell line can be used to monitor and track expression of the DMD gene without requiring a loss-of-function mutation, and it can be used throughout the lab to test the potential effectiveness of certain new therapies.
Jade Minzlaff
Graduate Student Fellow
Giachelli/Scatena Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Giachelli/Scatena Lab
Year awarded 2026
Diseases of low bone mineral density resulted in over 477,000 deaths in 2020, with deaths disproportionately occurring in low socio-demographic-index countries. Most existing therapeutic approaches for low bone mineral density focus on blocking bone absorption, motivating the need for identification of new therapeutic targets to promote bone formation. Jade Minzlaff is investigating the molecular mechanisms by which a phosphate transporter protein influences osteogenesis and skeletal system development, using spatial transcriptomics and in-vitro cell culture systems. She is currently working on developing a cell culture model for CXCL12-abundant reticular cells in bone.
Kazuma Fukuda
ISCRMU Fellow
Vásquez
ISCRMU Fellow
Vásquez
Year awarded 2026
One of the critical processes in developing and regenerating organs is endoreplication: DNA synthesis without cell division. Despite its potential to increase cell size, whether and how endoreplication influences organ shape is largely unknown. In the Vásquez lab, Kazuma Fukuda is investigating the role of endoreplication in Drosophila renal tubule morphogenesis. He employs fly genetics and quantitative microscopy with computational segmentation to capture endoreplication and the physical behavior of the cells. This research aims to advance novel regenerative treatments for kidney diseases, offering viable alternatives to dialysis and transplantation.
Priscilla Boatemaa
Graduate Student Fellow
Kong Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Kong Lab
Year awarded 2026
Left-right (L-R) patterning is essential for proper organ development, and its disruption causes heterotaxy, an abnormal arrangement of internal organs, often accompanied by congenital heart defects. Although loss of the MOSMO/MEGF8/MGRN1 (MMM) complex, a membrane-tethered E3 ubiquitin ligase module, causes fully penetrant heterotaxy in mice, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Using gastruloids, a stem-cell based model of early embryogenesis, Priscilla will investigate how the MMM complex regulates Nodal signaling, a key driver of L-R axis formation. Specifically, she will study whether the MMM complex controls the abundance of the Nodal receptor ACVR2B and define how its loss alters the spatial organization of Nodal signaling during development.
Sofia Jepson
Graduate Student Fellow
Mack Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Mack Lab
Year awarded 2025
The muscle spindle is a skeletal muscle stretch receptor that is vital to proprioception, your body’s ability to sense its position in space. There are major gaps in our understanding of the muscle spindle and its unique intrafusal fibers due to the extremely low number of muscle spindles in the human body. Funding from the ISCRM Fellowship will allow Sofia to use human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived muscle precursor cells to better understand the role of different molecular players in intrafusal fiber development, focusing on the transcription factor Egr3. By evaluating changes in gene expression during intrafusal fiber development and impacts on the ability of the fibers to respond to different stretch regimens, Sofia will work towards the development of a functional model of muscle spindles from human stem cells.
Chrystal Guzman
Graduate Student Fellow
Cirulli Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Cirulli Lab
Year awarded 2025
My doctoral research investigates how a small RNA molecule, microRNA-192, guides human stem cells toward a pancreatic beta cell fate. Using a CRISPR-Cas9-engineered, inducible miRNA system, I aim to improve the consistency and efficiency of stem cell-derived beta cell production. This research will not only uncover networks by which microRNA-192 regulates pancreatic differentiation, but also advance our efforts to develop effective stem cell-derived treatments for Type 1 Diabetes.
Ramila Gulieva
Graduate Student Fellow
Freedman Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Freedman Lab
Year awarded 2025
Current human kidney organoid models, derived from pluripotent stem cells, face significant limitations. They remain structurally immature, functionally incomplete, and often highly variable between batches, lacking the vascularization and specialized architecture necessary for true glomerular filtration. Support from the ISCRM Fellows Program will allow Ramila Gulieva to help address these challenges through precise manipulation of both the physical/mechanical and biochemical microenvironment to promote maturation, consistency, and functionality.
Noah Jackson Bowers
ISCRMU Fellow
Marchiano Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Marchiano Lab
Year awarded 2025
As an ISCRMU fellow, Noah will research the potential of the use of electrophysiologic DNA gene editing in the creation of stem cell lines for improved cardiac remuscularizaton therapy. Specifically, Noah will conduct in-vitro investigation into the electrical, mechanical, and maturation state of the edited iPSC line known as MEDUSA (Modification of Electrophysiological DNA to Understand and Suppress Arrhythmia). A major challenge in cardiac remuscularization has been the generation of potentially arrhythmias from the cell graft region. MEDUSA aims to correct this by modifying cell electrophysiology in order to suppress the spontaneous depolarization behavior iPSC derived cardiomyocytes express that is believed to be the cause of these arrhythmias.
Caleb Kono
Graduate Student Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Year awarded 2025
Skeletal muscle has an extraordinary ability to regenerate, but this process declines sharply with age and disease, leading to weakness and frailty. A major challenge is that the genetic programs driving muscle growth and repair become locked in inactive states over time. With support from an ISCRM fellowship, Caleb Kono is developing new ways to reawaken these programs by directly rewriting the epigenetic instructions that control them. Specifically, he is engineering CRISPR-based “Epibinders” that recruit the cell’s own chromatin machinery—such as the DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A—to precisely turn genes off or on without introducing foreign enzymes. By pairing these systems to repress anti-myogenic genes and activate pro-myogenic ones, his work aims to enhance the efficiency of stem cell and fibroblast differentiation into mature muscle. Ultimately, this research seeks to establish a new framework for stable, programmable gene regulation that can drive more effective regenerative therapies.
Divya Avnoor
Graduate Student Fellow
Mack Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Mack Lab
Year awarded 2025
Since their introduction in 2006, human iPSCs have enabled a generation of lineage-specific cell lines and organoids. However, bridging in vitro findings to whole-organism outcomes remains slow. Supported by an ISCRM Fellowship, Divya Avnoor aims to establish a zebrafish iPSC platform to directly connect stem cell based assays with in vivo validation in the same species. The success of this project will provide a novel research model to assess therapeutic efficacy and have applications to emerging fields, like cultivated meat.
Theresa Chen
Graduate Student Fellow
Cherry Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Cherry Lab
Year awarded 2025
With support from the ISCRM Fellowship, Theresa is developing two complementary high-throughput single-cell techniques to investigate disease-associated enhancers in retinal organoids. Enhancers—noncoding DNA elements that regulate gene expression—have been linked to several inherited retinal disorders. By using CRISPR/Cas9 to disrupt candidate enhancers within retinal organoids, she aims to identify and characterize those that contribute to disease pathogenesis. These approaches offer powerful tools for studying enhancer function and deepen our understanding of epigenetic regulation in retinal development and disease.
Olivia Waters
ISCRMU Fellow
Yang Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Yang Lab
Year awarded 2025
As an ISCRM fellow, Olivia will investigate human placental cells’ tolerance to severe genomic stress. Compared to their parental human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) and placentas exhibit naturally high levels of genomic instability. However, the extent of TSCs’ tolerance to such abnormalities remains largely unknown. By inducing genotoxic stress, Olivia aims to explore TSCs’ resilience and uncover the mechanisms behind it. This research will offer key insights into how TSCs maintain their function under stress, potentially informing therapies for trophoblast-related disorders and placental diseases.
Evelyn Abraham
Postdoctoral Fellow
Reh Lab
Postdoctoral Fellow
Reh Lab
Year awarded 2025
Dorice Goune
Graduate Student Fellow
Stevens Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Stevens Lab
Liver disease causes millions of deaths each year, yet scientists still lack the detailed structural information needed to 3D print a working liver. With support from ISCRM Fellowship, Dorice Goune aims to create high-resolution 3D maps of the liver’s smallest functional unit—the lobule—using advanced imaging and computational modeling. These maps will guide the bioprinting of anatomically accurate, perfusable liver tissue. This work could pave the way for new treatments, improve disease modeling, and bring us closer to printing functional human livers in the lab.
Charlie Thel
Graduate Student Fellow
Davis Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Davis Lab
Year awarded 2025
Like other organs, the heart forms scar tissue in response to stress or injury. Cardiac fibroblasts are the cells in the heart responsible for regulating production and degradation of scar tissue. Funding from the ISCRM fellowship will allow Charlie to investigate why this scar tissue remains even after the injury is resolved. He will study how p38 MAPK, a key stress response pathway, causes fibroblasts to stay active over time, helping explain why scar tissue in the heart becomes persistent during chronic disease.
Lei Gao
Graduate Student Fellow
Kong Lab
Lei Gao
Graduate Student Fellow
Kong Lab
Year awarded 2025
Our nervous system is wired with extraordinary precision during development, but after injury, it often fails to repair itself. One major reason is that the molecular signals guiding axon growth in embryos become misregulated in adults. With an ISCRM fellowship, Lei Gao will focus on uncovering how a key guidance receptor, EphA4, is regulated during neural development and exploring its potential application in promoting neural regeneration. Specifically, she will investigate how the MOSMO/MEGF8/MGRN1 (MMM) complex, a group of proteins involved in protein degradation, selectively targets EphA4 and related molecules for regulation. Understanding this process could open the door to modulating EphA4 signaling, not only to guide neural network formation during development, but also to support axon regrowth after injury. Ultimately, this work aims to bridge developmental neurobiology with regenerative medicine by identifying new molecular targets that activate the nervous system’s repair.
