Post-Doctoral:
Joe Armstrong
Dr. Armstrong is a postdoc in Maitreya Dunham’s lab in the department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. His research focuses on using baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and modified continuous culture systems known as aging chemostats to evolve yeast cells to extend replicative lifespan. In the wild, there is little evolutionary pressure to…
Arjune Dhanekula
Dr. Dhanekula is a current cardiothoracic surgical resident at UW and a postdoc in Dr. Marcinek’s lab. He is studying aging in the aorta; specifically, he seeks to understand the interplay between mitochondrial dysfunction, senescence, and pathology in the aging aorta. He received his MD from Wayne State School of Medicine in Detroit, MI.
Shyleen Frost
Dr. Frost is currently as a postdoctoral fellow in the Kane lab. She is studying epigenetic patterns, including DNA methylation and histone modifications, and their relationship with frailty and sex differences in aging. This builds upon her thesis work completed in the Heinrich Lab at the University of California, Riverside, which was rooted in unraveling…
Arianna Gómez
Dr. Gómez is a postdoc in the Musculoskeletal Systems Biology Lab in the Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine where she is advised by Dr. Ronald Young Kwon. Dr. Gómez’s work integrates genetics, aging, and bone biology. She seeks to develop zebrafish as a discovery platform…
Matt Pomaville
Dr. Pomaville is a postdoc in Dr. Philip Abitua’s lab in the Department of Genome Sciences at UW. His research uses the extraordinarily short-lived African killifish to examine the mechanisms regulating the balance of apoptosis and senescence in aging animals. Matt is interested in using cell biology approaches and unique model organisms to explore multiple…
Liza Severs
Dr. Severs is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Aakanksha Singhvi, in the Basic Sciences Department at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. She is interested in studying how glia communicate with neurons to impact behavior, and how this changes with age. Specifically, Dr. Severs is examining how sense-organ glia in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans…
Katie Yanagi
Dr. Yanagi is a postdoctoral fellow in Nicolas Lehrbach’s lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Her research uses C. elegans genetics and reporter-based assays in combination with molecular biology and biochemistry to address how protein homeostasis is maintained as organisms age. Dr. Yanagi received her PhD in Neuroscience from Brown University.
Pre-Doctoral:
Kira Evitts
Ms. Evitts is a Bioengineering graduate student performing her Ph.D. thesis studies in the labs of Jessica Young and Ying Zheng. Her thesis project is focused on developing a stem cell based model of the human neurovascular unit (NVU) to study neurovascular interactions in the brain and investigate neurovascular dysfunction in age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Her…
Ellen Bakotich
Ellen Bakotich is a Neuroscience PhD candidate in the Buffalo Lab, studying the neurobiological mechanisms of cognitive aging. Her thesis work investigates how normative aging affects eye movement behaviors in aged non-human primates viewing natural images. Ellen’s research aims to understand how aging influences recognition memory and eye movement viewing behaviors. This work has important…
Cristina Gildee
Cristina Gildee is a PhD student in the department of Anthropology. She studies osteological health and aging in humans through her joint work with the Primate Evolutionary Biomechanics Lab (PEBL) and the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) Biodemography Lab. Her work investigates the influence of reproductive effort, physical activity, and immune function…
Luana Paleologu
Luana Paleologu is working in the Berg Lab on uncovering the signaling pathway of chitinase-like proteins, a class of proteins found to be upregulated in age-associated and inflammatory diseases. She works with fly eggs as a model system to test for genetic interactions and to image protein dynamics.
Emily Teets
Emily is a PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. Aakanksha Singhvi. Emily studies the effect of disease-relevant genes on glia-neuron interactions. They use C. elegans as a model organism to study the mechanism behind the glial engulfment of the thermosensory neuron, the AFD.
Sarah Tomlin
Sarah Tomlin is a graduate student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) Ph.D. program, conducting her thesis research in the Lehrbach Lab within the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutch. Her research utilizes genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology techniques in the model organism C. elegans to investigate the fundamental mechanisms by which cells regulate protein degradation.…
Reappointment Requirements
Appointments to the BMHA are one-year appointments and require progress documents and director approval for reappointment annually. Required documents: Updated IDP (may request template from administration). Statement of progress about your project with an emphasis on how it contributes to the biology of aging. Mentor Annual Evaluation (mentor writes a review about trainee progress over […]
