Meyer Lab Members
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Jason Meyer
Principal Investigator
Jason is the PI of the lab, bringing more than 20 years of experience in the use of stem cells as tools for studies of neural development and disease modeling
Principal Investigator
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Cátia Gomes
Assistant Research Professor
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Cátia's research emphasizes the role of glial cells in neurodegeneration. She also contributes to the oversight of projects within the lab and serves as PI of some of her own projects.
Jaya Viswanathan
Assistant Research Professor
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Jaya serves as the Program Manager for the IU MPS-AD Center, where she oversees coordination of center activities and contributes to the development of MPS models for neuroinflammation.
Research Faculty
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Shruti Patil
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Shruti received her PhD from the University of North Texas, working in biomechanics of glaucoma. She is currently funded by a BrightFocus fellowship and exploring in vitro models of optic nerve biomechanics.
Shelby Hetzer
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Shelby received her PhD from the University of Cincinnati, working in the field of traumatic brain injury and optic nerve injury. She is working towards methods for RGC replacement and in vitro models of optic nerve damage.
Reham Afify
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Reham is working on projects focused on the role of microglia and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Alice Yoon Kyung Cho
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Alice is working towards the development and functional characterization of in vitro models of the optic nerve
Zuber Sayyad
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Zuber is exploring the role of dysfunctional metabolic processes in RGC neurodegeneration as well as how metabolic dysfunction in glia adversely impacts RGCs.
Soumita Goswami
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Soumita is exploring the role of dysfunctional glia, including microglia and astrocytes, in the disease pathology of Neurofibromatosis Type 1.
Postdoctoral Research Associates
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Aaron Baker
PhD Student
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Aaron is a PhD student in the Meyer Lab, focused on the study of genetic contributions to retinal ganglion cell degeneration in glaucoma.
Kiersten Peña
PhD Student
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Kiersten is a PhD student in the lab focused on the application of retinal organoids for the study of retinal development and disease states
Kevin Quist
PhD Student
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Kevin is a PhD student in the Meyer Lab, whose work will focus on the establishment and implementation of neuron/glia co-cultures for studies of neuroinflammation
Carson Prosser
PhD Student
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Carson is a PhD student in the Medical Neuroscience graduate program and is focused on the establishment of microphysiological system models for the study of neuron/glia interactions in Alzheimer's disease.
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Angela Haskell
PhD Student
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Angela is a PhD student in the Medical Neuroscience graduate program and is focused on the differentiation and analysis of stem cell-derived microglia and their role in Alzheimer's disease.
Graduate Students
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Maria Teresa Gomez
Research Specialist/Lab Manager
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Teresa's work focuses on the differentiation of microglia from human pluripotent stem cells and their use as in vitro models of neurodegenerative diseases.
George Chittum
Research Specialist/Lab Manager
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George contributes to a variety of projects throughout the lab, with his emphases upon gene editing of iPS cell lines and the reprogramming of new iPS cell lines.
Laurna Varghese
Technician
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Laurna received her master's degree from IUSM and is currently focused on using transcription factor-driven differentiation of neurons from iPSCs.
Sherry Scott
Technician
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Sherry helps to support ongoing projects focused on optic nerve regeneration by differentiating iPS cells into cell types needed for the construction of in vitro models of the optic nerve.