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Members

 

Principal investigator

  Li Cai, PhD, Professor
Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854

PhD students

  • Xin Ai (BME 17f; Top2b in rod development)
  • Brianna Rodriguez (BME 20f; Laptm4b in retinal development. IMSD/Biotech fellow)
  •  Tanner Clifford (Neuroscience 22f; Mechanism of neural regeneration; Biotech fellow)
  • Matthew Morris (BME 23f: Microglia in spinal cord injury)
  • Jaeyoon Yi (BME 24f; Biotech fellow; Thesis topic – TBD)

MS students

  • Miriam Escott (24S MS candidate; Toxicity in gene therapy)
  • Merna Ibrahim (24F MEng candidate; Current advances in retinal degeneration studies)

BS students

  • Senior Design:
    • Augustine George; Lekha Rakundlia; Svar Shah; Kayvus Trjano
  • BME
    • Jonah Simone (Honors Academy-SOE 2023f -)
    • Aman Saini (Sophomore, 2024su -)
    • Diana Nejand (RDELLC, Freshman, 2024f -)
    • Kacey Yuta Chen (RDELLC, Freshman, 2024f -)
  • JJ Slades:
  • Project Super:
  • Summer students:
    • Vinny Huang (2024 su –  Cornell U)
    • David Hoyt (REU/RiSE: 2024 su – Drew U)
    • Andrea Yan (2024 su – Columbia U)

Alumni

Postdoc

  1. Ying Li, Ph.D. (Mar 2016 – Jan 2017) – Transcription factors in spinal cord development and Top2b function in retinal development.
  2. Hailing Hao, Ph.D. (Mar 2008 – Jun 2014) Regulation of gene expression in neural stem/progenitor cells
  3. Mythily Ganapathi, Ph.D. (Jul 2008 – Dec 2008)

PhD

  1. Zachary Finkel (BME 19f – 24s; Gene therapy for spinal cord injury. NJCSCR grad fellow) – R&D Associate at TG Therapeutics Inc.
  2. Misaal Patel (BME PhD Candidate 2016f – GAANN fellowship – 2017s – GAANN/NIH Biotech – 2018f – Defense Date: 8/22/2019) – Associate Principal Scientist/Associate Director at Merck
  3. Jeremy Anderson (BME PhD candidate, 2015 – NIH Biotech fellow; Defense Date: 6/17/2019) – Associate Director, Quality Control (QC), Cell Therapy, Kite Pharma – Thesis: Transgenic mouse model for the study of traumatic brain injury
  4. Ying Li (BME Ph.D. Jan 2016, Jul 2010 – Mar 2016; NJCSCR Fellow 2012-14) – Transcription factors in spinal cord development and Top2b function in retinal development. Current position: Associate Professor, Xi’An JiaoTong University (China)
  5. Shannon Smith, Ph.D. (MBS Jul 2008 – Aug 2013; NSF IGERT fellow) Thesis: Regulation of CD44 expression in breast cancer stem cells. Current position: postdoc at CHOP, Philadelphia, PA
  6. Evangeline Tzatzalos, Ph.D. (BME Sept 2008 – Nov 2012; NSF IGERT fellow; NJCSCR fellow) Thesis: Regulation of Notch1 expression in retinal development. Current position: Associate Director of MSAT Analytics at Minaris Regenerative Medicine
  7. Mohammed M. Islam, Ph.D. (Molecular Pharmacology Jul 2009 – May 2012) Thesis: Regulation of Foxn4 expression in retinal development. Current position: Assistant Professor at King Faisal University (Saudi Arabia)
  8. Sungtae Doh, Ph.D. (BME Dec 2006 – May 2010) Thesis: Computational prediction and experimental verification of gene regulatory elements in neuronal development and Retinal development. Associate, Steptoe