Sumin Hong
ISCRMU Fellow
Zheng Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Zheng Lab
Year awarded 2025
In the Zheng Lab, Sumin Hong is developing computational tools to analyze endothelial cell (EC) behavior in 3D brain microvessels following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her work focuses on creating a segmentation-free, pixel-level machine learning toolkit to quantify junctional features such as integrity, tortuosity, and internalization, which are factors critical to understanding blood-brain barrier dysfunction and vascular repair. This approach enables high-throughput, biologically meaningful phenotyping of ECs, facilitating mechanistic discovery and therapeutic development in complex vascular injury models.
Janie Johnson
Graduate Student Fellow
Robinson Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Robinson Lab
Year awarded 2025
Biological sex plays a role in meniscus injury and regeneration: females experience more tears and worse repair outcomes. As a first year graduate student in the Robinson Lab, Janie Johnson is studying the intersection between hormonal and mechanobiological signaling pathways to understand how sex differences arise in primary meniscus cells. Using biomaterials and mechanobiology tools to mimic the anisotropy and mechanical loading of the meniscus, Janie will explore sex differences in the estrogen receptor alpha response to strain with the eventual goal of addressing sex-biased outcomes in injury and regeneration.
Aleah Rosner
ISCRMU Fellow
Young Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Young Lab
Year awarded 2025
As an ISCRMU Fellow, Aleah will investigate the relationship between neurons and microglia. In their resting state, microglia support neuronal health and network formation; however, it remains unclear whether they benefit neurons exclusively during physical contact, or if the supportive factors they secrete are sufficient to drive this effect. Using IPSC-derived cells, Aleah will evaluate the contact-dependent and -independent effects of microglia on neurons. Understanding healthy neuron-microglia interactions may help elucidate their dysregulation in Alzheimer’s disease and guide targeted therapeutics.
Brenda Garibay
Graduate Student Fellow
Escobar Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Escobar Lab
Year awarded 2025
With an ISCRM fellowship award, Brenda Garibay investigates whether HP1BP3, an H1-like histone protein, is essential for epigenetic memory in heterochromatin. Using human iPSCs, she aims to uncover how HP1BP3 regulates chromatin architecture by defining its interactome via overexpression and immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry. She will also utilize CRISPR/Cas9 and an auxin-inducible degradation system to deplete endogenous HP1BP3 and assess rescue with targeted mutants, thereby evaluating its role in maintaining H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin and gene silencing. Findings from this work will reveal how chromatin compaction is inherited across cell generations and offer new insight into heterochromatin-based gene regulation and memory.
Molly McCloskey
Postdoctoral Fellow
Smith Lab
Postdoctoral Fellow
Smith Lab
Year awarded 2024
As a Postdoctoral Fellow, McCloskey is part of a team developing gene therapeutics to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neuromuscular disease. In order to combat challenges in drug development, the researchers are creating a high throughput, three-dimensional (3D) model of the key functional unit impacted by ALS, namely, the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Using a human stem cell-derived model with contractile capabilities, they can directly evaluate how gene therapies that target disease-causing mutations in motor neurons impact skeletal muscle function. The ultimate goal is to develop therapies that reverse muscle weakness and prolong patient lives.
Alex Elbahr
ISCRMU Fellow
Escobar Lab
Alex Elbahr
ISCRMU Fellow
Escobar Lab
Year awarded 2024
With the support of the ISCRM Fellowship, Alex Elbahr will delineate the proteolytic processing of Nucleophosmin (NPM1) in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), employing recombinant NPM1 constructs and targeted protease assays. This study seeks to unravel the molecular underpinnings of NPM1 cleavage, offering potential insights into its role in HSC regulation and the pathogenesis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The findings could pave the way for novel therapeutic interventions targeting AML.
Angelica Ramos
University of Texas, San Antonio
REU Fellow
Young Lab
University of Texas, San Antonio
REU Fellow
Young Lab
Year awarded 2024
Clinical studies have linked anticholinergic drugs to dementia risk. However, it remains unclear whether this is due to the direct effects of these medications or a predisposition to dementia in the participants. Angelica Ramos is investigating whether different classes of anticholinergics induce molecular phenotypes related to Alzheimer’s disease. Using human iPSC-derived neurons from study participants, she treats the cells with various anticholinergic classes and evaluates the levels of phosphorylated Tau, beta-amyloid, and cytotoxicity, along with changes in synaptic gene expressions.
Rachelle Soriano
California State University, Los Angeles
REU Fellow
Davis and Regnier Labs
California State University, Los Angeles
REU Fellow
Davis and Regnier Labs
Year awarded 2024
In the Davis and Regnier Labs, Rachelle Soriano is helping to characterize human beta myosin mutation E525K to determine its effects on sarcomere contraction and organization. The characterization of this mutation will aid in informing drug therapeutics, specifically for myosin activator drugs, and determining this mutations role in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
Sarah John
Graduate Student Fellow
Yadav Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Yadav Lab
Year awarded 2024
With support from the ISCRM fellowship, Sarah John aims to investigate how the dysfunction of TAOK1 kinase results in perturbed early brain development and macrocephaly. Sarah will utilize hiPSCs harboring TAOK1 NDD associated mutations to generate dorsal forebrain neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and cortical brain organoids. Together with mass spectrometry and high-resolution imaging, she aims to identify signaling deficits that can be therapeutically targeted to treat macrocephaly caused by TAOK1 associated mutations.
