Check out some old group photos of the lab here!

 

Visiting Professor

  • Anita Driessen-Mol, Ph.D. – Eindhoven University of Technology

Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Tracy Blevins Postert, Ph.D. – John Thomas Financial Brokerage, Life Science Analyst
  • Jerome Saltarrelli, Ph.D. – Director, Histocompatibility and Immune Evaluation Laboratory, UTHealth
  • Paul Qu, Ph.D.
  • Xing Zhang, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Alicia Blancas, Ph.D.
  • Seokwon Pok, Ph.D.
  • Marci Kang, Ph.D. – Process Engineer, Intel
  • Varun Krishnamurthy, Ph.D. – Process Development Scientist, Lonza
  • Richard Han, Ph.D.
  • Ganesh Swaminathan – Investigator, Novartis
  • Nabi Kamyabi, Ph.D. – Field Application Scientist, 10X Genomics

Graduate Students and Dissertations

  • Vishal Gupta, Ph.D. (2007) – Mechanical modulation of glycosaminoglycan and proteoglycan production by valvular interstitial cells
    • Current Position: Program Management Group Lead, Lonza
  • Zannatul Ferdous, Ph.D. (2008) – Collagenous tissue engineered constructs to investigate the role of decorin on collagen fibrillogenesis and tissue mechanics
    • Current Position: Senior Scientific Writer, Houston Methodist
  • David Allison, Ph.D. (2008) – Characterization of hyaluronan in three-dimensional engineered tissues
    • Current Position: Partner, 5AM Ventures
  • Janet Barzilla, Ph.D. (2009) – Remodeling of the extracellular matrix components of the mitral valve due to alterations in the mechanical and chemical environment of the tissue
    • Current Position: Senior Research Engineer, Leidos
  • Vittal Srinivas, Ph.D. (2010) – Orthogonal approaches for studying glycosaminoglycan biopolymer
  • Elizabeth Stephens, M.D., Ph.D. (2010) – Composition, turnover, and mechanics of extracellular matrix in developing, aging, and pathological valves
    • Current Position: Congenital Cardiac Surgeon, Mayo Clinic Rochester
  • Nikhil Gheewala, Ph.D. (2011) – Mitral valve organ culture provides a novel experimental paradigm
    • Current Position: Director of Product Development, Cytex Therapeutics, Inc.
  • Christopher Durst, Ph.D. (2011) – Novel dynamic bioreactor and PEGDA hydrogel scaffolds for investigation and engineering of aortic valve tissues
    • Current Position: Vice President of Product Development, Procyrion
  • Brandi Scully, M.S., M.D. (2011) – In vivo and in vitro remodeling of a small intestinal submucosa extracellular matrix cardiac patch in an ovine model and splashing bioreactor
    • Current Position: Cardiac Surgery Fellow, Johns Hopkins
  • Hubert Tseng, Ph.D. (2013) – The characterization of the microstructure of the aortic valve for tissue engineering applications
    • Current Position: Senior Scientist, Poseida Therapeutics
  • Dena Wiltz, Ph.D. (2013) – A multifaceted approach to enhance the current understanding and treatment of calcific aortic valve disease
    • Current Position: Associate Program Manager, Medtronic
  • Liezl Balaoing, Ph.D. (2014) – Evaluation of valvular endothelial cell hemostatic behavior in native valves and novel co-culture models
    • Current Position: Digital Marketing Manager, Accenture
  • Patrick Connell, Ph.D. (2015) – Investigating mitral valve disease progression using a flow loop bioreactor
    • Current Position: Pediatric Cardiology Fellow, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital
  • Monica Fahrenholtz, Ph.D. (2015) – Investigation of Cell Sources and Surface Modification Strategies for Hybrid and Tissue Engineered Heart Valves
    • Current Position: Grants Administrator, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital
  • Alex Arevalos, Ph.D. (2015) – Elucidation of the unique translation of angiogenic signaling by aortic valve cells
    • Current Position: CEO, Starling Medical
  • Daniel Puperi, Ph.D. (2016) – Biomimetic heterogeneous scaffolds for a layered tissue engineered heart valve
    • Current Position: Assistant Professor of Instruction, Department of Bioengineering, The University of Texas at Austin
  • Fergus Wong, Ph.D. (2016) –Modulating Glycosaminoglycan Fine Structure in Valvular Interstitial Cells 
    • Current Position: Scientific Developer, Emerald Cloud Lab
  • Matthew Sapp, Ph.D. (2016) – Culture Models for the Study of Hypoxia in Heart Valve Angiogenesis and Calcification
    • Current Position: Product Engineer, Alcon
  • Reid Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. (2018): Novel Biomaterial and Biomechanical Platforms for Studying Small Intestinal Biology
    • Current Position:  Intern, Providence Portland Medical Center
  • Dessy Vekilov, Ph.D. (2019): Resolving Spatial Heterogeneity of Elastic Properties in Veins and Mitral Valves
    • Current Position: Consultant, BCG
  • Shelby Bieritz, Ph.D. (2019):Resolving Flow Properties of Spiral Groove Bearings to Improve Mechanical Circulatory Support Hemocompatibility
  • Madeleine Roseen, Ph.D. (2020): Interfacial Hydrogel Coatings to Improve the Biocompatibility of Bioprosthetic Valves
    • Current Position:  Senior Research and Development Engineer, Medtronic
  • Madeline Monroe, Ph.D. (2020): Extracellular Dynamics in Valvular and Vascular Pathophysiology
    • Current Position: Life Sciences Consultant, Simon-Kucher & Partners
  • Shail Mehta, Ph.D. (2021): Fabricating Biomaterials with Tunable Mechanical Properties Mimicking those of Biological Tissue
    • Current Position: TA Instruments
  • Amadeus Zhu,  Ph.D. (2021)
    • Current Position: Alcon
  • Sarah Hewes, Ph.D. (2021)
    • Current Position: Boston Consulting Group
  • Chris Sylvester, Ph.D. (2021)
  • Katie Brown, Ph.D. (2022)

