Contact
- Co-Director Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Graduate Program
- James J. Maguire, Jr. Professor in Spine Research
1025 Walnut Street
Suite 511
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Our Team
Vedavathi Madhu, PhD
Research Associate
Contact Dr. Madhu
Research Project: My main focus is exploring the functions of mitochondria in physiologically hypoxic tissues, in an effort to develop potential therapeutic strategies to treat degenerative disc pathologies.
Pranay Ramteke, PhD
Post-doctoral fellow
Contact Dr. Ramteke
Research Project: Understanding the metabolic intricacies of disc cells and their relationship to disease onset and progression.
Shira Johnston, BS
PhD Candidate in Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Contact Shira
Research Project: My thesis work focuses on the role of HIF in NP cell adaptation.
Olivia Ottone, MS
PhD Candidate in Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Contact Olivia
Research Project: The goal of my thesis research is to understand the genetic basis of spontaneous intervertebral disc degeneration and how genetic regulation contributes to this pathology in vivo.
Maria Tsingas, MS
PhD Candidate in Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Contact Maria
Research Project: My thesis research aims to investigate the metabolic changes that contribute to the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration using various murine models and metabolomics.
Kimheak Sao, BS
PhD Candidate in Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Contact Kimheak
Research Project: My thesis research investigates the role of Syndecan-4 in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration/herniation using murine models and in vitro approaches.
Kelli De Jesus
PhD Student in Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Contact Kelli
Research Project: My focus is on the contribution of senescence pathways in intervertebral disc degeneration with special interest in genotoxic stress.
Ivanna Jones
MS Student in Pharmacology
Contact Ivanna
Research Project: Investigating mechanisms involving osmoadaptation in NP cells.
Rahatul Ain, BS
MS Student in Pharmacology
Contact Raha
Research Project: My thesis project focuses on the effects of Glucose Transport on intervertebral disc degeneration through the use of various mouse models.
Bahiyah Watson, BS
Lab Technician
Contact Bahiyah
Research Project: Understanding the role of senescence in aged and degenerated interverbal discs.
Mallory Toci, BS
Lab Technician
Contact Mallory
Research Project: Understanding the role of senescence in aged and degenerated interverbal discs.
Recent Team Members
Emanuel José Magalhães Novais, MD, PhD
MD/PhD Candidate
Currently: Orthopaedic Resident Physician, Portugal
Research Project: My PhD project investigates contribution of ER stress and senescence pathways to disc degeneration using various mouse models and in vitro approaches.
Miriam Hernandez-Meadows, MS
Lab Technician
Currently: PhD student at University of Manchester, UK
Research Project: My research focuses on characterizing mitochondrial dynamics and metabolism in the intervertebral disc.
Victoria Tran, MS
Lab Technician
Research Project: My research involves studying how pain and senescence pathways contribute to disc degeneration.
Paige Boneski, MS
Lab Technician
Currently: Special Project Associate in the Neuroscience Department at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL
Research Project: Investigating the role of mitochondrial metabolism in the intervertebral disc using mouse models and various in vitro approaches.
Takashi Onishi, MD, PhD
Visiting Scholar
Currently: Orthopaedic Surgeon, Hokkaido University Hospital, Japan
Research Project: My research focuses on the role of progressive ankylosis protein (ANK) in intervertebral disc health.
Huy Nguyen, BS
MS Student in Biotechnology
Currently: Associate Scientist in Viral Vector Process Development at Wuxi AppTec
Research Project: Assisting research on the role of GLUT1 in the intervertebral disc.
Anshul Kumar, BS
MS Student in Cell & Developmental Biology
Research Project: Investigated senescence and path pathways in the disc.
Steven Tessier, BS
MS Student in Biomedical Sciences
Currently: Medical Student at Temple University
Research Project: Investigated mechanisms involving osmoadaptation in NP cells.
Elizabeth Silagi, BS
PhD Student
Currently: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School / Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Research Project: Investigated how the hypoxic and nutrient-limited environment in the IVD affects metabolism and pH regulation in NP cells using murine models and metabolomics.
Deborah Gorth, MS
MD/PhD Student
Currently: Resident Physician at Temple Health
Research Project: My work focused on the role of inflammation in intervertebral disc degeneration.
Jinya Miao, MS
MS Student in Biotechnology
Currently: Medical Student at Western University of Health Sciences
My Research Project: Investigated contribution of NP cell senescence to disc degeneration.
Michael DiMuzio, BS
MD Student
Research Project: Investigated mechanisms involved in NP cell osmosensing.
Jesse Sinanan, MD
4th year Radiology Resident
Currently: Diagnostic Radiology Resident Physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Research Project: Non-invasive imaging modalities of IVD.
Katelyn Slaver
MS Student in Biotechnology
Currently: Lead Science Teacher at Success Academy Charter Schools
Jared Smith, MS
MS Student in Biotechnology
He-Hai Pan, MD
Research Fellow
Research Project: Investigated the role of HuR in NP cells in response to hypoxia.
Zariel Johnson, BS
PhD Student
Currently: Program Manager Technical at UPMC Enterprises
Research Project: Investigated the borader functions of TonEBP in NP cells, using RNA-sequencing paired with murine models.
Hyowon Choi, BA
MD/PhD Student
Currently: Psychiatry Resident Physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Research Project: Investigated the regulatory mechanism of autophagy in NP cells, and determined its role in pathophysiology of degenerative disc disease.
Carmen Acosta, BS
MS Student
Currently: In-house CRA
Research Project: My project focused on the role of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA) in mediating inflammatory pathway in nucleus pulposus cells.
Rouzana Khayat, BS
MS Student
Currently: Research Assistant at Research Assistant at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences
Research Project: Investigated the effect of hypoxia and the role of Hypoxia Inducible Factor -1a (HIF-1a) on OGA and OGT activity in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells.