Bhalla Lab Members

Vivek Bhalla, MD

Principle Investigator

I direct a basic science research program on the role of the kidney in diseases such as diabetes and hypertension using in vivo and in vitro approaches. I collaborate with investigators at Stanford, and others nationally, and internationally. My current research programs include five components related to kidney physiology and pathophysiology. I study: (1) diabetic kidney disease, (2) mechanisms of hypertension in the setting of obesity an dinsulin resistance, (3) the regulation of potasssium transport in obesity and insulin resistance, (4) role of Clcnkb in ion transport, and (5) diuretic-induced tubular hyperplasia and hypertrophy. As a physician-scientist and a practicing nephrologist, I have complementary clinical and translational research interests related to mechanisms of kidney disease and hypertension. I also have leadership roles both at Stanford and nationally. I founded and direct the nationally-accredited Stanford Hypertension Center and direct the Renal physiology curriculum for the School of Medicine. Additionally, I am the Immediate Past Chair of the Kidney and Cardiovascular Disease Council of the American Heart Association.

Mentorship

I have mentored predoctoral (27), and postdoctoral (23) trainees, including a recent K08 awardee, and several have publications based on our work and five are now academic faculty. I participate as a mentor for basic science trainees at national meetings through Kidney STARS at Kidney Week and the APS-Renal Section of the Experimental Biology Annual Meeting and have advocated for funding for basic science nephrology trainees both in periodicals and on social media. I am also the PI of a newly-funded, pre-doctoral institutional training grant for Nephrology (R25). I received a Gottschalk award and know the value of funding of young investigators.

Yogita Sharma, MS, PhD

Dr. Sharma completed her Master’s in Human Genomics from Panjab University from Chandigarh, India in 2013. She then transitioned to graduate work in Biochemistry and Glycobiology at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH). Dr. Sharma trained under the supervision of Dr. Alka Rao within the Protein Science and Engineering Division. Yogita used several in silico and in vitro approaches to discover and characterize a novel, functionally important glycosyltransferase in prokaryotes. Her work has implications for several industries to engineer novel antimicrobial glycopeptides. As one example, she patented a glycanated antimicrobial peptide with activity against Listeria. She also performed a biophysical characterization of this enzyme and later studied the implication of glycosylation of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Currently, Dr. Sharma will utilize her training in genomics and glycobiology to characterize N-linked glycosylation and its implication for function of human CLC-Kb channels.

Ying Shi, MBBS, MMed, PhD

Dr. Shi completed her PhD in March 2019 under the supervision of Professor Carol Pollock in the department of Medicine, Northern Clinical School at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her PhD project investigates the role of RIPK3 in renal fibrosis by using diabetes and folic-acid induced nephropathy mouse models. She joined the Bhalla Laboratory in October 2019 as a postdoctoral scholar and is working on the role of insulin and SGLT2 in diabetic kidney disease.

Predoctoral Scholars

Alondra Valencia

Alondra is a second-year medical student at Stanford University and joined the lab in April 2021 for the NIDDK Medical Student Research Program. Alondra completed her MS in Biology with a specialization in Evolutionary Medicine at UCLA in 2020. Her research project seeks to apply CRISPR base editing techniques to understand the contribution of a G→A SNP of the 3’ UTR in Esm1 to mRNA stability and production. Alondra is interested in health equity, preventive medicine, and medical education. Outside of the lab, Alondra works as an internal director of Flu Crew and a coordinator for the Dermatology Clinic of the Cardinal Free Clinics to help advance care for underserved communities.

Demetri Maxim

Demetri is a junior at Stanford studying computational biology and joined the lab in September 2018 to complete an honors thesis project. Demetri’s research interests are focused on using the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system to better understand cyst formation in polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and how repairing the underlying disease mutations may aid in the development of future gene therapies.

Demetri has completed prior research training in nephrology at Tufts University, Harvard Medical School, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Jackson Laboratory where he has worked on projects related to diagnostics in kidney transplant rejection and bioengineering functional kidney tissue from stem cells. He has presented his work at several scientific conferences including the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week and the Biomedical Engineering Society's Annual Meeting, and published his work in several scientific journals including the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). He was also a finalist in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search, the nation's most prestigious pre-college science competition, and a Two-Time First Place Winner at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world's largest pre-college science competition. Demetri is also the founder of Nephrogen, an early-stage biotech company developing novel diagnostics for acute kidney injury (AKI) in cancer patients on chemotherapy.

