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I grew up in a very small town in Northern New York, on the St. Lawrence River. During my undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester, I became interested in immunology, leading me to pursue a PhD at Columbia University in 2020. Ultimately, I decided to pursue research in hematopoiesis with the goal of understanding how blood production is drastically altered with aging, leading to immune susceptibility in the elderly.
My research project aims to understand the role of epigenetic drift in the dysregulated blood production that accompanies hematopoietic stem cell aging. By understanding how the epigenome changes across the lifespan, we hope to investigate whether modification of the epigenome in aged hematopoietic stem cells may restore youthful blood production.
Emmanuelle Passegué
My name is John Hobbs and I’m originally from Lonoke Arkansas. I grew to love research during my undergraduate honors project. Throughout the years, I learned that I enjoy utilizing state-of-the-art imaging techniques to understand cellular and molecular mechanisms of gene expression in relation to disease. I chose this career path because I enjoy learning about biological phenomena and dissecting the associated pathways.
As a PhD candidate, I am combining the live cell-single molecule imaging (Coleman laboratory) and hematopoietic stem cell biology expertise (Steidl laboratory) to elucidate how key hematopoietic transcription factors regulate blood cell development.
Dr. Robert Coleman and Dr. Ulrich Steidl
Ramnauth, A. D., Maynard, K. R., Kardian, A. S., Phan, B. N., Tippani, M., Rajpurohit, S., … & Martinowich, K. (2022). Induction of Bdnf from promoter I following electroconvulsive seizures contributes to structural plasticity in neurons of the piriform cortex. Brain Stimulation, 15(2), 427-433.
Maynard, K., Hobbs, J., Phan, B., Gupta, A., Rajpurohit, S., Williams, C., Rajpurohit, N., Shin, J., Jaffe, A., and Martinowich, K., (2018). “BDNF-TrkB signaling in oxytocin neurons contributes to maternal behavior.”
Maynard, K., Hobbs, J., Sukumar, M., Kardian, A., Jimenez, D., Schloesser, R., and Martinowich, K. (2018). “Electroconvulsive seizures influence dendritic spine morphology and BDNF expression in a neuroendocrine model of depression.” Brain Stimulation.
Maynard, K., Hobbs, J., Sukumar, M., Kardian, A., Jimenez, D., Schloesser, R., & Martinowich, K. (2017). “Bdnf mRNA splice variants differentially impact CA1 and CA3 dendrite complexity and spine morphology in the hippocampus.” Brain Structure Function.
I grew up in Long Island, and I am pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering. I was always interested in the “why” of how something worked, so research was a natural step for me.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by an increase of growth in epithelial cells due to nonmalignant proliferation. By combining synthetic biology approaches with computational modeling, I aim to uncover predictive explanations of BPH pathogenesis and progression.
Dr. Gábor Balázsi
I am originally from Queens, NY and I chose the path of becoming a researcher because I realized my passion for scientific exploration during my undergraduate studies at SUNY Geneseo. I enjoy making new discoveries and feel my skills and efforts would be best put forth into research to make a beneficial impact in other people’s lives.
I am currently working on a new project focused on investigating the mechanisms through which PI3 kinase inactivation leads to impaired hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) differentiation and myelodysplasia. To examine this, I am studying how PI3 kinase inactivation regulates RNA splicing in HSCs, as well as characterizing a new conditional knockout mouse model of PI3 kinase in HSCs.
Dr. Kira Gritsman
Ramnauth, A. D., Maynard, K. R., Kardian, A. S., Phan, B. N., Tippani, M., Rajpurohit, S., … & Martinowich, K. (2022). Induction of Bdnf from promoter I following electroconvulsive seizures contributes to structural plasticity in neurons of the piriform cortex. Brain Stimulation, 15(2), 427-433.
Gurska LM, Okabe R, Schurer A, Tong MM, Soto M, Choi D, Ames K, Glushakow-Smith S, Montoya A, Tein E, Miles LA, Cheng H, Hankey-Giblin P, Levine RL, Goel S, Halmos B, Gritsman K. Crizotinib Has Preclinical Efficacy in Philadelphia-Negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 Mar 1;29(5):943-956. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-1763. PMID: 36537918; PMCID: PMC9992133.
Maynard, K., Hobbs, J., Sukumar, M., Kardian, A., Jimenez, D., Schloesser, R., and Martinowich, K. (2018). “Electroconvulsive seizures influence dendritic spine morphology and BDNF expression in a neuroendocrine model of depression.” Brain Stimulation.
