Mete Civelek, Principal Investigator

  • Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
  • M.S., Chemical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
  • B.S., Chemical Engineering and Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bogazici University

Mete Civelek joined the University of Virginia after a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular genetics in the laboratory of Jake Lusis at the University of California, Los Angeles. He studied the genetic regulation of gene expression in vascular cells and adipose tissue in human and mouse populations. He identified novel candidate genes that can play causal roles in the development of atherosclerosis, obesity and insulin resistance. He is currently an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and is also a resident faculty at the Center for Public Health Genomics. He is a member of the Robert M Berne Cardiovascular Research Center and has a secondary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. He is the chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is a member of the Program Committee of the American Heart Association Vascular Discovery Conference and chair of the Program Committee of the American Society of Human Genetics.

Nik Barbera

Nicolas Barbera, Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • M.S.E, Chemical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
  • B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

Nik Barbera completed his PhD in the laboratories of Drs. Belinda Akpa and Irena Levitan at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During his PhD studies, he studied interactions between lipids, sterols, and membrane proteins in a dynamic membrane environment using molecular dynamic simulations. His current work is focused on identifying causal genetic variants in loci associated with coronary artery disease susceptibility. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Cardiovascular Training Grant between 2020 and 2022. He is currently supported by an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Kelsey Watts

Kelsey Watts, Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Ph.D., Bioengineering, Clemson University
  • B.S., Biomedial Engineering, The Ohio State University

Kelsey Watts completed her PhD in the laboratory of William Richardson at Clemson University. During her PhD studies, she modeled sex differences in cardiac fibroblast morphology and signaling activities in vitro and in silico, including a sex-specific drug screen. She was also involved in significant research in STEM education. Her current work is focused on understanding sex differences in atherosclerosis. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Cardiovascular Training Grant.

Bilge Yaylak Gediksiz

Bilge Yaylak Gediksiz, Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Ph.D., Molecular Biology and Genetics, Izmir Institute of Technology
  • B.S., Molecular Biology and Genetics, Izmir Institute of Technology

Bilge Yaylak Gediksiz completed her PhD in the laboratory of Dr Bunyamin Akgul at Izmir Institute of Technology. During her Ph.D. studies, she characterized circular RNAs that modulate drug-triggered apoptosis in HeLa cells. Her current work is focused on understanding sex differences in type II diabetes (T2D).

Jordan Reed1

Jordan Reed, PhD Candidate

  • B.S., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania

Jordan Reed received a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and did undergraduate research in bacteriology, studying antibiotic resistance at the University of Rochester. Her current focus is understanding the flow of genetic information in adipose tissue gene expression networks using causal inference modeling. Jordan was a Predoctoral Fellow of the Cardiovascular Training Grant between 2018 and 2020.

Noah Perry1

Noah Perry, PhD Candidate

  • B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Noah Perry received a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and did undergraduate research in biomechanics and imaging, creating computational eye models to study the impact of glaucoma conditions on the biomechanics of the eye at Georgia Tech and Emory University. His current focus is understanding the flow of genetic information in vascular smooth muscle cell gene expression networks using causal inference modeling. He was a Predoctoral Fellow of the Cardiovascular Training Grant between 2020 and 2021. In 2022, he was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute as well as a Teaching Fellowship from UVA Engineering.

Yonathan Aberra

Yonathan Aberra, PhD Candidate

  • B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Yonathan Aberra received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. He studied systems neurobiology and microscopy, designing miniaturized fluorescence microscopy cameras to study regulatory circuitry in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in awake mice with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health. His current focus is identifying the causal genes in genomic regions associated with body fat distribution with a focus on the CPEB4 locus. He was a Fellow of The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program between 2019 and 2021. He is currently a Predoctoral Fellow of the Cardiovascular Training Grant.

Lexi Wallace

Lexi Wallace, PhD Candidate

  • B.S., Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University

Lexi Wallace received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Ohio State University and did undergraduate research in the engineering education department on surfacing deeply held beliefs about gender and race based minoritization in engineering and with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital focused on how demographic information affects Lupus severity. Her current focus is sex-biased eQTL loci in vascular smooth muscle cells as a way to understand the sex biased phenotypic switching of vascular smooth muscle cells in the development of atherosclerosis.

Ashlyn Cowan 3

Ashlyn Cowan, Lab Manager and AtheroGEN Network Coordinator

  • B.S., Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Ashlyn Cowan received a B.S. in Microbiology and minor in Spanish from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. While in school she worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant for biology introductory courses and as an undergraduate research assistant in the microbiology department focusing on microorganisms with novel properties to clean the environment, counter the damage done to ecosystems by humans, and improve environmental health. Since graduating she worked as a Lab Assistant at Syntezza Bioscience lab in Jerusalem, Israel.