Thalia Le

Thalia is a current sophomore, studying Chemistry and Biology at Emory University. She will join Dr. Bhalla’s lab in June 2020 through the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Summer Research Program. Her research project in the lab seeks to understand the mechanisms of SGLT2 regulation by the insulin receptor, which has potential implications for blood pressure regulation, diabetes, and other cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases.

Thalia’s previous research experience at Emory University involves the” Design and Synthesis of Novel RSV Fusion Protein Inhibitors” under the supervision of Dr.Dennis Liotta as well as "the rescue effects of the human EXOSC3 gene on genetically modified Drosophila flies with modeled Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia” under the supervision of Dr. Anita Corbett. Her work has been featured in several scientific journals including the ACS Infectious Diseases Journal. Thalia is the Director of the Programming Committee of the Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Program (KDSAP) chapter at Emory, a nationally-affiliated student-run organization that trains college volunteers to hold public screenings and raise awareness of kidney diseases.

Thalia is a nationally certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and also serves as a Captain for Emory Global Ambassadors and a Copy Editor for Emory Undergraduate Medical Review.

Luna Luo

Luna is a 3rd year studying Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, joining Dr. Bhalla’s lab in June 2021 through the Stanford Pre-Renal Initiative.

Luna also works at the Kuriyan lab at UC Berkeley under the mentorship of Dr. Kendra Marcus, studying the allostery and catalysis of the clamp loader protein, a multimeric AAA+ ATPase essential for DNA replication, featured in a publication in eLife. Last summer, she also worked at Abalone Bio, which uses a high throughput platform to discover functional antibody drug candidates, under the mentorship of Dr. Allison Cooke, studying the solubility of potential drug candidates.

Luna is the President of the Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Program (KDSAP) at UC Berkeley, which aims to raise awareness about and promote early detection of kidney disease through awareness events and free kidney health screenings, as well as support community organisations in combating racial inequities and structural barriers in health that result in high rates of kidney disease.

Kole Joachim

Kole is a recent graduate of Whittier College who majored in Chemistry, joining Dr. Bhalla's lab in June of 2020. Kole's previous research at Whittier College utilized computational models of diphenyl butadiynes and tetraphenylcyclopentadienone derivatives to elucidate photophysical properties under the supervision of Dr. Ralph Isovitsch and has since been published in the Journal of Luminescence. Kole's interest in kidney disease research began while working in Dr. Kenneth Hallow's lab at USC Keck School of Medicine researching mitochondrial morphology defects in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease models. Kole's research project evaluates the clinical outcomes of patients seen by the Stanford Hypertension Center, including analyzing trends in blood pressure, antihypertensive prescriptions, and clinical orders such as confirmatory tests for secondary causes of hypertension.

As an undergraduate, Kole served as Vice President of his student government, a residential advisor, and a participant in Global Medical Brigades where he traveled to Honduras with healthcare professionals to establish clinical care in rural communities.

Manav Shah

Manav is a recent graduate from Hofstra University, where he studied Biology and Biochemistry with an emphasis in pre-medical studies and research. He joined Dr. Bhalla’s lab in May 2020 and has been analyzing diabetic patient cohorts to present data for a project on the protective ability of a proteoglycan ESM-1 to attenuate diabetes-induced kidney disease. In the past, Manav has worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on a project investigating human mammary epithelial cell immortalization and cancer stem cell development involved in early breast cancer progression under the supervision of Dr. Tara Fresques, Dr. Martha Stampfer, and Dr. James Garbe. He has also conducted research at his university in the division of Neurobiology and Behavior on a project to determine the neural biomarkers linked to brood parasitism behavioral patterns under Dr. Kathleen Lynch. During his undergraduate years at Hofstra, Manav served as the President of the Biology Club and the Vice President of Finance for Phi Delta Epsilon International Medical Fraternity.