Sahana Subramanian
ISCRMU Fellow
Zheng Lab
Sahana Subramanian
ISCRMU Fellow
Zheng Lab
Year awarded 2024
With funding from the ISCRM Undergraduate Fellowship, Sahana Subramanian will identify healthy and unhealthy endothelial cell flow conditions within a perfusable engineered heart tissue, hypothesizing that physiologically relevant shear stress will lead to endothelial cell alignment and strong barrier properties while predicting that low shear stress will lead to signs of endothelial dysfunction, such as permeable barriers and inflammatory signaling. The goal of this project is to interrogate endothelial function under several hemodynamic conditions in this perfusable model.
Jordan Vanni
Pacific Lutheran University
ISCRM REU Fellow
Robinson Lab
Pacific Lutheran University
ISCRM REU Fellow
Robinson Lab
Year awarded 2024
As a primarily cell-sparse and regionally-limited space, the meniscus has poor regenerative qualities after injury. As an ISCRM REU student in the Robinson Lab, Jordan Vanni is focusing on characterizing the primary cells of meniscus tissue: meniscal fibrochondrocytes (MFCs). This characterization process is supported by immunofluorescent antibody staining, flow cytometry, and the use of quantitative software such as CellProfiler. The long-term goal is to promote better healing in the meniscus, especially considering surgical options and tissue removal efforts prove to be unsuccessful.
Christian Paulos
Bothell Fellow
Sniadecki and Qu Labs
Bothell Fellow
Sniadecki and Qu Labs
Year awarded 2024
As an ISCRM-Bothell Fellow, Christian Paulos will conduct research with the Sniadecki and Qu Labs, where is working on developing engineered human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived tendon constructs as an in vitro strategy for studying tendon mechanobiology and physiology. His work involves applying an established protocol for tenogenic differentiation using biological morphogens and embedding the differentiated cells into 3D collagen hydrogels suspended between flexible PDMS posts.
Birva Pinto
Stevens Institute of Technology
ISCRM REU Fellow
Moussavi-Harami Lab
Stevens Institute of Technology
ISCRM REU Fellow
Moussavi-Harami Lab
Year awarded 2024
As an ISCRM REU Fellow, Birva Pinto will investigate the genetic mutation G159D in cardiac troponin C (cTnC) related to Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease that enlarges the heart chambers, reduces its pumping capacity, and potentially leads to heart failure. She will also test how both mutant and wild-type cTnC respond to a troponin-activating drug. The goal is to uncover insights into the pathogenesis of DCM and contribute to potential therapeutic treatments.
Lily Nguyen
ISCRMU Fellow
Kong Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Kong Lab
Year awarded 2024
As an ISCRM Undergraduate Fellow, Lily Nguyen aims to address the role of two core signaling pathways (Notch and Hedgehog) in maintaining the structural integrity of the developing nervous system. In the Kong Lab, she will treat cortical spheroids derived from embryonic stem cells with specific inhibitors to observe changes in cell adhesion and polarity. The long term goal is to establish cortical spheroids as a model in which to screen for disease-causing mutations and the pathogenesis of diseases such as hydrocephalus.
Riya Keshri
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Year awarded 2024
As a postdoctoral fellow, Riya Keshri will be developing treatment for various muscle atrophies including Sarcopenia using synthetic AI-designed proteins. Dr. Keshri will be identifying synthetic designed binders against RTKs/RSTKs that can robustly promote direct reprograming of fibroblast into skeletal muscles. In collaboration with the Institute of Protein Design, she will be forcing non-pairing receptors in a complex using synthetic AI-designed designed binders to induce novel unprecedented signaling pathways that will ultimately change the cell fate to muscles. The project aims to drive advancements in personalized regenerative medicine with usage of powerful AI-designed proteins.
Jasmine Villegas
Graduate Student Fellow
Freedman and Fu Labs
Graduate Student Fellow
Freedman and Fu Labs
Year awarded 2024
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a life-limiting genetic disease caused by a mutation of CFTR, eventually leading to respiratory failure. With an ISCRM fellowship award, Jasime Villegas aims to create a CRISPR-Cas9 CF mutant iPSC-derived lung organoid model that reflects the pathophysiological responses of CF, such as reduced mucociliary clearance and respiratory infection responses. These LOs exhibit important cellular phenotypes, such as mucins and goblet cells, that are essential to understanding these responses. Success of this project will create novel platforms for investigating cellular mechanisms and developing CF therapeutics.
