Current Members

Samira Kiani, M.D. (PI)
EMAIL: SKiani@pitt.edu

Samira Kiani received her medical doctorate degree (M.D.) from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Prior to joining University of Pittsburgh, she completed her postdoctoral training in the center for Synthetic Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked on developing synthetic gene circuits to reprogram the function and behavior of mammalian cells based on the Clustered Regularly Interspaced short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 technology. Cas9 protein is a DNA cleaving enzyme that can be targeted to any DNA sequence by means of a small guide RNA (gRNA) and can be adapted both for gene editing and gene regulation.

Wioletta Musekamp (Assistant to PI) 
EMAIL: wmusekamp@pitt.edu

Wioletta Musekamp received her diploma in business administration (M.A. equivalent) from European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. She also holds a master’s degree in European Studies. Prior to moving to the United States, she worked as Department Coordinator at the Center for Key Competences and Research-oriented Learning at European University Viadrina. Wioletta has lived and worked in Poland, Germany, Missouri, and Texas. She enjoys traveling, reading, and good movies.

Farzaneh Moghadam
EMAIL: fam52@pitt.edu

Farzaneh is a graduate student pursuing her Ph.D. in Biological Design. She graduated from the University of Tehran with a B.S. degree in biology. Farzaneh began her studies at Oklahoma State University where she focused on protein structure-function relationships using molecular science to explain biological functions. Here at Pitt, she works on the applications of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology in genome engineering. Her research is focused on genetic circuit design, cloning and generation of enhanced CRISPR based gene therapy candidates. Besides research, her passion is science communications focusing on girls’ interests in STEM and women empowerment through accessing higher education at worldwide view.​

Jeremy Velazquez
EMAIL: jev50@pitt.edu

Jeremy is a graduate student in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, pursuing his Ph.D. studies in our lab. He graduated from MIT in 2012 with a B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering.  He worked as a technical assistant for two and a half years in Professor Linda Griffith’s lab, where he worked on multiple projects including  human physiome-on-a-chip, biomaterial development for improvement of liver cell culture, and an NSF- funded project for the study of emergent behavior of integrated cellular systems. Here at Pitt, he works on designing and integrating synthetic genetic circuits into stem cells to control their fate and function.  Specifically, he is interested in investigating ways to use modular, extrinsically and intrinsically responsive genetic switches to develop self-vascularizing liver organoids. He enjoys playing volleyball, video editing, hiking, gaming, and singing alone in the TC room (poorly).​

Elizabeth Delgado
EMAIL: ead98@pitt.edu

Liz is studying safety mechanisms for genome engineering. Originally from Texas, Liz spends much of her free time hiking, biking, and walking with her pup, Max. When she's not recklessly winging it through online recipes, she is reading papers to inspire more ideas for regulation of CRISPR-Cas9 through guide RNA engineering. In the future, she hopes to continue exploring cell biology in order to develop bioengineering solutions to pressing humanitarian concerns. 

Tahere Mokhtari
​EMAIL: tam190@pitt.edu

Tahere is Health Sciences Research Fellow in Pittsburgh Liver Research Center at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She graduated from Sharif University of Technology in 2015 with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. After entering the graduate program at UIUC, she worked on several projects including CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome engineering in Streptomyces and developing a platform for phosphonate overproduction and graduated  in 2019 with an MS. degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her research interest lies primarily in the fields of Systems and Synthetic Biology and Regenerative Medicine to develop new methods to improve CRISPR/Cas9 technology for gene therapy. She is currently developing and testing  an immunomodulator CRISPR/Cas9 based vector for more efficient dystrophin gene editing to better treat DMD disease. Outside of the lab, she enjoys watching horror movies, shopping, and traveling with friends. 

Caleb Casolaro
EMAIL: tcc30@pitt.edu

​Caleb joined the lab after graduating from Vanderbilt University in May 2019 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. While in undergrad, he spent a lot of his time running for Vanderbilt's cross country team, but he also found time to model gene regulatory networks with Dr. John Wikswo. His research interests include the application and refinement of organs-on-chips, testing and improving the safety of CRISPR-based therapies, and the utilization of novel delivery mechanisms for genome editors. Outside of the lab, he enjoys exploring Pittsburgh by running through the neighborhoods, or simply trying new coffee shops.

​Victor Hernandez-Gordillo
EMAIL: vhernandez@pitt.edu

​Victor Hernandez-Gordillo is a Research Associate at Pittsburgh. He got a PhD in biology from Purdue University and Postdoctoral experience at MIT leading a project to design biomaterials for human-derived intestinal organoids and the design of a gut micro-physiological system. His experience in bacterial genetics, cancer cell biology, stem cell biology, pharmacology, chemical biology, biomaterial design, and 3D organoid culture has given him a unique interdisciplinary background to design complex tissue models. At Pittsburgh Dr. Hernandez-Gordillo will lead a project focused on investigating the safety of CRISPR-Cas technology in the context of a liver micro-physiological system.  

Saman Sarraf
EMAIL: sas563@pitt.edu

​Saman studied medicine at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. After working in the medical products industry for several years, mostly in business development and management functions, he restarted doing clinical research in 2014 and worked as a research assistant/coordinator for about 6 years at hospital centers in New York City mainly in the field of oncology. He then decided to move toward translational research inspired by his long-lived enthusiasm for the science and ingrained curiosity about mechanisms and disease biology.​ In the words of Richard Feynman, "there is a difference between the name of the thing and what goes on... [between] when we are teaching words, and when we are teaching science itself." Saman too hopes his new endeavor gives him the chance to not just recollect words and names but embark on the journey of finding out what goes on and why. In addition to being a researcher, Saman helps the PIs with the organization of labs and team work coordination.

Dashan Sun
EMAIL: dssun@pitt.edu

​Dash joined our lab as a graduate student majoring in Biomedical Engineering. In Arizona, Dash participated in the work on safety concerns of CRISPR gene therapy and got his applied project finished in our lab. Here at Pitt, he is providing modeling assistance to our circuits and trying to also help wet lab experiments. Dash is interested in exploring how math and computer techniques could help biological research.

Alumni:

David J Menn
EMAIL: dmenn@asu.edu

David is a Ph.D. student joint mentored by our lab and that of Xiao Wang at ASU.  He received a B.A. degree in Psychology and Philosophy in 2006 from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI.  He escaped the bitter cold of Michigan in 2009 and entered the graduate program at ASU in 2012.  During the course of his studies, David has worked on bacterial image processing, gene circuit construction, mathematical modeling, and wooing his wife.  Currently, he is studying the temporal properties of gene networks and the ways in which component dynamics affect circuit behaviors.  He likes dark beer, playing and designing board games, cute animals, and date night with his lady.

Jennifer Chapman, J.D.
EMAIL: jenniferchapman101@gmail.com

​Jennifer is an attorney with a certification in Genomics & Biotechnology Law from ASU's Center for Law, Science & Innovation.  She seeks to use her legal background to promote laws and policies favorable to the life sciences.  She is interested in the application of gene therapy to aging, the diseases of aging, and cancer.  Her current research focus includes applications of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology to genome engineering.  She also has a strong interest in stem cell technology, as well as tissue engineering for the development of replacement organs and tissues.

Michael Pineda
EMAIL:mpineda4@asu.edu

Michael is an undergraduate student at ASU and Barrett, The Honors College, studying Biology and Material Science and Engineering. Before joining our lab he performed research at the Broad Institute, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College and MIT. Michael is interested in clinical applications of CRISPR technology to treat genetic, viral, and bacterial diseases. In our lab, he contributes in the development of novel CRISPR-based genetic circuits and its application in vitro and in vivo.
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