Principal Investigator

Current Members

Kim Nguyen
MD/PhD Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
(Winter 2023 - Present)
zqn7td@virginia.edu

Emma Bakall Loewgren
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2024 - Present)
rub7nj@virginia.edu

Ryan Smith
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2025 - Present)
hpn8vv@virginia.edu

Tahseen Azad
Undergraduate Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Spring 2026 - Present)
ygm4ny@virginia.edu

Loan Quynh Tran
SRIP Undergraduate Student, Biology (Virginia Commonwealth University)
(Summer 2024 & 2026)

Yonatan Degefu
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2021 - Present)
njr7jk@virginia.edu

Audrey Kidd
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2023 - Present)
aku8fb@virginia.edu

Abigail Brooks
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2025 - Present)
zdw3us@virginia.edu

Katelinn Ohrtman
REU Undergraduate Student, Biophysics (University of Maryland, College Park)
(Summer 2026)

Luisa Quesada PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering (Fall 2020 - Present) lfq5sj@virginia.edu

Luisa Quesada
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2020 - Present)
lfq5sj@virginia.edu

Radhika Pande 
Research Specialist and Lab Manager
(Winter 2025 - Present)
rsp7dr@virginia.edu

Caelli Bagalkotkar
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Fall 2025 - Present)
ysh9yz@virginia.edu

Alice Zhang
Undergraduate Student, Biomedical Engineering
(Spring 2025 - Present)
usm3em@virginia.edu

Alumni

Ivan Valov
Undergraduate Student,
Biomedical Engineering (University of Virginia)
(2025)

Gina Chea
REU Undergraduate Student, Bioengineering (George Mason University)
(Summer 2023)

Shahab Azarfar, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2022 - 2023)
Next position: Postdoc at UVA School of Data Science

Ariana Caraballo Soler
SRIP Undergraduate Student, Cellular and Molecular Biology (University of Puerto Rico)
(Summer 2022)

Divya Venkat
Undergraduate Student, Biochemistry (2018 - 2019)
Next position: MD Student at Wayne State University

Cara Abecunas PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering (Winter 2018 - Present) caa5k@virginia.edu

Cara Abecunas, PhD
PhD Graduate, Biomedical Engineering (2018 - 2023)
Next position: Data Scientist at Novartis

Mehwish Khaliq, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2017 - 2022)
Next position: Senior Scientist at Dewpoint Therapeutics

Doug Baumann, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate (2018 - 2021)
Next position: Senior Scientist at Dewpoint Therapeutics

You (Henry) Gao
Undergraduate Student,
Computer Science & Biomedical Engineering
(2023 - 2024)

Mohan Manikkam, PhD 
Research Specialist and Lab Manager
(2017 - 2024)

Heaven Moore
SRIP Undergraduate Student, Biology (Fayetteville State University)
(Summer 2025)

Natacha Comandante-Lou, PhD
PhD Graduate, Biomedical Engineering (2017 - 2022),
Next position: Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University

Anna Tang
REU Undergraduate Student, Applied Mathematics (University of Utah)
(Summer 2022)

Haolong Huang
MSc Graduate, Biomedical Engineering (2019)
Next position: PhD Student at University of Michigan

Katharine Faieq 
Research Specialist and Lab Manager
(2024 - 2025)

Zeinab Chitforoush, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Biomedical Engineering
(2023 - 2025)
Next position: Research Associate at UVA School of Engineering