Scott Schactler
Graduate Student Fellow
Shechner Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Shechner Lab
Year awarded 2024
As an ISCRM Fellow, Scott Schactler is characterizing the microenvironment of the lncRNA Xist during X-chromosome inactivation using photocatalyst-powered super-resolution proximity-labeling tools. Using Oligonucleotide-directed proximity-interactome MAPing (O-MAP) in a cell model of early embryogenesis will reveal a pioneering map of the X-chromosome inactivation assembly pathway. Further developing the O-MAP method for even higher-resolution analysis of RNA-chromatin dynamics during cell fate determination will elucidate fundamental molecular mechanisms of stem cell biology and establish powerful tools for probing the RNA interactions that control stemness.
Manith Atapattu
ISCRMU Fellow
Cherry Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Cherry Lab
Year awarded 2024
With ISCRM Fellowship funding, Manith will investigate the role of a microRNA called miR9-2, an important genetic regulator in brain development. Using a mouse model the Cherry Lab has generated, he will study the transitions of cell fate in neuronal STEM cells as well as the development of the vasculature in the brain of mutant mice without miR9-2. The long-term goal of the project is to better understand the genetic causes of congenital hydrocephalus as well as how non-coding elements influence mammalian brain development.
Jack Hoye
Graduate Student Fellow
DeForest Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
DeForest Lab
Year awarded 2024
As an ISCRM fellow, Jack will explore using synthetic biology tools to control stem cell differentiation in 3 dimensions. By genetically engineering stem cells to uptake and use new-to-nature amino acids, they can be made responsive to light and induced into a targeted cell fate. If successful, this approach can be used to create organoid co-cultures with diverse cell types to enable more advanced in vitro disease models or to build more complex tissue architectures in lab-grown tissue engineering constructs
Kathryn (Kat) Powers
Graduate Student Fellow
Bermingham-McDonogh Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Bermingham-McDonogh Lab
Year awarded 2024
Unlike non-mammalian vertebrates, hair cell damage in the mature mammalian cochlea leads to permanent hearing loss. There is great need for the discovery of new factors that promote hair cell and support cell generation in addition to their survival. This project aims to shed light on a new potential target for regenerative therapeutics, early B cell factor 1 (EBF1), which my experiments indicate promotes proper cochlear patterning by regulating prosensory domain establishment.
Brad Hansen
Graduate Student Fellow
Kelly Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Kelly Lab
Year awarded 2024
In his fellowship project, Brad will investigate methods to generate spermatogonial cells (the base cell of spermatogenesis) from induced pluripotent stem cells using directed stem cell differentiation alongside a complex culture model to mimic the in vivo environment and developmental dynamics. The long-term goal is to provide a screening system for toxicology, fertility, and drug development.
Morgan Jones
Graduate Student Fellow
Escobar Lab
Morgan Jones
Graduate Student Fellow
Escobar Lab
Year awarded 2022
ISCRM fellowship funds will enable Morgan Jones to determine how a poised chromatin state is initially formed as well as how terminal effector and memory precursor CD8+ T cells maintain the intermediate chromatin state of bivalent chromatin. In the investigation, they will identify differential regions of poised chromatin between TE and MP states and employ a CRISPR-Cas based technology to discover protein complexes permitting bivalent chromatin.
Willow Chernoske
ISCRMU Fellow
Escobar Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Escobar Lab
Year awarded 2022
With ISCRM fellowship funding, Willow Chernoske will develop and conduct a proof of concept for a CRISPR-Cas12a biotinylation system designed by the Escobar Lab to determine the epigenetic mechanisms that maintain the poised chromatin state of memory CD8+ T cells. The goal is to produce insights relevant to the fields of immunology and chromatin biology.
Jayma Erker
Bothell Fellow
Marcinek Lab
Jayma Erker
Bothell Fellow
Marcinek Lab
Year awarded 2023
As a Bothell Fellow, Jayma Erker and colleagues in the Marcinek Lab tested a hypothesis that mitochondrial substrate utilization following contraction in aged 3D-Engineeed muscle tissue (EMT) will be decreased compared to young 3D-EMT. The researchers adapted in vivo high-intensity stimulation protocol for use on in vitro 3D-EMT using the Mantarray platform, a system that allows stimulation and monitoring of contractile properties of engineered muscle tissue.
Joanna Agana
Bothell Fellow
Davis Lab
Bothell Fellow
Davis Lab
Year awarded 2023
As a Bothell Fellow, Joanna Argana and a team of researchers from the Davis Lab examined the importance of external cues from the myocardium and extracellular environment in regulating how the fibroblast responds to repeat injury stimuli. By developing a protocol to isolate discrete populations of fibroblasts and study them in hearts void of injury, the researchers demonstrated that cardiac fibroblasts from the same strain can be isolated and transplanted to other hearts, without exogenous extracellular matrix.