Maynard, K., Hobbs, J., Sukumar, M., Kardian, A., Jimenez, D., Schloesser, R., & Martinowich, K. (2017). “Bdnf mRNA splice variants differentially impact CA1 and CA3 dendrite complexity and spine morphology in the hippocampus.” Brain Structure Function.
Birnbaum R, Biswas J, Singer RH, Sharp DJ. (2023) mRNA localization and local translation of the microtubule severing enzyme, Fidgetin-Like 2, in polarization, migration and outgrowth. Preprint on BioRxiv.
Eisenberg S, Dey A, Birnbaum R, Sharp DJ. (2020) The kinesin-8 member of Kif19 alters microtubule dynamics, suppresses cell adhesion and promotes cancer cell invasion. Preprint in BioRxiv.
Dey A, Eisenberg S, Birnbaum R, Sharp DJ. (2022) 3D-on-2D: A Physiologically Relevant and Gel-Free In Vitro Coculture Method to Assay Antimetastatic Agents. Methods Mol Biol.
Zhao D, Mokhtari R, Pedrosa E, Birnbaum R, Zheng D, Lachman HM. (2017) Transcriptome analysis of microglia in a mouse model of Rett syndrome: differential expression of genes associated with microglia/macrophage activation and cellular stress. Mol Autism.
Opperman K, Mulcahy B, Giles AC, Risley MG, Birnbaum RL, Tulgren ED, Dawson-Scully K, Zhen M, Grill B. (2017) The HECT Family Ubiquitin Ligase EEL-1 Regulates Neuronal Function and Development. Cell Reports.
Crawley O, Giles AC, Desbois M, Kashyap S, Birnbaum R, Grill B. (2017) A MIG-15/JNK-1 MAP kinase cascade opposes RPM-1 signaling in synapse formation and learning. PLoS Genetics.
I am a physician-scientist in the final year of my nephrology fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where I divide my time between caring for patients with kidney disease and conducting lab-based research. I was drawn to this path because it allows me to make a difference for individual patients at the bedside, while also contributing to broader scientific progress in the lab.
Born and raised in New York City, I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, followed by medical school at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. I completed my residency training at Mount Sinai, where I am also currently pursuing a Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences.
My research focuses on the connection between albuminuria and cardiac disease in patients with glomerular disorders. Currently, I am investigating the potential role of kidney-derived exosomes in driving the development of heart failure using a novel mouse model of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.
He X, Rodriguez Ballestas E, Zeng L, Zhang T, McEvoy CM, Misra PS, Yang W, Ki V, Wong JS, Meliambro K, Ray J, de Cos M, Fang Y, Krizova A, How I, Rosales IA, Colvin RB, He C, Campbell KN, and Yuen DA. Podocyte YAP/TAZ hyperactivation is a driver of glomerular epithelial proliferative diseases in mice and humans. Sci. Transl. Med. May 2025.
de Cos M, Mosoyan G, Chauha K, Troost J, Wong JS, Lefferts S, Morgan P, Meliambro K, Egerman M, Ray J, Perlman A, Moledina D, Coca S, and Campbell KN. Urinary Plasminogen as a Marker of Disease Progression in Human Glomerular Disease. Am J Kidney Dis. 2024 Mar 5:s0272-6386(24)—630-9. PMID: 38452919.
Ray J, Smith S, Meliambro K, Salem F, and Campbell KN. IgA Nephropathy and Secondary FSGS in a Patient with High-Risk Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) Genotype. Kidney Int Rep. 7(11):2530-2533. 2022. PMID: 36531877.
Shaikh A, Ray J, and Campbell KN. The role of finerenone in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy: patient selection and clinical perspectives. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 18:753-760. 2022. PMID: 35937973.
Maldonado D, Ray J, Lin X, Salem F, Brown M and Bansal I. COVAN leading to ESKD despite minimal COVID symptoms. J Investig Med High Impact Case Rep. 2022. 10. PMID: 35466742.
Ray J, Srinath R, and Mechanick JI. The negative impact of routine, dietary pattern, and physical activity on obesity and dysglycemia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2022. 17(2):219-230. PMID: 36883128.
Basgen JM, Wong JS, Ray J, Nicholas SB, and Campbell KN. Podocyte foot process effacement precedes albuminuria and glomerular hypertrophy in CD2-associated protein deficient mice. Front Med. 2021. 8:745319. PMID: 34568396.
