Graduate Program: IBP
T32 Mentors: Kaylee Schwertfeger and Emilyn Alejandro
Email: akhap001@umn.edu

Graduate Program: BICB
T32 Mentors: Jesse Williams and Xavier Revelo
Email: chan2343@umn.edu

I am from Los Angeles, California and did my undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where I majored in molecular cell biology with a concentration in immunology. I was a lab manager for the Sutterwala & Cassel Lab at Cedars Sinai Medical Center for two years before coming to the University of Minnesota as part of the Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology (MICaB) PhD program. I joined Dr. Jesse Williams' lab under the Center for Immunology and IBP, where I study the proliferative capacity of resident and recruited macrophages during the progression of atherosclerotic plaque development. I utilize various techniques and tools such as confocal microscopy, 2-photon imaging and flow cytometry to tackle the question whether local sustained proliferation is enough for plaque expansion or continuous recruitment of monocytes into the vascular wall is required for disease progression. 

Graduate Program: BMBB
T32 Mentors: Doug Mashek and Julia Liu
Email: reidx217@umn.edu

Originally from the Twin Cities, I earned my bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from St. Olaf College before coming to the University of Minnesota for graduate school. I am now a PhD candidate in the Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics program and a member of the Mashek lab, where I study lipid droplet biology in the context of fatty liver disease. My research uses microscopy-based approaches to investigate how changes in lipid droplets influence nearby organelles, such as mitochondria and the ER. More specifically, I'm trying to better understand how the lipid droplet proteins PLIN2 and PLIN5 contribute to the progression of steatosis to steatohepatitis. 

Graduate Program: IBP
T32 Mentors: Tim O'Connell and Cathy Kotz
Email: weirx065@umn.edu

Graduate Program: IBP
T32 Mentors: Eric Batchelor and Laura Niedenhofer

Graduate Program: MICaB
T32 Mentors: Bryce Binstadt and Jesse Williams

I am a PhD candidate in the Microbiology, Immunology, Cancer Biology program in the lab of Dr. Bryce Binstadt. The Binstadt lab studies a phenomenon of autoimmune disease called autoimmune valvular carditis, an inflammatory condition affecting the heart valves. In patients with autoantibody-mediated autoimmune disease, valvular carditis predominantly occurs on the left side of the heart. Current theories suggest that the vulnerability of the left-sided heart valves is due to the higher pressures experienced on the left side of the heart. My research focuses on a specific protein (PIEZO1) that is known to respond to shear stress and pressure. I have generated mouse models lacking PIEZO1 in specific cell types to determine how the loss of this protein influences the development and severity of autoimmune valvular carditis.

Graduate Program: MCDB&G
T32 Mentors:  Emilyn Alejandro and Hai-Bin Ruan

I am Minnesota born and raised and a second generation gopher. My love for science started when I was a high school student, during which I was fortunate to participate in a science mentorship program under the guidance of Dr. Apostolos Georgopoulos. I began my undergraduate journey as a pharmacy student at Drake University but transferred to the University of Minnesota in search of more diverse research opportunities, graduating in 2018 with a BS in Biochemistry. Currently, I am a PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. Emilyn Alejandro, where I study the role of the nutrient-sensing enzyme O-GlcNAc transferase in the maintenance of pancreatic beta cell health, function, and
identity.

Graduate Program: BMBB
T32 Mentors: Peter Crawford and Hai-Bin Ruan

My name is Eric Queathem, I am a graduate student in the Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics program, and am a member of the Crawford research group in the Division of Molecular Medicine. My research interests are aimed at understanding the role of liver-adipose crosstalk within metabolic diseases (e.g., obesity, NAFLD). Currently, I am focused on deciphering the metabolic fate of liver-derived ketone bodies within adipose tissue, and the role of this axis within the regulation of body weight, adiposity, and whole-body lipid metabolism. I routinely combine genetically-modified mouse and cell culture models with sophisticated isotope tracing, metabolic flux modeling, metabolomics and lipidomics approaches to quantify the pool size and turnover of clinically important metabolites and lipids. I then leverage this knowledge, in combination with in vivo physiological assessments, to better define and characterize the metabolic origins of chronic human diseases.