Salvador Escamilla
Bothell Fellow
Mack Lab
Bothell Fellow
Mack Lab
Year awarded 2023
As a Bothell Fellow, Salvador Escamilla was part of a research team that attempted to better characterize a novel CRISPR edited iPSC line developed in the Mack Lab to model Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in skeletal muscle. Among other findings, immunohistochemistry and a western blot revealed a significant decrease in Fusion Efficiency of myotubes which has been identified as a measure of DMD impact.
Hailemikael Yirdaw
ISCRMU Fellow
Kueh Lab
Hailemikael Yirdaw
ISCRMU Fellow
Kueh Lab
Year awarded 2022
As an ISCRM Fellow, Hailemikael Yirdaw will develop and test designed protein scaffolds that greatly enhance the sensitivity of CAR T cells to tumor antigens. Achieving a new generation of CARs with improved sensitivity would open the door to more effective therapeutics for a wide variety of tumors.
Ashi Jain
ISCRMU Fellow
Wills Lab
Ashi Jain
ISCRMU Fellow
Wills Lab
Year awarded 2022
Ashi Jain will use ISCRM fellowship funding to investigate a hypothesis that two splice variants of the transcription factors Meis1 and Pbx3 have different gene expression patterns in different cell types over regenerative time. The goal is to advance the long-term mission of the Wills Lab to understand the factors and processes that enable complex tissue regeneration in the spinal cord and limbs.
Lauren D’Amico
ISCRMU Fellow
Moussavi-Harami Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Moussavi-Harami Lab
Year awarded 2022
An ISCRM fellowship will allow Lauren D’Amico to study sarcomeric mutations that cause alterations to tension-time index (TTI). Understanding how these variations are linked to disruption in the force-generation capacity of cardiomyocytes will help inform future studies aimed at developing more effective treatments for cardiomyopathies. She is currently pursuing a Bioengineering Masters in Precision Medicine with an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship.
Leona Binyam-Temelso
ISCRMU Fellow
Murry Lab
Leona Binyam-Temelso
ISCRMU Fellow
Murry Lab
Year awarded 2022
ISCRM fellowship funding will enable Leona Binyam-Temelso to identify the minimal set of gene edits possible to generate human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes that will not produce arrhythmias once transplanted into large animal models. The goal is to advance the Murry Lab’s effort to develop a safe, effective cell therapy for heart disease.
Kalen Robeson
Graduate Student Fellow
Davis and Regnier Labs
Graduate Student Fellow
Davis and Regnier Labs
Year awarded 2022
To improve the field’s understanding of MBNL1-directed transcriptome maturation, Kalen Robeson will use human iPSC models to determine the role of MBNL1 in differentiation into skeletal muscle and to determine the function of MBNL1 in the muscle tissue resident stem cell response to injury. The goal is to produce insights that will advance regenerative treatments to restore lost muscle function.
Alex Ochs
Graduate Student Fellow
Boyle Lab
Alex Ochs
Graduate Student Fellow
Boyle Lab
Year awarded 2022
Alex Ochs will use his ISCRM fellowship to conduct a proof-of-concept computational modeling evaluation of whether subthreshold optogenetic stimulation to induce a weak repolarizing current could suppress engraftment arrhythmia. The goal is to validate a potential approach that could improve the safety and efficacy of stem cell therapy for heart attack victims.
Brizzia Munoz Robles
Graduate Student Fellow
Brizzia Munoz Robles
Graduate Student Fellow
Year awarded 2022
With her ISCRM fellowship, Brizzia Munoz Robles will develop a generalizable strategy to customize the biochemical properties of cell-laden biomaterials in 4D through functional protein photoassembly. The goal is to reveal new methods to recapitulate signaling over shorter biologically relevant time scales.
Heber Lara
Graduate Student Fellow
Moltke Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Moltke Lab
Year awarded 2022
Heber Lara will use ISCRM fellowship funds to uncover the role of a growth factor in the small intestinal epithelium. His aims are to establish this growth factor as an important intestinal epithelial signal and to characterize it as a supportive signal in Type 2 immunity.
Ross Bretherton
Graduate Student Fellow
Davis and DeForest Labs
Ross Bretherton
Graduate Student Fellow
Davis and DeForest Labs
Year awarded 2022
Funding will allow Ross Bretherton to explore the role of dilated cardiomyopathy and cardiac fibrosis in heart failure. In his investigation, Bretherton will characterize crosstalk between cardiomyocytes, cardiac fibroblasts, and extracellular matrix in DCM and subsequent heart failure and will identify the cellular mechanisms underlying enhanced ECM alignment using an in vitro engineered heart tissue model.