Luther JM, Ray J, Wei D, Goethe J, Hannah L, Manning R, Peng D, Nian H, Yu C, Mashayekhi M, Gamboa J and Brown NJ. GSK2256294 decreases soluble epoxide hydrolase activity in plasma, muscle and adipose and reduces F2-isoprostanes but does not alter insulin sensitivity in humans. Hypertension. 2021. 78(4):1092-1102. PMID: 34455816.
Ray J, Kumar S, Laor D, Shereen N, Nwamaghinna F, Thomson A, Perez J, Soni L and McFarlane SI. Effects of Stevia rebaudiana on glucose homeostasis, blood pressure and inflammation: a critical review of past and current research evidence. Int J Clin Res Trials. 2020. 5:142. PMID: 32149202.
Ray J, Mahmood A, Dogar M, Guo J, Nwamaghinna F, Salciccioli L, and McFarlane SI. Simultaneous cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity associated with 5-fluorouracil containing chemotherapy: a case report and literature review. Am J Med Case Rep. 2020. 8(3):73-75. PMID: 32149185
Meliambro K, Wong JS, Ray J, Calizo R, Towne S, Cole B, Gordon R, Kaufman L, He JC, Azeloglu E, and Campbell KN. The hippo pathway regulator KIBRA promotes podocyte injury by inhibiting YAP signaling and disrupting actin cytoskeleton dynamics. J Biol Chem. 2017. 292(51):21137-21148. PMID: 28982981.
Meliambro K, Wong JS, Ray J, Calizo R, Towne S, Cole B, Gordon R, Kaufman L, He JC, Azeloglu E, and Campbell KN. The hippo pathway regulator KIBRA promotes podocyte injury by inhibiting YAP signaling and disrupting actin cytoskeleton dynamics. J Biol Chem. 2017. 292(51):21137-21148. PMID: 28982981.
Wong JS, Meliambro K, Ray J, and Campbell KN. Hippo signaling in the kidney: the good and the bad. Am J Renal Physiol. 2016. 311(2):241-8. PMID: 27194720.
I am originally from China and earned my Medical Degree from Capital Medical University in 2016. I later completed my PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2024. My research interests were initially centered on cardiovascular diseases. However, during the journey of my PhD training, I became deeply fascinated by organ crosstalk and developed a strong interest in cardio-renal diseases. My career goal is to become a physician-scientist.
My research focuses on investigating EndMT in cardiorenal diseases, primarily using mouse and pig models. I aim to explore the therapeutic potential of targeting EndMT across various cardiorenal conditions.
Jason Kovacic, MD PhD
Xu Y, Korayem A, Cruz-Solbes AS, Chandel N, Sakata T, Mazurek R, Mavropoulos SA, Kariya T, Aikawa T, Yamada KP, D’Escamard V, V’Gangula B, Baker AH, Ma L, Björkegren JLM, Fuster V, Boehm M, Fish KM, Tadros R, Ishikawa K, Kovacic JC. Inhibition of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in a large animal preclinical arteriovenous fistula model leads to improved remodelling and reduced stenosis. Cardiovasc Res. 2024 Nov 25;120(14):1768-1779. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvae157. PMID: 39056563; PMCID: PMC11587554.
d’Escamard V, Kadian-Dodov D, Ma L, Lu S, King A, Xu Y, Peng S, V Gangula B, Zhou Y, Thomas A, Michelis KC, Bander E, Bouchareb R, Georges A, Nomura-Kitabayashi A, Wiener RJ, Costa KD, Chepurko E, Chepurko V, Fava M, Barwari T, Anyanwu A, Filsoufi F, Florman S, Bouatia-Naji N, Schmidt LE, Mayr M, Katz MG, Hao K, Weiser-Evans MCM, Björkegren JLM, Olin JW, Kovacic JC. Integrative gene regulatory network analysis discloses key driver genes of fibromuscular dysplasia. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2024 Sep;3(9):1098-1122. doi: 10.1038/s44161-024-00533-w. PMID: 39271816.
Hall IF, Kishta F, Xu Y, Baker AH, Kovacic JC. Endothelial to mesenchymal transition: at the axis of cardiovascular health and disease. Cardiovasc Res. 2024 Mar 14;120(3):223-236. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvae021. PMID: 38385523; PMCID: PMC10939465.