MS

  1. Atharv Kulkarni (22f MS candidate)
  2. Kenneth Lindsley (22f-24s MS)
  3. Hani Alostaz (22-23f MS): Single cell transcriptomic analysis reveals molecular differences in mouse models of spinal cord injuries
  4. Mridul Dalmia (22-23f MS): scRNA-seq Analysis of Gsx1 Gene Therapy Reveals a Restoration of the Pre-Injury Spinal Cord Environment and Reduction of Neuroinflammation
  5. Adelina Joseph (22-23f MS):  Gsx1 promotes neurogenesis in acute phase of spinal cord injury in rodents; Current position: Associate Scientist at Hikma Pharmaceuticals
  6. Mohammed Hussain (22f-23s MEng): literature review on single cell RNA-seq analysis. Current job: Bioinformatician at Regeneron
  7. Tianyue Fu (MS candidate 19s; PhD candidate 19f – 21f; MS 22s): Tafa3 in retinal development
  8. Fatima Esteban (MS candidate 20f – 22s): PIP reduces neuroinflammation and reactive gliosis in SCI
  9. Tajim Ahammed (MEng candidate 21s – 22s): Current advances in SCI research
  10. Ryan Skinner (MS 19f – 21s): In vitro study of TF in neural differentiation
  11. Joseph Decker (MEng 21s): iPSC review
  12. Sofia Castro-Pedrido (BME MS 2019f – Aug. 2020): Delayed treatment for SCI
  13. Dylan Forenzo (BME MS 2019f – 2020s): Computational study of gene expression
  14. Nikita Kelkar (BME MS program 2017s – nonthesis MS Dec 2018)
  15. Rani Satya Pavitra (BME MS 2017s-2018):
  16. Alexandra Pinto (BME MS 18s)-(BME PhD program 2018f – May 2019) Computational Biologist/Bioinformatician at Helomics
  17. Nirali Patel (BME MS 18s)
  18. Jingjing Shi (BME MS 2017s)
  19. Shivani Patel (BME BS/MS 2017s)
  20. Nikhil Kumar (BME MS 2017s)
  21. Rameshwari Rayaji (BME MS 2016) Current position: Research Associate II, SRI International
  22. Jennifer Kim, MS (BME Sep 2007 – May 2010) – Law School
  23. Jennifer Forino, MS (BME Dec 2009)

BS

  1. Samuel Zhang (2023 su – 2024s BS – JJ Slades)
  2. Hafize Petekci (2023s su – Project Super)
  3. Alexander Suponya BME 22s
  4. Faizah Rahim RSA 21f-22s
  5. Vighnesh Raja (Honors College 20f – 22s)
  6. Shivam Garg (20f – 22s)
  7. Harshil Trivedi (20f – 22s)
  8. Ariella Savitz (21f – 22s)
  9. James Lin (20f – 22s)
  10. Muskan Jawed (Project SUPER 21s, BME RSA 21f)
  11. Victoria Percoco (21s)
  12. Veronica Farag (19f -) BME RSA 21s
  13. Ami Patel (19f – 21s) Stem cell gene expression in breast cancer
  14. Pooja Gupta (UG; Project Super 19s – 20f) RNA-seq data analysis of SCI models
  15. Hanna Brancaccio (2019f – 2020s) works with Zach Finkel
  16. Sofia Castro-Pedrido (BME Slade Scholar / BS 2018f – 2019s):
  17. Dylan Forenzo (BME Slade Scholar / BS 2018f – 2019s): Photoreceptor Gene Expression
  18. Alex Milojevic (2018s – 2019s)
  19. Rebecca Risman (Aresty 17s – 2019s)
  20. Mihir Shah (SOE Honors Academy 17s – 18f)
  21. Brandon Lungo (BME Slade Scholar BS 17f – 18s) Computational analysis of retinal gene expression
  22. Shunyao Lei (Aresty 2017f – 2019s) SCI project with Misaal
  23. Nirali Patel (BME Honors Academy & Slades Scholar BS/MS 16f – Aresty 16f) – Computational analysis of biologyical data
  24. Quinn Wade (BME Honors Academy 15f -) – PhD program at PSU
  25. Tristen Wallace 2016s
  26. Nikhil Kumar (BME BS 2016)
  27. Neda Kabi (BME Honors Academy 2013-2015)
  28. Yuying Tan 2015
  29. Shivani Patel (BME Honors Academy 2014f)
  30. Katherine Lau (Spring 2014)
  31. Nikhil Agarwal (BME Honors Academy 2010-2013)
  32. Jordana Gilbert (BME Honors Academy 2011-2013); Johns Hopkins University
  33. Dhara Zala (BME Honors Academy 2011-2013)
  34. Alson Wu (BME Honors Academy 2010-2012)
  35. Haim Tawil (BME Honors Academy, 2008-2010) U Penn – Dental student
  36. Stephanie Loh (BME Honors Academy, Senior Design 2008-2010)
  37. Tapan Patel (BME Honors Academy, 2008-2010)
  38. Eric LaBouff (BME Honors Academy) 2007-2009; LifeCell; MD/Phd student Temple U.
  39. Joe Maffei (BME Honors Academy) 2007-2009; Boston U
  40. David Chen (Aresty) 2007-2008; New Jersey Medical School
  41. Anna Pashkova (Aresty) 2007-2008; Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
  42. Abdullah Rasheed (Aresty) 2008-2009; Medical student
  43. Michael Lazar (Aresty)
  44. Arvin Zabalerio (Aresty)