Giulia Spennati
Postdoctoral Fellow
Freedman and Fu Labs
Giulia Spennati
Postdoctoral Fellow
Freedman and Fu Labs
Year awarded 2023
With an ISCRM fellowship, Giulia Spennati, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Freedman and Fu Lab, aims to identify the molecular and mechanical mechanism leading to podocyte injury in kidney organoids exposed to hyperglycemic conditions. The long-term goal is to develop a human kidney organoid model of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) to assess the risk of progression and test treatment responses.
Arafat Fasuyi
Graduate Student Fellow
Stevens Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Stevens Lab
Year awarded 2023
Arafat Fasuyi will test her hypothesis that generating hardware and bioinks for a 3D bioprinting (SLATE) that can achieve higher resolution printing of microvasculature will enable the Stevens Lab to produce more functional artificial liver tissues. In her project, Arafat will aim to improve 3D printed tissue resolution and achieve vessel diameters on the order of venules/arterioles and create functional artificial liver tissues by integrating hepatocyte organoids into biocompatible hydrogel.
Mark Andrade
Graduate Student Fellow
Cirulli Lab
Mark Andrade
Graduate Student Fellow
Cirulli Lab
Year awarded 2022
With a goal of advancing regenerative medicine approaches to treating diabetes, ISCRM fellow Mark Andrade will explore the feasibility of activating Sonic Hedghog and/or Wnt signaling in pancreatic beta-cells “after” they have differentiated into endocrine cells and will test whether the competency of beta-cells to replicate as a result of αE-catenin downregulation may change as a function of age, and/or in response to injury and metabolic stressors.
Marina Pavlou, PhD
Reh Lab
Postdoctoral Fellow
Weill Neurohub Postdoctoral Fellow
Reh Lab
Postdoctoral Fellow
Weill Neurohub Postdoctoral Fellow
Year awarded 2022
ISCRM fellowship funding will allow Marina Pavlou, PhD to test the potential of growth factors Ascl1 and Atoh1 to reinstate developmental plasticity in adult non-human primate Müller glia. The goal is to regenerate neurons from glia in the retina and recover the cell classes that die in blinding diseases and to ultimately recover vision.
Rohda Yase
ISCRMU Fellow
Kwon Lab
Rohda Yase
ISCRMU Fellow
Kwon Lab
Year awarded 2023
Building on preliminary data showing that the gene efemp1 is dispensable for the first phase of spine mineralization—Rohda Yase will study the 2nd phase of skeletal development by determining the role of efemp1 in osteoblast recruitment. In her project, Yase will generate efemp1 zebrafish mutants with a transgenic reporter for osteoblasts to determine if osteoblasts are affected. By understanding the role of efemp1 in spine development, Yase aims to elucidate the role of fibulins in skeletal development and their influence on skeletal traits.
Jamie Yang
ISCRMU Fellow
Boyle Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Boyle Lab
Year awarded 2023
In the Cardiac Systems Simulation Lab, Jamie Yang is conducting a computational study to establish the feasibility of using optogenetic stimulation to suppress ventricular arrhythmias associated with human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (hPSC-CM) engraftment. Engraftment arrhythmias (EAs) are currently a major roadblock preventing in-human clinical trials of stem cell therapy that could regenerate tissue following a heart attack. In her project, she will further research the origin of EA development, characterize early EA dynamics, and establish the ideal opsin characteristics for experimental optogenetic suppression of EAs. The long-term goal is to develop a potential solution to engraftment-related arrhythmias that can be explored further in large animals and possibly humans.
Flora Hu
ISCRMU Fellow
Mathieu Lab
Flora Hu
ISCRMU Fellow
Mathieu Lab
Year awarded 2023
In her fellowship project, Flora Hu will develop a novel 3D in vitro model of the fallopian tube epithelium by combining iPSC and engineering technologies. Her specific aims to recapitulate the polarized structure of FTE through microfluidic design (in partnership with the Zheng Lab) and to differentiate FTE from iPSCs and incorporate them into the designed device.
Anika Ghelani
ISCRMU Fellow
Sniadecki Lab
ISCRMU Fellow
Sniadecki Lab
Year awarded 2023
As an ISCRM Undergraduate Fellow, Anika Ghelani will investigate the biomechanical role of the chaperone protein melusin in humans using engineered heart tissues (EHTs) created from wild-type hiPSC-CMs and hiPSC-CMs that lack melusin and their isogenic controls. By examining and measuring contractile force and observing the structure of these tissues for signs of dilation or thinning of the tissue, Ghelani aims to determine whether the presence of melusin produces a protective response in EHTs.
Dania Ahmed
ISCRMU Fellow
Yang Lab
Dania Ahmed
ISCRMU Fellow
Yang Lab
Year awarded 2023
Funding will allow Dania Ahmed to test a hypothesis that restoring typical desmin levels in cardiomyopathic cells with the MYH7 E848G mutation – associated with dilated cardiomyopathy – will help recover contractile function. In her project, Ahmed will restore wild type desmin protein levels in hiPSC-CMs expressing the mutation, and assess the contractile effects of desmin upregulation on cardiomyopathic iPSC-CMs by measuring single cell contractile force.
