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: Madison received her Bachelors of Biomedical of Engineering from the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Her current graduate research at the University of Wisconsin in the Department of Biomedical engineering involves multi-scale computational modeling of mechano-energetic coupling in the right ventricle. Pulmonary hypertension causes pressure overload to the right ventricle, leading to right ventricular failure (RVF). RVF is a clinical syndrome characterized by reduced blood ejection from the right ventricle and elevated systemic venous pressure. A critical knowledge gap in this area of study is how changes at the organelle, cell, and tissue levels contribute to RVF at the organ and system levels. Specifically, our goal is to isolate and study fibrosis and metabolomics in diastolic and systolic dysfunction of the right ventricle using this multiscale in silico model of the cardiovascular system that is informed by in vitro and in vivo data.

Faculty Trainer: Naomi Chesler, PhD, Biomedical Engineering & Colleen Witzenburg, PhD, Biomedical Engineering

Research Statement:

Faculty Trainer: Junsu Kang, PhD, Cell & Regenerative Biology

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: 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: Erick did his PhD studies in Mexico City at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in the lab of Dr. Guillermo Ávila. During his PhD project, he investigated the effects of aldosterone in the electrophysiology of adult rat atrial myocytes with special interest in L-type Calcium channels. He joined the Robertson lab in October of 2015 at UW-Madison and has contributed to our understanding of cotranslational control of excitability in hte heart. In addition, along with Fang Liu, Erick has created a new stable cell line expressing hERG1a and hERG1b for advanced drug safety screening to mitigate the risk that new drugs in development will cause catastrophic arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Faculty Trainer: Gail Robertson, PhD, Neuroscience

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: Naga received his degree in Biology from University of Illinois at Chicago and his medical degree from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. 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 the different phenogroups of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. His goal is to understand the heterogeneity of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and to help uncover better treatment approaches to hopefully reduce the burden of this disease.

Faculty Trainer: Ravi Dhingra, MD, MPH, Cardiovascular Medicine

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