Kristin Eckel-Mahan, Ph.D. (Principal Investigator)
A usually compliant lark.... and no i was not sleeping during seminar. MEQ score: 71, depending on the season.
Kristin received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle, where she studied the role of circadian MAPK signaling in hippocampal learning and memory in the lab of Daniel Storm. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of California, Irvine, in the laboratory of Paolo Sassone-Corsi, where she studied the relationship between nutrient metabolism and the hepatic circadian clock. She joined the Center for Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases at the Institute of Molecular Medicine as an Assistant Professor in May 2015.
Rafael Bravo Santos, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Fellow)
A moderate morning, MEQ score of 59-60. Spoken like a true circadian biologist: “although, sometimes I have obtained 58 points”.
Rafael received his Ph.D. in 2016 from the University of Extremadura (Badajoz, Spain). During his Ph.D. he studied the effects of diet on circadian physiology and serum metabolites in rodent models. In addition, he carried out several studies related to human chrononutrition and metabolism. He joined the Eckel-Mahan lab in September of 2019 and is working on projects related to the role of the circadian clock in adipocyte progenitor cells and adipose tissue development, and hepatic circadian metabolism.
Baharan Fekry, Ph.D. (Research Assistant Professor)
Someone has to set the standard- normal but not average.
Baharan acquired her PhD from the University of Mysore, India, where she studied circulating antigen H11 as a cancer diagnostic. She completed a first postdoctoral fellowship at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute, where she studied mechanisms underlying folate stress-induced apoptosis. She joined the Eckel-Mahan lab in January of 2016. Baharan’s major focus involves elucidating circadian strategies to prevent or slow the growth of specific liver cancers.
Rachel Van Drunen, Neuroscience Ph.D. Student
Moderation always good. Moderate (evening) MEQ score, 36.
Rachel attended Trinity University as an undergraduate where she received her B.S in neuroscience. As an undergraduate researcher, she focused on designing multi-interpenetrating networks (mIPNs) as a 3D model to study the role of astrocytes in neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disease pathology. Currently, she is a fourth year graduate student in the lab, studying the role of circadian rhythms in the neuronal regulation of feeding and metabolism.
Graduated Lab Members:
Dr. Aleix Ribas-Latre, Postdoctoral Scholar
Christopher Kwok, Research Technician
Tiffany Do, Pre-baccalaureate Trainee
Dr. Yomna Mohamed, Visiting Scientist
Jamie Tran, Neurobiology Masters Student
Samay Shivshankar, Research Technician
Anna Hsu, Baccalaureate Trainee