Principal 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 Principal 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.

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.

Wesley Phelps

Wesley Phelps is a collaborating post-doc from the Computational and Systems Biology department at the University of Pittsburgh. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 2015 with his B.S. in forensic biology before completing his PhD in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of Pittsburgh, Biological Sciences department in 2023. His thesis research investigated how pluripotency induction is coordinated in hybrid organisms. As a post-doc, Wes works on liver organoid development from human induced pluripotent stem cells via optogenetic induction. In his free time, Wes is a long time gamer be it video, card, or board game. 

Sarah Akhlaghi

Sarah Akhlaghi has joined the team as a post-doctoral visiting scholar. She received her Pharm.D. from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU), Tehran, Iran, in 2019. With a strong interest in research, she pursued interdisciplinary research throughout her pharmacy education and after graduation. 

Her previous research projects focused on the development of nanoparticles to address complications in which impaired wound healing and uncontrolled immune responses are recognized as significant contributors to their pathogenesis. Driven by a strong enthusiasm for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, she joined the Ebrahimkhani Lab to expand her knowledge and expertise in this field. 

Her aspiration is to become a pharmacist-scientist capable of exploring innovative therapeutics, their cellular delivery mechanisms, and the translation of such discoveries from bench to bedside. In her free time, she enjoys hiking adventures and spending quality time with friends. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Chu Weng

Chu Weng is a third-year undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon studying Statistics and Machine Learning. He is excited about understanding and engineering complex cell systems, especially in support of therapeutic development, and would love to apply both an experimental and computational approach to these questions. Outside of the lab, he enjoys watching (American) football, learning to draw, and periodically testing his spice tolerance. 

Abigail Glezer

Abigail Glezer is an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, pursuing majors in Biology and Business with a minor in Chemistry. She has previous experience in developmental biology research at Memorial Sloan Kettering, where her interest in regenerative sciences first started. Currently, she is excited to explore advancing regenerative medicine through synthetic biology and the potential applications that can come from it. Outside of the lab, she promotes equal representation in STEM through Young Women in Bio, drinks tea, and attempts to unravel the functionality of her Olympus camera. 

Ziyu Yu

Ziyu Yu is a Tsinghua scholar, major in clinical medicine. She is interested in regenerative medicine and synthetic biology. She hopes to have a deeper understanding of human embryo development and explore the mechanism of early hematopoiesis formation. Her dream is to become a physician scientist in the future. Outside the lab, she loves going to the gym, swiming, and dogs. 

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.

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!