Xu Y, Kovacic JC. Endothelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Health and Disease. Annu Rev Physiol. 2023 Feb 10;85:245-267. doi: 10.1146/annurev-physiol-032222-080806. PMID: 36266259.
Ma L, Bryce NS, Turner AW, Di Narzo AF, Rahman K, Xu Y, Ermel R, Sukhavasi K, d’Escamard V, Chandel N, V’Gangula B, Wolhuter K, Kadian-Dodov D, Franzen O, Ruusalepp A, Hao K, Miller CL, Björkegren JLM, Kovacic JC. The HDAC9-associated risk locus promotes coronary artery disease by governing TWIST1. PLoS Genet. 2022 Jun 17;18(6):e1010261. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010261. PMID: 35714152; PMCID: PMC9246173.
Lecce L*, Xu Y*, V’Gangula B, Chandel N, Pothula V, Caudrillier A, Santini MP, d’Escamard V, Ceholski DK, Gorski PA, Ma L, Koplev S, Bjørklund MM, Björkegren JL, Boehm M, Bentzon JF, Fuster V, Kim HW, Weintraub NL, Baker AH, Bernstein E, Kovacic JC. Histone deacetylase 9 promotes endothelial-mesenchymal transition and an unfavorable atherosclerotic plaque phenotype. J Clin Invest. 2021 Aug 2;131(15):e131178. doi: 10.1172/JCI131178. PMID: 34338228; PMCID: PMC8321575. *Equal contribution.
I grew up in Delhi, India where I completed my schooling and undergrad degree. During my high school I learned about Mendelian inheritance and transcription of genes or, in other words, regulation of gene expression which was quiet intriguing. During the academic training for master’s, I developed a deeper understanding of the basic concepts in the field of genetics, molecular and cellular biology. What interested me was the concept that virtually all cells contain the same genetic material but not all genes are expressed in a given cell type owing to their epigenetic regulation.
My research focused on the characterization of antisense ncRNAs present during vertebrate development. We took a computational biology approach and analyzed pre-existing RNA-seq, CAGE-seq and ChIP-seq datasets to categorize the antisense – protein-coding pairs. My postdoctoral work involves building up on my knowledge of genetics and chromatin biology and addressing key questions relating to three-dimensional organization of the genome in the context of development.
Prof. James Bieker
Pillay S, Takahashi H, Carninci P, Kanhere A. Antisense RNAs during early vertebrate development are divided in groups with distinct features. Genome Res. 2021; 31(6):995-1010. Cited 9 times.
Ramilowski JA, Yip CW, Agrawal S, et al. Functional annotation of human long noncoding RNAs via molecular phenotyping. Genome Res. 2020;30(7):1060-1072. Cited 104 times
Chen X*, Pillay S*, Lohmann F and Bieker J. Association of Ddx5/p68 protein with the upstream erythroid enhancer element (EHS1) of the Klf1 gene. bioRxiv 743435; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/743435. *co-first authors.
I grew up in the metro Detroit area and went to college and medical school in New York. I became interested in pediatric nephrology during medical school and developed a specific interest in the neonatal population during residency. I love that research allows me to try and improve the quality and standard of care that my patients receive.
My research involves using EMR data to look at the incidence of missed diagnoses of acute kidney injury in preterm infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, identify clinical or demographic characteristics that may put patients at risk of having a missed diagnoses of AKI, and evaluate how clinical decision making is affected by the diagnosis of AKI.
Pamela Good, MD and Sumit Mohan, MD MPH
I am a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Sandeep Mallipattu at Stonybrook University. I was born in Moscow, in the former USSR, and came to the United States when I was 8 years old – after that living mostly in NYC and the tri-state area. I love research precisely because the failure rate is astronomically high, so it’s a challenge to come up with new questions and approaches to seemingly intractable problems. I chose biomedical research in particular because it keeps me grounded to the core ambition of this pursuit, which is to devise novel ways of tackling human disease pathogenesis.
Our group is focused on identifying the core molecular aberrations in proliferative glomerular diseases such as rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) and cellular/collapsing subtypes of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Parietal epithelial cells that line Bowman’s capsule in the kidney glomerulus play a key part in disease pathogenesis and we are therefore committed to understanding their basal and disease-associated epigenomic and signaling cascades.