Senior Design Team

2023-24: Mohamed Elsherbiny, Anvita Patwari, Ghassan Slim

2022-23: Vinay Giridhar, Faizah Rahim, Victoria Percoco, Alana Martinez, Julian Ong

2022-23: Krish Choksi, Tawe Tawe, Miriam Escott, Dhruv Patel

2021-22: Hani Alostaz (RSA 20f -), Mridul Dalmia (20f-), Adelina Joseph (SOE HA, RSA 20f), Sreya Kilambi

2020-21: Aolani Colon, Rishabh Hirday, Ami Patel (team leader), Amrita Poddar, Emma Tuberty-Vaughan: A computational pipeline for novel gene discovery (Scientific Reports 2021)

2019-20: Tajim Ahammed, Gavriel D. Kruman(team leader), Joshua Monserate, Srinidhi Sudhir, George W. Wadsworth

2018-19: Virginia Quiros-Barboza, Sofia Castro-Pedrido (team Leader), Jordan Eckhoff, Shaun Porwal, Michael Taenzer

2017-18: Samr B. Atieh, Mrudula M. Chakravarthy, Patrick R. Doran, Omkar A. Joshi, Vikash Patel. A novel normalization method for single-cell RNA-seq data analysis.

2016-17 (Computation): Trevor J. Alston, Steven Q. Nguyen, Miguel vivar Lazo, Cori Lichter, Justin Chen

2016-17 (Device): Aizeem Paroya, Luis Fabionar, Shashank Alladi, Vivekkumar Patel

2015-16: Ana Covic, Monica Chan, Talia Greenstein, Teerapad Jindachompthong, Nikhil Kumar, Monika Nandi. Peak Finder.

2014-15: Conner Quintero, Jake Cotton, Yana Oganesova, Michael Wu, Mike Conforti, Jay Shah (Winner of 2015 Senior Design Conference)

2013-2014 (paper): Paul Jang, Tim Holleran, Michael Burn, Kenan Gebizlioglu, Alex Governle
2012-2013: Jordan Ash, Brian Osler, Henry Yu (Winner of 2013 Senior Design Conference)
2011-2012: Darshan Bhatty, Timothy Keough, Dipen Patel, Alson Wu, Brian Yoo
2010-2011: Ryan Chando, Samantha Citron, Olapeju Odusola, Scott Sivco
2009-2010: Stephanie Loh, Alvin Chen
2008-2009: Andy Shen (2006-2008), Pankit Shan

Summer undergraduate students

  • Aimee Straka (Virginia Tech – 2023 su)
  • Juan Gutierrez (UCSB – REU summer 2022) – Gsx1 Reduces Glial Scar Formation at Chronic Stage of Spinal Cord Injury
  • Kelly Reid (Cedar Crest College – REU summer 2021) – Spinal Cord Injury Promotes Neural Stem Cell Properties in NG2 Cell Populations
  • Phinu Philip (Wright State University Daytn, Ohio – REU 2020 Summer) RNA-seq Analysis of Various Types of Spinal Cord Injuries
  • Mohammad Fauzan (New Jersey City University – RiSE Summer 2019)
  • Nathalie Groot (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – REU Summer 2019)
  • Brenda Okereke (BME 2018 Summer -)
  • Audrey Hao (UC Berkeley 2017 RiSE REU)
  • Yanira Gonzales Rodriguez (REU 2016 summer) Effect of Topoisomerase II-beta Inhibitor on Neuronal Migration in vitro
  • Dylan Richards (NSF-REU 2012 summer undergrad)
  • Nilsa La Cunza (NSF-REU 2012 summer undergrad)
  • Eva Nelly Rubio-Marrero (RISE student, summer 2010); Graduate student, Rutgers
  • Eduardo Gonzalez (RISE Summer 2008); Graduate student, Washington U

Summer high school students

  1. Rockie Jiang (2019 summer) Transcriptomic analysis of spinal cord injury
  2. Catherine Cai (2019 summer) Transcriptomic analysis of spinal cord injury
  3. Victoria Li (2017 summer)
  4. Daniel Wang (2016 summer – Attending Yale U)

Other contributors

  • Nicole Katchur (MD/PhD candidate 2019 summer lab rotation)
  • Michael D’Ecclessis NSF IGERT fellow) – (Co-advisor, Primary advisor: R. Hart)
  • Daniel Lee (Medical Student) Summer 2008; RWJ medical school
  • Xiaorong Zhu (Feb 2011 – Jan 2012) – East China Normal University, Shanghai, China (Visiting Scholar)
  • Kate Fitzgerald (BME Fall 2011) BME rotation student
  • Yandi Li (2009/12-11/12) – MBS rotation student
  • Richard Carmona (Neuroscience)