Trainees

Research Statement: Alana received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2015. After working at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals she pursued graduate study in Biomedical Engineering at UW-Madison in 2016. Her research is focused on using an engineered culture platform and digital image correlation to study the mechanical function of stem cell derived cardiomyocytes. These techniques are applied to a familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy disease model using contractile strain as the quantitative indicator of functionality. 

Faculty Trainer: Wendy Crone, PhD, Engineering Physics

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: Jake received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and then joined the UW-Madison Chemistry PhD program in Fall 2018 as an analytical chemistry student. His overall goal in the Ge lab is to develop novel techniques to enable high sensitivity top-down proteomics. Currently, his project aims to develop a method that allows for integrated functional assessments and top-down proteomics of induced pluripotent stem cell derived engineered cardiac tissues.

Faculty Trainer: Ying Ge, PhD, Cell & Regenerative Biology & Chemistry

Research Statement: Nhu received her B.S. in Biochemistry from California State University, Fullerton. In Fall 2017, she joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chemistry PhD program and is currently studying bioanalytical chemistry. Her current graduate research focuses on development of mass spectrometry-based labeling techniques to improve neuropeptide quantification capabilities, as well as development of sample preparation techniques to increase the sensitivity of mass spectrometry imaging for neuropeptide analysis. These tools are used to probe changes in neuropeptide abundance and localization due to external stressors that impact cardiac function, such as hypoxia.

Faculty Trainer: Lingjun Li, PhD, Pharmacy & Chemistry

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: Jiyoung received her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2015. She began her early career as a postdoctoral fellow in the Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she focused on the mitochondrial function and brown adipose tissue metabolism. She then moved to Madison with family in 2017 and joined as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology. Her current research focuses on the metabolic signature that is enriched during mammalian heart regeneration. Her goal is to identify the role of mitochondrial metabolites and its mechanism in regulating adult cardiomyocyte proliferation and regeneration, which would be an important therapeutic target for adult heart disease.

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

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: Christina received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Medical Doctor degrees from the University of Kansas. She moved to Madison in 2018 to begin her Internal Medicine residency.  Her career goal is to become an academic Cardiologist. She is working with Dr. James Stein on two projects that use non-invasive imaging to identify and quantify subclinical arterial injury.  The first project uses novel grayscale ultrasound techniques to detect carotid and brachial artery changes in response to anti-retroviral therapies in young adults with untreated HIV infection.  These data have been collected and are being analyzed.  The second project uses these techniques, as well as ultrasound measures of carotid wall thickness, brachial artery reactivity, and cardiac stress testing to determine how the cardiovascular effects of vaping compared to cigarette smoking. Data collection is ongoing.

Faculty Trainer: Jim Stein, MD, Medicine (Cardiology)

Research Statement: I received my Ph.D. in Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in 2019 where I studied the role of cytochrome P450 enzymes in hyperoxia-induced lung injury. I joined the Bradfield Lab in January 2020 because of my interest in studying PAS proteins, specifically the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). My project will focus on understanding the role of AHR in hepatovascular development and endothelial cell biology.

Faculty Trainer: Christopher Bradfield, PhD, Oncology

Research Statement: Tim received his degree in Biology-Biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He then moved to Madison in 2017 to begin his residency in Internal Medicine where he developed a passion for Cardiology. He now works to investigate how cardioimmunotherapy may improve outcomes after an acute myocardial infarction from coronary artery disease. His goal is to investigate the unique properties of bioengineered decellularized human cardiac matrix with a focus on fibronectin, a subset of cardiac matrix monocytes, and their interaction.

Faculty Trainer: Amish Raval, MD, Cardiovascular Medicine