Trainees

Research Statement: Lysmarie received her B.S. in Biology with a sub-concentration in biotechnology from the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce. She then joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr. Kristyn Masters lab as a Ph.D. student. Her current research focuses on the study of sex-related pathological responses in calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) using engineered valve models that mimic early and late-stage hallmarks of CAVD progression.

Faculty Trainer: Kristyn Masters, PhD, Biomedical Engineering

Research Statement: Christopher received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas, and then joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pharmaceutical Science PhD program in Fall 2019. His current research focuses on developing protein degraders that are capable of targeting proteins that are traditionally difficult to degrade. These degraders can serve as novel therapeutics for various disease relevant targets, such as for cardiovascular inflammation and immune check-point inhibitors.

Faculty Trainer: Bo Liu, PhD, Vascular Surgery & Weiping Tang, PhD, Chemistry

Research Statement: Angel received his B.A. in Chemistry from Williams College. He then joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chemistry PhD program in Fall 2021 as a chemical biology student. His current research focuses on the interactions between the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. Specifically, he studies the neuropeptidergic signaling and hormonal regulation of cardiovascular function by employing mass spectrometry-based tools.

Faculty Trainer: Li Lingjun, PhD, Pharmacy

Research Statement: Wyatt received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and then he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison Genetics PhD program in Fall 2019. His current work focuses on examining the metabolic regulation that controls mammalian heart regeneration. Specifically examining how mTORC1 regulates metabolism during heart regeneration and whether mTORC1 activity can stimulate adult heart regeneration.

Faculty Trainer: Ahmed Mahmoud, PhD, Cell & Regenerative Biology

Research Statement: Tara received her PhD in Nutrition from Texas A&M University in 2019. She began her postdoctoral work in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2020. Her current project focuses on the role of lipid hydrolases in cardiovascular disease development and co-morbidities, including obesity and diabetes. Her research goals include combining genetics, nutrition, and biochemistry to identify causative genes for cardiovascular disease that provide novel targets for drug and/or lifestyle interventions.

Faculty Trainer: Allan Attie, PhD, Biochemistry

Research Statement: Jack received a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Grand Valley State University in 2016, and his M.D. from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in 2020. He is a current resident in the University of Wisconsin’s Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency Program (2020-2027) conducting his 2-year post-doctoral research fellowship in the Liu Lab. His work focuses on the role of the cell death mediator, receptor interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) in thrombosis and vascular fibrosis within aortic aneurysm and deep venous thrombosis (DVT) models.

Faculty Trainer: Bo Liu, PhD, Surgery

Research Statement: Ryan Pewowaruk is a postdoctoral researcher at William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital. His research studies the effects of exercise on blood vessel stiffness in older veterans. The long term goal of this research is to provide more personalized care for individuals with high blood pressure.

Faculty Trainer: Adam Gepner, MD, Medicine (Cardiology)

Research Statement: Lisandra received her B.S in Biochemistry at Havana University, Cuba, where she studied the mechanism of action of an antitumoral peptide by means of quantitative proteomic analyses. Later, she received her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology in Universidad Austral de Chile, in the lab of Dr. Sebastian Brauchi. During her Ph.D. project, she studied the underlying mechanism of calcium-dependent inactivation of TRPV5 and TRPV6 channels, establishing an evolutionary-structural-functional correlate of this phenotype in representative species of vertebrates. She joined Gail Robertson’s lab at UW-Madison as postdoctoral researcher in 2020. Currently her research aims to understand the structural basis of hERG channels gating by means of bioinformatics and electrophysiological approaches. She is also studying the molecular mechanism underlying the co-translation and heteromerization of hERG1 channels.

Faculty Trainer: Gail Roberston, PhD, Neuroscience

Research Statement: Michael received his MD degree from the George Washington University and moved to Madison, WI in 2020 to begin his general surgery training. He is interested in pursuing a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery prompting him to join the Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics lab working under Dr. Alejandro Roldán-Alzate during his academic development time. Michael will be utilizing 4D-Flow MRI to better understand biomechanical changes occurring following the Ross procedure and will also be creating a porcine model of aortic coarctation.

Faculty Trainer: Alejandro Roldán-Alzate, PhD, Biomedical Engineering