Dr. Sandeep Mallipattu
Cortes-Canteli M., Paul J., Norris E.H., Bronstein R., Ahn H.J., Zamolodchikov D., Bhuvanendran S., Fenz K.M., Strickland S. Fibrinogen and β-Amyloid association alters thrombosis and fibrinolysis: A possible contributing factor to Alzheimer’s disease. Neuron. 2010;66:695–709. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.05.014.
Gegenhuber B., Wu MV., Bronstein R., Tollkuhn, J. Gene regulation by gonadal hormone receptors underlies brain sex differences. Nature. 2022 Jun;606(7912):153-159.
Pace, J.*, Bronstein, R.*, Guo, Y., Yang, Y., Estrada, C., Gujarati, N., Salant, D., Haley, J., Bialkowska, A., Yang, V., He, J., and Mallipattu, S. Podocyte-specific KLF4 is required to maintain parietal epithelial cell quiescence in the kidney. Science Advances. 2021 10.1126/sciadv.abg6600 *These authors contributed equally.
Bronstein, R., Pace J, Gowthaman, Y., Salant, DJ., Mallipattu, SK. Podocyte-Parietal Epithelial Cell Interdependence in Glomerular Development and Disease. JASN. 2023 Feb 16. doi: 10.1681/ASN.0000000000000104. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36800545. 10.1126/sciadv.abg6600 *These authors contributed equally.
I am Persian but I lived in aa beautiful city in Italy called Siena. I gained two Master’s degrees in nanotechnology and biotechnology and then PhD in medical Biotechnology during which I worked on designing vaccines. At a very young age I became deeply interested in science by joining summer schools in biology. I have always been interested in understanding mechanisms of diseases and hopefully to find prevention and treatments to diseases with no cure. I moved to United States in 2020 during Covid lockdown and I was fortunate to meet my PI and joined kidney research at Stony Brook Medicine!
There are currently no therapies available to slow or reverse AKI, which may also lead to fibrosis. During AKI, metabolic pathways become defective which leads to accumulation of substrates in the cell. Defective BCAA catabolism may cause PT cells injury in two possible ways, loss of cell energy source and activation of m-TORC1 signaling through accumulation of leucine. I am working on a way to activate BCAA metabolism so PT cells may be rescued from injury, to determine potential beneficial effects in AKI and fibrosis.
Dr. Sian Piret
Piret SE, Khan S, Fairuz F, Gholami S, Davis M, Kim CK, Espinoza M, Foster D, Kellum JA, Ahmad S, Kalogeropoulos AP, Mallipattu SK. Endotoxemia Correlates with Kidney Function and Length of Stay in Critically Ill Patients. Blood Purif. 2024;53(1):30-39. doi: 10.1159/000534107. Epub 2023 Nov 2. PMID: 37918364 10.1126/sciadv.abg6600 *These authors contributed equally.
Moscardini IF, Santoro F, Carraro M, Gerlini A, Fiorino F, Germoni C, Gholami S, Pettini E, Medaglini D, Iannelli F, Pozzi G. Immune Memory After Respiratory Infection With Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Revealed by in vitro Stimulation of Murine Splenocytes With Inactivated Pneumococcal Whole Cells: Evidence of Early Recall Responses by Transcriptomic Analysis. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022 Jun 20;12:869763. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.869763. PMID: 35795182; PMCID: PMC9251119
Gholami S, Goodarzvand Chegini K, Gheibi N, Mokhtarian K, Mohamadi M, Falak R. Cloning, expression, and spectral analysis of mouse betatrophin. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2017 Dec 18;31:102. doi: 10.14196/mjiri.31.102. PMID: 29951403; PMCID: PMC6014755.
Gholami S, Gheibi N, Falak R, Goodarzvand Chegini K. Cloning, Expression, Purification and CD Analysis of Recombinant Human Betatrophin. Rep Biochem Mol Biol. 2018 Apr;6(2):158-163. PMID: 29765998; PMCID: PMC5941129.. Reports of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Vol.6, No.2, Apr
Mokhtarian K, Akhlaghi L, Meamar AR, Razmjou E, Manouchehri Naeini K, Gholami S, Najafi Samei M, Falak R. Serodiagnosis of fasciolosis by fast protein liquid chromatography-fractionated excretory/secretory antigens. Parasitol Res. 2016 Aug;115(8):2957-65. doi: 10.1007/s00436-016- 5049-7. Epub 2016 Apr 30. PMID: 27130320.
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