Jesús Bazán Villicaña, BS

Jesús Bazán Villicaña, BS

Schema Designer

Jesús is an MD/PhD student in the Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis program. He received degrees in Microbiology and Neuroscience from Indiana University in 2018. His current research in the lab of Scott Hultgren focuses on genetic mechanisms in uropathogenic E. coli that underlie urinary tract infections. He has experience designing graphical abstracts and scientific schema and would be happy to assist with all forms of scientific graphic design!

Areas of expertise: Genetics · Microbiology · Molecular Biology · Scientific Schema Design

Mandy Chan, BS

Mandy Chan, BS

Schema Designer, Advertising Coordinator-Schema

Mandy is currently a PhD student in the Immunology program. She received her BS in Chemistry with magna cum laude from Emory University in 2018. For her undergraduate honor thesis, she characterized Aβ peptide-DNA interaction in Dr. David Lynn’s lab. Her current research in Dr. Joel Schilling’s lab focuses on Kupffer cell metabolism and lysosomal function during non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. She is experienced in generating high quality scientific figures and illustrations for publications and presentations.

Areas of expertise: Biochemistry & Biophysics · Cell Biology · Microbiology · Immunology · Molecular Biology · Scientific Schema Design

Abhirami Kannan Iyer, PhD

Abhirami Kannan Iyer, PhD

Editor

Abhi is an Instructor in Dr. Celeste Karch’s laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry. During her PhD, Abhi elucidated the regulatory role of cytokine signaling pathways in the function of lipid antigen presenting molecule CD1d and restricted innate lymphocytes, Natural Killer T (NKT) cells. For her postdoctoral work, Abhi chose to work in neuroimmunology, whereby her initial work was focused at understanding mechanisms involved in CD4+ T cell-mediated motor neuron survival in peripheral nerve injury and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Thereafter, Abhi carried out preclinical testing of antisense oligonucleotides against α2-Na+/K+ ATPase, which is upregulated in astrocytes and contributes to non-cell autonomous neurodegeneration in ALS. Her current work aims to understand TREM2 signaling in neurodegenerative diseases in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-differentiated microglial cells. She has experience in different forms of scientific writing including grants, manuscripts, review articles and is an ad-hoc reviewer for multiple journals.

Areas of expertise: Immunology · Neuroscience

Abigail  “Abby”  Kimball, BA

Abigail “Abby” Kimball, BA

Associate Designer-in-Chief, Editor, Schema Designer

Abby is a graduate student in the Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis program. Her research in Dr. David Sibley’s lab focuses on the genetic and molecular characterization of the life cycle of the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium. She loves working with researchers to design graphical abstracts and scientific schema!

Areas of expertise: Computational Biology · Ecology & Evolution · Genetics · Immunology · Microbiology · Public Health · Scientific Schema Design

Tania  Lintz, BA

Tania Lintz, BA

Editor, Presentation Consultant

Tania is a PhD candidate in the Neurosciences program in the lab of Dr. Jose Moron-Concepcion studying sex differences in the role of AMPAR auxiliary protein CNIH3 in opioid-seeking. Tania is originally from Chile and fluent in Spanish. She has experience in editing manuscripts, grants, fellowship proposals, and presentations.

Areas of expertise: Neuroscience · Molecular Biology · Scientific Schema Design

Daniel  Mendez, BA

Daniel Mendez, BA

Editor

Daniel is a PhD student under the Molecular Genetics & Genomics program. He received his BA in Biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University, but his research interests later moved toward less-biased descriptions of cancer heterogeneity through employment of bioinformatics, single-cell, and multi-omics pipelines (e.g., proteogenomics, ssATAC-seq, etc.). He has experience reviewing and editing research articles, reviews, manuscripts, and abstracts, but he is always willing to help fellow scientists in communicating their work to the world at large!

Areas of expertise: Cancer Biology · Cell Biology · Genetics · Immunology

Rachel Mintz, BS

Rachel Mintz, BS

Editor

Rachel is an MD/PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering department. She received her BS in biomedical engineering from Columbia University. Her research interests include developing targeted drug delivery modalities, biomaterials, and nanotechnology to enhance cancer therapeutics. Rachel has experience writing and editing scientific manuscripts, review articles, conference abstracts/posters, and fellowship applications.

Areas of expertise: Biomedical Engineering · Cancer Biology · Nanomedicine · Bioethics

Ilana Olin, BA

Ilana Olin, BA

Editor, Data Analyst, Presenter-in-Chief

Ilana is an MD/PhD student in the Immunology program. Her current research interests include the gut microbiome and immunology. Ilana has experience editing manuscripts, grants, personal statements, and creative pieces. She is passionate about all forms of communication and enjoys working directly with people during presentation consultations.

Areas of expertise: Microbiology · Immunology

Sarah Beth Pye, BS

Sarah Beth Pye, BS

Editor

Sarah Beth is a graduate student in the Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis program. She is a member of Dr. Stephen Beverley’s lab, where she is interested in the life cycle, virulence, and mechanisms of disease of Leishmania parasites, focusing especially on Leishmania viruses. Her previous research has been in X-ray crystallography, where she has determined structures of lysine biosynthetic proteins in Gram-negative bacteria. Sarah Beth has experience editing for non-native English speakers and is happy to edit all types of writing.

Areas of expertise: Biochemistry & Biophysics · Microbiology · Molecular Biology · Parasitology

Irina  Shchukina, MS

Irina Shchukina, MS

Presentation Consultant

Irina is a graduate student in the Immunology program. She received her BS in Applied Math from St. Petersburg State University in 2015, followed by an MS in Computational Biology from St. Petersburg Academic University in 2017. Her current research in Dr. Maxim Artyomov's laboratory focuses on understanding age-related changes in the immune system. Specifically, she is working on elucidating the origin and function of an age-associated subset of CD8+ T cells. She loves shaping data into a communicable story and is eager to help prepare presentations.

Areas of expertise: Computational Biology · Immunology

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Rachana Vaidya, PhD

Rachana is a Postdoctoral Researcher working in a unique co-mentored position in the department of Physical Therapy with Dr. Jennifer Zellers and Orthopaedic Surgery with Dr. Simon Tang. She received her PhD from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where she used in-vitro model systems to study the effect of diabetes on bone fragility and increased fracture risk. Now, her research focuses on studying the impact of diabetes on tendons at the tendon rehab lab in physical therapy; and elucidating the signaling pathways in the bone to understand how diabetes affects bone remodeling using diabetic mice models at the Tang Lab. Rachana has experience editing conference abstracts, manuscripts, and generating scientific figures and illustrations for presentations and publications.

Areas of expertise: Biomedical Engineering · Cell Biology · Molecular Biology · Scientific Schema Design

Serena Xiong, PhD, MPH

Serena Xiong, PhD, MPH

Presentation Consultant

Serena is a postdoctoral research scholar studying cancer disparities and implementation science. Her research interests are in immigrant and minority health, health disparities/health equity, eHealth, and evaluation. As a community-engaged scholar, she is passionate about advancing the literature and practices in participatory research, including how to better design and communicate science more equitably.

Areas of expertise: Public Health