Trainees

Research Statement: Kyle received a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He moved to Madison in 2015 enrolling in the Chemistry Ph.D. program where he has worked to develop methods to characterize cardiac membrane proteins using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. In particular, his project aims to develop assays for characterizing post-translational modification of cardiac ion channels and G-coupled protein receptors.

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

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

Research Statement: Despite being approximately 2% of our body weight, our brains require 20% of our total cardiac output. Maintaining adequate cerebral blood flow is crucial for optimal brain function and prevention of cognitive decline. Kathleen studies cerebrovascular function in healthy adults by quantifying cerebral blood flow responses to perturbations in chemical and metabolic stimuli using standard (ultrasound) and novel (4D Flow MRI) techniques. Her primary research focus is on age related changes in cerebrovascular function, and how such changes may be influenced by biological sex, hormone status, and lifestyle factors. She is also interested in the relationship between central hemodynamics (aortic blood pressure and central arterial stiffness) and cerebral hemodynamics. Her PhD studies will provide insight into cerebral blood flow regulation of the healthy aging brain.

Faculty Trainer: Jill Barnes, PhD, Kinesiology

Research Statement: Ryan received his bachelors degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2016. His research focuses on improving non-invasive intervention planning using a combination of PC-MRI, which measures blood flow, computational models and 3D printing. The goal of this work is to increase the efficacy of non-invasive cardiovascular interventions by understanding how the intervention alters blood flow and predicting intervention outcomes. Ryan is particularly interested in applying these techniques to pediatric diseases such as congenital heart defects.

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

Research Statement: Whitney received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in 2015. After graduating, she worked as a research technician at the University of Chicago through the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP), where she analyzed signaling pathways that influence gliogenesis. She is currently a 3^rd year graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Gail Robertson. She is interested in how EAG1 member of the KCNH family of voltage-gated potassium channels controls membrane excitability. In particular, her project aims to understand the mechanism of calmodulin inhibition of hEAG1 channels by disrupting residues that are predicted to be within the allosteric path that couple CaM binding to the pore.

Faculty Trainer: Gail Robertson, PhD, Neuroscience

Research Statement: I did my PhD studies in Mexico City at the Center for Research and of Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in the lab of Dr. Guillermo Ávila. During my PhD project we investigated the effects of aldosterone in the electrophysiology of adult rat atrial myocytes with special interest in L-type calcium channels. Then I joined Gail Robertson’s lab in October of 2015 at UW-Madison for a postdoctoral position in co-translational regulation of ion channels involved in the ventricular action potential. My current research can be divided in two major areas. First, I have been studying the ways that cardiomyocytes control and regulate the expression of ion channels to achieve their correct function. In this project we have explored the co-translational mechanisms by which a subset of ion channels can be affected when one of the components is disturbed. Second, I am characterizing and using a new cell line to study the interaction of hERG 1a and hERG 1b subunits of hERG potassium channels. This cell line will also provide a new tool to improve how drug screening is done and could be implemented in the Comprehensive in vitro Pro-arrhythmia Assay (CiPA) initiative.

Faculty Trainer: Gail Robertson, PhD, Neuroscience

Research Statement: Emily received her BS in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Central Arkansas in 2007, and her MS in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2010. Emily received her PhD from the University of Iowa in 2018, where she studied adipose biology, vascular biology, and fat metabolism at the capillary interface between blood and tissue.
Her current work involves studying the function of a protein tyrosine phosphatase, Ptpn18, as it relates to inflammation, diet-induced weight gain, and insulin resistance.

Faculty Trainer: Alan Attie, PhD, Biochemistry

Research Statement: David received his BS in mechanical engineering from Valparaiso University in 2015 and his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. His PhD research took place in the Department of Radiology at UW, where he analyzed fluid dynamics of the cardiovascular system through the synergistic use of phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). His current work involves using both MRI and CFD to analyze the relationship between atrial fibrillation and cardiac blood flow, study sex differences in ventricular blood flow, and improve cardiovascular phase contrast MRI quantitative and qualitative results through CFD-informed machine learning.

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

Faculty Trainer: Alexey Glukhov, PhD, Cardiovascular Medicine

Research Statement: Jenny received a B.S. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Zoology and Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr. Gail Robertson. Her project aims to identify mechanisms of co-translational association between two related subunits of the hERG voltage-gated potassium channel, which is responsible for the major repolarizing current in the cardiac action potential and implicated in some forms of long QT syndrome (LQTS) and sudden cardiac death. She is investigating both direct (mRNA-mRNA) and indirect (mRNA-protein) interactions between these transcripts using RNA binding assays, immunoprecipitation, and mass spectrometry.

Faculty Trainer: Gail Robertson, PhD, Neuroscience

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

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