Visiting Students

  • Nicky de Jonge – Eindhoven University of Technology
  • Jeanine Buckens – Eindhoven University of Technology

Technical Staff

  • Sherket Peterson, B.S. – Postdoctoral fellow, Johns Hopkins University
  • Thanh (Trevor) Huynh, M.S. – Ph.D. student, University of Minnosota (BME)
  • Jack Blazejewski, B.S. – Mechanical engineer, Fluor
  • Ayo Jejelowo, M.S.

MBE Students

  • Shannon Burke
  • Ikechukwu Ifedili
  • Bin Xu
  • Priyanka Raja
  • Jose Alfredo Flores Zahar Flores
  • Alysha Robicheaux
  • Kristi Lim
  • Ryan Le
  • Joshua Mrozack
  • Andrew Geiszler
  • Vaishnavi Ramesh
  • Yao Ning
  • Swetha Sridhar
  • Jair Gonzalez
  • George Ezeokeke
  • Esteban Ortiz
  • Devon Suske

Undergraduate Students (students who’ve worked in the summer or >2 academic semesters)

  •  Marty Bost
  • Alina Raza
  • Sherket Peterson
  • Josh Carroll
  • Elaine Lee
  • Jennifer Werdenberg
  • Priyanka Sen
  • Annie Bailey
  • Natalia Vasco
  • Kai Chu
  • Mariko Wei
  • Ashley Smith
  • Alex Brewer
  • Martine Paulynice
  • Michelle Jen
  • Jonathan Frederick
  • Steve Xu
  • Nick Ripp
  • Luis Lazaro
  • Dash Patel
  • Jenni Cieluch
  • Ashley Cowan
  • Dagny Anderson
  • Michelle Jackson
  • Jennifer Shangkuan
  • Joe Mendez
  • Joyce Kuo
  • Jaime Wirth
  • Frances Acevedo
  • Meaghan McNeill
  • Alex Henderson
  • Brad Otto
  • Kristin Darwin
  • Ben Leung
  • Kelly Schwarz
  • Eileen Smith
  • Tyler Bensko
  • Eric Kim
  • Jay Shah
  • Pujan Desai
  • Amy Rupert
  • Eli Mondragon
  • Allison Post
  • Bagrat Grigoryan
  • Kendra Erskine
  • Peter Kamel
  • Amanda Walborn
  • Salma Ayoub
  • Erika Danckers
  • Rebecca Organ
  • Neerav Dixit
  • Aline Yonezawa
  • Fernando Ramirez
  • Omar Banda
  • Kyung Taek Robert Minn
  • Anam Azimuddin
  • Hannelle Fares
  • Huiwen (Wendy) Liu
  • Adrienne Lee
  • Ronan O’Connell
  • Jacqueline Nguyen
  • Francisca Acosta
  • Jonathan Berg
  • Andrew Stout
  • Gabrielle Fatora
  • Erica Kim
  • Suzanne Wen
  • Claudia Iriondo
  • Elizabeth Godfrey
  • Charles Wanna
  • Tony Zhuang
  • Zoe Punske
  • Tahir Malik
  • Nkechi Nwabueze
  • Justin Onwenu
  • Christine Diaz
  • Aparna Narendrula
  • Saheba Bhatnagar
  • Andy Zhang
  • Nik Liebster
  • Rebecca Nikonowicz
  • Alvin Sheng
  • Romi Lee

Honorary Alumni

  • Upma Sharma, Ph.D. (Mikos lab)
  • Kurt Kasper, Ph.D. (Mikos lab)
  • Jim Kretlow, Ph.D. (Mikos lab)
  • Kerem Kalpakci, Ph.D. (Athanasiou lab)
  • Dan Huey, Ph.D. (Athanasiou lab)
  • Lesley Russell O’Leary, Ph.D. (Hartgerink lab)
  • Brendan Watson, Ph.D. (Mikos lab)
  • Yan Wu, Ph.D. (West lab, Duke University)