Anjali Patni
Graduate Student Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Anjali Patni
Graduate Student Fellow
Ruohola-Baker Lab
Year awarded 2023
With a long-term goal of improving dental health outcomes, ISCRM Fellow Anjali Patni will generate functional enamel layer in order to study the congenital tooth disorder amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) and to generate living fillings in the future. In her project, Patni aims to identify the signaling factors crucial for the maturation of induced secretory ameloblasts (isAM) and investigate the underlying mechanisms of Amelogenesis Imperfecta (AI) using an iAM 3D organoid model. As part of her investigation, Patni will utilize previously AI-designed Delta scaffolds to activate the Notch pathway in target cells. By utilizing these innovative scaffolds, Patni will explore whether Notch pathway activation alone is sufficient to induce the maturation of ieAM into isAM. Through these comprehensive efforts, Patni’s research holds potential to advance our understanding of amelogenesis imperfecta and contribute to the development of innovative strategies for dental health improvement.
Jenny Nathans
Graduate Student Fellow
Shendure Lab
Jenny Nathans
Graduate Student Fellow
Shendure Lab
Year awarded 2023 and 2024
With support from an ISCRM Fellowship, Jenny Nathans aims to further develop and deploy molecular recording for the precise reconstruction of signaling history in development. She will first establish this system in a well-characterized organotypic epidermal model to study epidermal fate specification in collaboration with the Simpson lab. More broadly, she aims to apply molecular recording to the study of diverse organoids and cell types.
Elisa Clark
Graduate Student Fellow
Kueh Lab
Elisa Clark
Graduate Student Fellow
Kueh Lab
Year awarded 2023
As an ISCRM Fellow, Elisa Clark will undertake a project aimed at improving efficacy of engineered T cell therapies against solid tumors using cytokine pre-treatment. Clark will test how cytokines impact two critical but opposing aspects of T cell differentiation: stemness and effector function, and how cytokines can be combined to maximize both desired T cell properties. This work will utilize both ex vivo high throughput screening methods in collaboration with UW Genome Sciences, and in vivo mouse tumor models in collaboration with Fred Hutch Cancer Center. If successful, this work will inform cytokine effects on T cell differentiation and also generate cells for antitumor therapy in a manner that could be easily translated into clinical studies.
Sophie Blackburn
Graduate Student Fellow
Freedman Lab
Graduate Student Fellow
Freedman Lab
Year awarded 2023
In her fellowship project, Sophie Blackburn will generate glomerulus-like structures in vitro by recapitulating physiological growth confinement of kidney organoids during differentiation and induce vasculogenesis of endothelial cells across microfluidic chips containing kidney organoids to create a perfusable vascular network. The longer-term goal is to provide an unparalleled tool for predicting renal toxicity and efficacy of new drugs, with possible future directions including urine production and organoids as a renal replacement therapy.
Erik Black
Graduate Student Fellow
Rasmussen Lab
Erik Black
Graduate Student Fellow
Rasmussen Lab
Year awarded 2023
Using zebrafish as an in vivo model, ISCRM Fellow Erik Black will advance research efforts underway to better understand the mechanisms underlying the transition from stem cells to specialized cells by studying the development of mechanosensory Merkel cells in the skin. In his project, Black will focus on molecular and morphological characterization of the transition from stem cell to Merkel cell and will further analyze how the peripheral neurons in the skin influence this process and other stem cell processes. Findings from this research will provide insights into skin homeostasis, development, and related diseases, while also shedding light on the role of the microenvironment on stem cell dynamics and cell differentiation.
Christian Mandrycky, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mack and Regnier Labs
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mack and Regnier Labs
Year awarded 2023
As a postdoctoral fellow, Christian Mandrycky will test a hypothesis that MYH3 mutations (implicated in the skeletal muscle disorder Distal arthrogryposis) alter both the mechanics of the contractile apparatus as well as the maturation of skeletal muscle. In his project Mandrycky aims to determine the effect of mutation on the contractile function of normal and mutant skeletal muscle and to investigate the effect of MYH3 mutations on the transcriptome of both hiPSC-derived skeletal myoblasts and skeletal muscle. Together these results will provide a more complete view of the effect of MYH3 mutations on contractile function and their cascading effect on skeletal muscle development and maturation.
Damien Detraux, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mathieu and Ruohola-Baker Labs
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mathieu and Ruohola-Baker Labs
Year awarded 2023
In collaboration with the Institute for Protein Design (IPD – UW), postdoctoral fellow Damien Detraux will use synthetic AI-designed proteins to robustly and specifically target signaling pathways though RTKs-modulating mini-binders and control the direct conversion of fibroblasts across different lineages. Specific aims of the project include investigating the role of signaling pathways in cell fate conversion and bifurcations and the role of TrkA signaling in neuron conversion.