Mitchell Thomas

Mitchell Thomas, Biomedical Engineering Fourth Year Undergraduate

2022 NIH Summer Diabetes Research Internship Program Participant

2023 DAAD RISE Exchange Program Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Lilly Lei

Lily Lei, Biology Third Year Undergraduate

2021 – 2023 Undergraduate Student Opportunities in Academic Research (USOAR) Program

Dhanush Banka

Dhanush Banka, Biomedical Engineering Third Year Undergraduate

2022 – 2023 Double Hoo Award

Nujha Bhuiyan

Nujha Bhuiyan, Computer Science Third Year Undergraduate

2022 – 2023 Undergraduate Student Opportunities in Academic Research (USOAR) Program

Graham Lenert

Graham Lenert, Biomedical Engineering Second Year Undergraduate

2023 Dean’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Visiting Students and Scholars

Foday Keita

Foday Keita

NIH Summer Research Internship Program Participant

Department of Biology

Howard University, Washington DC

May – August 2023

David Gragirenes

David A. Gragirenes Delgado

NIH Summer Research Internship Program Participant

Department of Biology

University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, PR

May – August 2022

Lela Ellerbe

Lela Ellerbe

NSF REU Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering Program Participant

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

May – August 2021

AlfredoLeBron

Alfredo LeBron

NIH Summer Research Internship Program Participant

Department of Natural Sciences

University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla, PR

May – August 2018

May – August 2019

CarolynGraham

Carolyn Graham

NIH Summer Diabetes Research Internship Program Participant

Department of Biomedical Engineering

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

May – August 2018

NickGarza

Nicholas Garza

NSF REU Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering Program Participant

Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

May – August 2018

AnthonyBoivin

Anthony Boivin

Department of Physiology and Integrative Biology

Université Pierre et Marie Curie- Sorbonne Universités

April – August 2018

SonavineChang

Sonavine Nget Chan

Department of Physiology and Integrative Biology

Université Pierre et Marie Curie- Sorbonne Universités

April – July 2018

Florent Bouchon

Florent Bouchon

M.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology

Agrocampus Ouest, Rennes, France

September 2017 – January 2018

Rebecca Habisch

Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

Biberach University of Applied Sciences, Biberach an der Riss, Germany

March – November 2017

Simon Perrin

Department of Physiology and Integrative Biology

Université Pierre et Marie Curie- Sorbonne Universités

March – June 2017

Shayna Holness

NSF REU Multi-Scale Systems Bioengineering Program Participant

Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics

Rider University,  Lawrenceville, NJ

May – August 2017

Cameron Raglin

NIH Summer Research Internship Program Participant

Departments of Chemistry and History

Amherst College, Amherst, MA

May – August 2017

Lab Alumni

Qianyi_Yang1

Qianyi Yang, Postdoctoral Fellow

2019-2022 Postdoctoral Fellow

Life after Lab: Senior Research Scientist, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

 

Rédouane Aherrahrou, Postdoctoral Fellow

2016-2022 Postdoctoral Fellow

2018-2020 Postdoctoral Fellow, American Heart Association

Life after Lab: Junior Group Leader, Institute for Cardiogenetics, University of Lübeck

 

Warren Anderson, Postdoctoral Fellow

2016-2018 Postdoctoral Fellow, Cardiovascular Training Grant

2018-2020 Postdoctoral Fellow, American Heart Association

2020-2021 Postdoctoral Fellow, Neuroendocrinology Training Grant

Life after Lab: Principal Scientist, Translational Bioinformatics Late Stage Immunology, Cardiovascular and Fibrosis, Bristol Myers Squibb

Jameson Hinkle, Lab Manager

2015-2020 Lab Manager

Life after Lab: Lab Manager, Dr. Heather Ferris Lab 

Zhiwen Xu

Zhiwen Xu, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Studio Art

2019-2023 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2020 – 2021 Harrison Undergraduate Research Award

2022 – 2023 Barry Goldwater Scholarship

Life after Lab: Emergency Medical Technician

DillonLue

Dillon Lue, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2019-2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2020 Harrison Undergraduate Research Award

Life After Lab: PhD Program in Computer Science, Princeton University

Diana Albarracin

Diana Albarracin, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2020-2022 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2021 Harrison Undergraduate Research Award

2022 UVA Engineering Outstanding Student

Life After Lab: Biomedical Engineer, Medtronic

Rita_Anane_Wae

Rita Anane-Wae, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2018-2021 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2021 UVA Engineering Outstanding Student

2019 Harrison Undergraduate Research Award

Life After Lab: Process Engineer, Merck Vaccine Division

Joon Yuh Sohl, Bioinformatician

2016-2018 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2018-2020 Bioinformatics Technician

Life after Lab: Master of Science in Data Science at the University of Virginia

Ngozi Akingbesote

Ngozi Akingbesote, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biology with Distinction

2017-2020 Undergraduate Student Opportunities in Academic Research (USOAR) Program

2018 Harrison Undergraduate Research Award

2019 Caltech Wave Fellow

2019-2020 Department of Biology Distinguished Majors Program

Life after Lab: Ph.D. Program in Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology at the Yale School of Medicine

Lisa Chen, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2015-2019 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2018 Harrison Undergraduate Research Award

2018-2019 Capstone Design Project

Life after Lab: Master of Engineering in BME at the University of Virginia

Jewel White

Jewel White, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biology

2017-2019 Undergraduate Research Assistant

Life after Lab: Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland

Aaron Aguhob, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2015-2018 Undergraduate Research Assistant

2017-2018 Capstone Design Project

Life after Lab: Bioinformatics Software Developer at Cyrus Biotechnology

Ryan Cheng, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2015-2017 Undergraduate Research Assistant

Life after Lab: Senior Data Scientist 2nd Order Solutions

Nicholas Asby, Undergraduate Research Assistant

B.S. in Biomedical Engineering

2015-2017 Undergraduate Research Assistant

Life after Lab: Ph.D. Program in Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago