Current NIH Trainees
John Bauer, NIH Trainee 2023-2025
jmbauer@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Andrews
Research: Developing interspecies genetic circuits in diverse microbial consortia for remediating wastewater contaminants
Dylan Frank, NIH Trainee 2023-2025
dafrank@umass.edu
Graduate Program: MCB
Lab: Peter Chien
Research: How the Caulobacter crescentus protein LotP regulates Lon protease activity
Beatriz Martinez-Martin, NIH Trainee 2023-2025
bmartinezmar@umass.edu
Graduate Program: MCB
Lab: ChangHui Pak & Yubing Sun
Research: Molecular mechanisms engineered extracellular matrices impact cell fate in the development of cerebral brain organoids & neurodevelopment & engineer tools to help organoids develop at a more representative level.
Minelise Rivera De Jesus, NIH Trainee 2023-2025
mriveradejes@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Thayumanavan
Research: Development of polymeric delivery systems, drug delivery
William Witt, NIH Trainee 2023-2025
wwitt@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Timme-Laragy
Research: Redox development focusing on developing cellular models for PFAS- specific oxidative stress.
Adam Lynch, NIH Trainee 2024-2025
aclynch@cns.umass.edu
Graduate Program: BME
Lab: Leonid Pobezinsky
Research: Researching T cell fate decisions and the mechanisms behind them.
Chanelle Moise, NIH Trainee 2024-2025
camoise@umass.edu
Graduate Program: BME
Lab: Cathal Kearney
Research: Investigating the role of circadian rhythms and chronotherapy in skin wound healing by evaluating immune differences in order to develop a nanoparticle delivery system to aid in faster healing wounds.
Divya Dubey, NIH Trainee 2024-2025
divyadubey@mcb.umass.edu
Graduate Program: VASCI
Lab: Alissa Rothchild
Research: Understanding the role of Type I IFN in alveolar macrophages’ defense against mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Sarah Mirza, NIH Trainee 2024-2025
smirza@umass.edu
Graduate Program: VASCI
Lab: Jesse Mager
Research: Investigating spatial patterns of differentially expressed genes in early mouse development.
Thomas Laskarzewski, NIH Trainee 2024-2025
tlaskarzewsk@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Biology
Lab: Thomas Maresca
Research: Emergent properties of intrinsically disordered proteins allow for a top down approach to kinetochore structure.
Current UMass Fellows
Alexandra Weinhofer, UMass Fellow 2023-2025
aweinhofer@umass.edu
Graduate Program: PSE
Lab: Santore
Research: Bacterial capture on polymeric substrates under flow conditions specifically to decouple the physico-chemical and mechanical interaction
Oguz Can Koc, UMass Fellow 2023-2025
okoc@umass.edu
Graduate Program: MCB
Lab: Fissore/Stratton
Research: Investigating the function and calcium frequency-dependency of CaMKII in mouse eggs and early embryos.
Gabrielle Villafana, UMass Fellow 2023-2025
gvillafana@umass.edu
Graduate Program: MCB
Lab: Jennifer Rauch
Research: Developing inhibitors for LRP1 to reduce the spread of tau in in vivo disease models.
Lucca Mancilio, UMass Fellow 2023-2025
lmancilio@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Micro
Lab: Butler
Research: Investigating biofilm systems applied to coupled water remediation and resource recovery.
Augustine Sobo, UMass Fellow 2024-2025
asobo@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Micro
Lab: Alicia Timme-Laragy
Research: Evaluating the effects of developmental Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid exposure on pancreatic islet vascularization in zebrafish (Danio rerio).
Matt Hinderhofer, UMass Fellow 2024-2025
mhinderhofer@umass.edu
Graduate Program: BMB
Lab: ChangHui Pak
Research: Investigating the role of alternative splicing in neurodevelopmental disorders through an iPSC-derived brain organoid model.
Melanie Wu, UMass Fellow 2024-2025
siyuanwu@mcb.umass.edu
Graduate Program: BMB
Lab: Li-Jun Ma
Research: Investigation of antifungal drug mechanism and host-fungal interaction for human pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum
Muhammad Rahat, UMass Fellow 2024-2025
mrahat@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Jeanne Hardy
Research: Dual Action Small Molecules Targeting Chikungunya Virus Protease: Inhibition
and Degradation
Aniruddha Pinjari, UMass Fellow 2024-2025
apinjari@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Ashish Kulkarni
Research: Engineering Adjuvants for Nanoparticle-based Therapeutic mRNA Vaccines