Principle Investigator

Mo Ebrahimkhani, M.D.

Mo Ebrahimkhani is an Associate Professor with tenure at Dep. of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh. He is also a member of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Pittsburgh Liver Research Center and Pittsburgh Dep. of Bioengineering. Prior to his current position he was an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at ASU and adjunct faculty of medicine at Mayo Clinic. He performed his postdoctoral training at Dep. of Biological Engineering in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he participated in EBICS program(The Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems program). By training, Mo is a physician scientists (M.D. from Tehran University) but decided to fully dedicate his time to research. After medical school he was awarded a European Association for Study of Liver Sheila Sherlock fellowship based on his proposal to study tissue regenerative & repair processes at University College London. His lab combines human stem cells, synthetic biology and in vivo mouse models to understand tissue development and regeneration and develop technologies to modulate these processes in a personalized fashion. Mo is the recipient of several research awards including NIH RO1s, Mayo Clinic accelerated regenerative medicine award, the New Investigator Award from Arizona Biomedical Research Council, NSF Recode program award and Charles E Kaufman Foundation initiative award.

Assistant to Principle Investigator

Wioletta Musekamp

​​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.

Ryan LeGraw

​Ryan is a PhD student in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  After graduating from Northwestern University in 2014 with a BS in Chemical Engineering he worked as a research technician for two years in the laboratory of Dr. Hanno Hock in the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.  At MGH, he worked on projects investigating the role of ETV6 in hematopoiesis and specifically in vivo murine B cell development. At Pitt Ryan works on the development pluripotent stem cell-based liver organoid models using synthetic gene circuits and their application for ex vivo hematopoiesis.  He enjoys playing guitar, live music, podcasts, Boston sports, running, and hiking.​
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Mohammad Taheri

​Mohammad is a graduate student pursuing his PhD in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh with focus on Molecular, cellular and systems engineering. Previously, he worked on engineering the secretory system of E. coli using a synthetic molecular switch to create a new approach for high-yield recombinant protein production. In the course of his PhD, according to a biologically inspired engineering approach, he develops new technologies including smart living devices for control and programing of biological systems in vitro and in vivo.

Joshua Hislop

​Joshua Hislop is a graduate student pursuing his Ph.D in Bioengineering with a focus on Molecular, Cellular, and Systems Engineering. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2018 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He is working on projects investigating cell fate decisions as well as synthetic biology based tissue patterning during development. Joshua's goal is to integrate synthetic biology, neural development and network creation to eventually apply this approach towards the creation of biologically-based novel neural interface devices. Outside of lab, Josh enjoys playing board and card games, creating adventures for his Dungeons and Dragons group, camping, backpacking, and honing his skills as a third degree black belt in taekwondo.​

Kamyar Keshavarz

Kamyar joined the team as a graduate student in the Bioengineering graduate program. He graduated as a PharmD from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran in 2020 with the thesis research focus on studying ovarian cancer cells' resistance to cisplatin. He then studied a Master's degree in "Systems and Synthetic biology" at Paris-Saclay University in Orsay in July 2022, attempting to improve a method for transposition-dependent translational and transcriptional switch of the transgenes in his Master's research project. Outside of lab, Kamyar enjoys playing guitar, playing tennis and cooking.

Armin Aryannejad

Armin is a post-doc visiting scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his M.D. from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 2019. During medical school and after graduation, Armin followed medical research extensively. He was a research associate at the Experimental Medicine Research Center (TUMS) for five years, mainly working on interdisciplinary basic science research in tissue repair and wound healing. He is enthusiastic about regenerative medicine and tissue engineering research with a focus on cellular and molecular biology. So, he has joined Ebrahimkhani Lab to expand further his knowledge and experience in regenerative medicine and synthetic morphogenetics and pave his way to becoming a physician-scientist. Outside lab, he enjoys gym, hiking, being a home barista and bartender, and hanging out with friends.

Alex Hill

​Alex is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a BS in Bioengineering. He is interested in tissue engineering and synthetic biology, and the application of these fields towards developmental research and medicine. In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing board and card games, and playing casual sports with friends.

Elena Puccio

Elena is a first-year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh. She grew up in northern Virginia and graduated from Duke University in 2020 with her undergraduate B.S. in Chemistry. She worked as a research associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Boston for two years, concentrating on gene therapy delivery vectors. She is very excited to continue working towards improving and understanding health outcomes through innovative biological techniques. In her free time, Elena loves to travel, play music, make ceramics, and spend time with her kittens, Cat and Cow.

Yuda Xiang

 Yuda is at Tsinghua university majoring in medicine. He is now attending the exchange program at the University of Pittsburgh. He is interested in building gene circuits for advancing regenerative medicine, and the application of these fields to medicine. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking, reading, and tennis.

Rayna Schoenberger

​​Rayna is an undergraduate student pursuing a major in bioengineering and a minor in chemistry. She will be researching the integration of landing pad sites into induced pluripotent stem cell genomes to facilitate liver organoid experimentation. 
She is incredibly excited to explore synthetic biology and regenerative medicine and to contribute to the development of new therapeutic treatments and scientific tools. 
Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, hanging out with friends, dancing, and reading.

Andrew Wang

Andrew is an undergraduate student majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is interested in solving problems in systems and synthetic biology through both a computational and experimental lens, as well as exploring engineering applications in life sciences. Outside of research, his hobbies include ice skating, photography, and learning foreign languages.

Jennie Bostich

Jennie is an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in bioengineering and minoring in chemistry. She is interested in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and their applications to artificial organs and healthcare. Outside of research and academics, Jennie enjoys horseback riding, being with friends and family, playing piano, baking, and traveling.

Akash Gundagathi

Akash is an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Molecular Biology and minoring in Chemistry and Neuroscience. He is interested in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and its application to organ transplantation. Akash aspires to work in the field of medicine and to contribute to the development of regenerative surgery. In his free time, Akash enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Hero

Our Honorary member of the lab! Hero is interested in science from early on AND he is very energetic, hard working and always ready for fun activities. You can't make him tired!