Research Assistants

Holly Deremo, MPH

Research Assistant

Holly completed her MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, in Population Health Science and Environmental Epidemiology in 2022. She also holds her B.A. in Environmental Biology from the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, where as a Graham Scholar she worked under the supervision of Dr. Mike Shriberg at the UM Sustainability Institute.

She joined the Bhalla laboratory in October 2017, and her research interests include investigating the connection between autonomic disorders and tubulopathies, inherited chloride channel diseases, and the implications of infectious diseases on autonomic dysfunction. Holly is an active member of Research to the People, a biomedical research initiative based in San Francisco focused on patient co-led research and open source genomic analysis tools.

Administration

Winnie Ellerman

Administrative Coordinator, Stanford Nephrology

Winnie Ellerman is an Administrative Coordinator for Stanford School of Medicine, Division of Nephrology. She received her BS in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz before serving in the US Peace Corps in Namibia, and later working in the field of Global Health at an Oakland-based nonprofit organization affiliated with the United Nations. She is currently studying law at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in the evening program.

At Stanford, Winnie works with the Bhalla Laboratory on administrative needs, and enjoys supporting the research of Dr. Bhalla's team. Along with supporting Dr. Bhalla, Winnie coordinates administrative needs of faculty in the division. She can be reached at wellerman@stanford.edu.

ALUMNI

Postdoctoral

Jon Nizar, MD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2013 - 2018

Jon Nizar joined Bhalla Lab during his clinical Nephrology fellowship in 2012 and worked in the lab as a postdoctoral fellow, clinical instructor, and instructor until 2019, when he left to start his own lab at the University of Iowa. During that time he had two children, moved four times, had many grant rejections, a few grant awards, published several papers, had many late nights in the lab, and grew enormously. He helped develop the Bhalla Lab animal phenotype and electrolyte clearance protocols and studied glucose and electrolyte transport regulation by tubule insulin receptor in high fat-fed mice.

He currently works on brain and diet regulation of electrolyte transport.

Elisabeth Walczak, PhD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2014 - 2015

Dr. Walczak completed a PhD in adrenal biology in Dr. Gary Hammer’s laboratory, University of Michigan. She published her graduate work in Molecular Endocrinology and Nature Reviews Endocrinology on the role of Wnt signaling in adrenal progenitor cells, and she had expertise in cellular and molecular biology related to adrenal progenitor cells. Dr. Walczak worked on renal tubular modeling and the role of IGF-1. She co-authored one publication in the laboratory, and received a fundable score on an F32 (21). Dr. Walczak was recruited as a Field Application Scientist for Cellular Research in August 2015 and is currently a senior scientist at BD Biosciences. Dr. Bhalla and Dr. Walczak continue to work together on single cell RNAseq and have a manuscript in preparation.

Jyothi Jayaram, PhD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2008-2010.

Dr. Jayaram joined the Bhalla lab as a postdoctoral scientist to study Diabetic Kidney disease (DKD). She used a small molecule drug against aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 to modulate the enzyme activity in mice to prevent disease progression. The study showed that the small molecule drug had little to no effect on disease progression. She gained significant experience in understanding and studying DKD under Dr. Bhalla's guidance. Dr. Jayaram continues to work as an Assay Development and Product Transfer Scientist in various areas of research such as epigenetics, microbial pathogen detection and cancer therapy.

Sindhu Chandran, MBBS

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2008 - 2010

Dr. Chandran received training in molecular biology and biochemistry under the direct supervision of Dr. Bhalla. Specifically, she characterized the role of 14-3-3 proteins in ENaC-mediated sodium transport in the distal nephron. She has co-authored two manuscripts with Dr. Bhalla, including a first-author paper, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Predoctoral

Hazen Stribling

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2019 - 2020

Hazen Stribling joined the Bhalla Laboratory during his Junior and Senior years of high school, and was there to assist in Lab Manager Yanli Qiao’s research on CLCnKB’s role in ion transport. Hazen is a National Merit scholar and will attend UC Berkeley as an undergraduate student, and hopes to major in cellular biology.

Arvind Muruganantham

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2017 - 2019

Arvind Muruganantham is an undergraduate student majoring in Biology & Biochemistry at Baylor University. He worked in the Bhalla Lab from 2017-2019, investigating the transcriptional regulation of Endothelial Cell-Specific Molecule 1 (Esm-1). Arvind has won several awards and scholarships for his work, including prizes at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF). After his undergraduate training, Arvind hopes to pursue an MD/PhD through the NIH-funded MSTP program and become a physician-scientist.

Ragwa Elsayed, MSc

Year in Bhalla Lab: 2018

Ragwa is an Automation Engineer at Twist Bioscience. She is a San Jose State University Alumni after earning a Master degree in Biomedical Engineering. She is originally from Egypt where she earned her B.A. Degree of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Cairo University. She joined Dr Bhalla's Lab as a research associate intern, She gained knowledge of immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry assays, and quantitative morphometry techniques to study hyperplasia and hypertrophy in the nephron. Her previous research was to examine the effects of drinking water contaminant levels to dialysis patients in a developing country and to improve kidney treatment delivery. She worked through her Master’s project to conduct a new technique to measure creatinine levels in the blood via a mobile app for early detection of kidney failure disease. Her ambitious goal is to pursue a graduate degree in Machine learning and use it to help early diagnose Kidney diseases.

Vianna Vo

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2016 - 2018

Vianna Vo (she/her) worked in the Bhalla Lab originally as a SIMR intern in the summer of 2016, and went on to join the lab for her freshmen and sophomore years. She is currently majoring in Human Biology and double minoring in Human Rights and Sociology. Following Stanford, Vianna hopes to pursue law and advocacy, specializing in mental health and disability advocacy.

Justin Charles

Year in Bhalla Lab: 2012

Dr. Charles is currently a PGY-1 in the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program. His clinical interests are in Lifestyle Medicine, the use of evidence-based lifestyle interventions, such as Plant-Based Nutrition, physical activity, stress management, positive psychology, sleep hygiene, and substance cessation to not only prevent, but treat and reverse chronic disease from a root cause perspective. Dr. Charles aims to use his training to offer Lifestyle Medicine to patients, create educational content on Lifestyle Medicine and Clinical Nutrition for Undergraduate/Graduate Medical Education as well as for patients in clinic and the greater New Haven community.

Donald Goens, MD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2011 - 2013

Dr. Goens received an American Heart Association summer internship, completed his honors thesis as a Stanford undergraduate, and joined the lab in 2011 as a mentee of Dr. Bhalla. Dr. Goens co-authored a manuscript and is now an internal medicine resident at the University of Chicago.

Elizabeth Wendel, MD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2010 - 2011

Elizabeth Wendel graduated with Honors in Biology from Stanford University (Class of 2011) and then attended Harvard Medical School (Class of 2015). She is currently a Urologic Surgery Chief Resident at Emory University and will be completing her residency later this month. Her research interests include healthcare disparities, prostate cancer, and global health. She recently served on a Pediatric Urology and Reconstrutive Surgery medical mission trip to the Benjamin Bloom Children’s Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador and looks forward to going back. In her free time, she enjoys running, singing, playing the cello, volunteering with the homeless in downtown Atlanta, and spending time with her husband and dogs.

Xiaoyu Xia, PhD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2008 - 2009

Dr. Xia worked as a research assistant and also received training in mouse models of diabetes mellitus and regulation of ion transport in the kidney. She learned molecular biology and tissue culture techniques, and co-authored one manuscript with Dr. Bhalla. She received her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of California Los Angeles in 2015 and is now a Precision Medicine Project Manager at City of Hope.

Marjolein Wijngaarden, MD. PhD

Years in Bhalla Lab: 2005 - 2006

Marjolein Wijngaarden, a dutch medical student at the time, worked under the direct supervision of Dr. Bhalla during her research internship at UCSF in 2005-2006. Dr. Bhalla trained her in molecular biology and biochemistry. As a result of her supervised rotation, Marjolein has presented work at international meetings and co-authored two manuscripts with Dr. Bhalla. She is still very grateful for all the experiences she had and the opportunities that were given to her. After this internship, she completed her MD at Leiden University followed by a PhD programme at the department of endocrinology. In 2019 she finished her internal medicine residency and specialised in geriatric medicine. She is currently working in the (outpatient) clinic at the Leiden University Medical Center.