Rizwan Ahmed was born in “Rauni” (a small village located near Kannauj city) and grew up in Unnao city in India. He earned his Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from Tezpur Central University, India. He then went on to do doctoral degree in Biotechnology at the CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, India, where his research mainly focused in investigating the role of immune cells in disease pathologies. He then moved to Johns Hopkins University, U.S.A for his postdoctoral studies, where he made a paradigm shifting discovery of a previously unknown new lymphocyte (DE cells) that has been shown as key mediators in activating the self-reactive immune cells in autoimmune diseases, specifically, in Type 1 diabetes. Moving forward, he joined Dr. Utz research team as a “Senior Scientist” and interested in understanding the underlying mechanisms responsible for autoimmune pathologies and focusing on designing and developing novel “off-the-self” recombinant immunotherapeutic that can be used in clinical studies to cure the diseases. In spare time, he likes reading, listening to music and channeling his imagination through graphic illustration and architectural design. He loves spending time with family and friends.

Tyler grew up in rural Northen California and earned his bacghelor's degree in Bioengineering at UC San Diego. After returning from a study abroad program in Brazil, he started working in a viral immunology lab studying dengue virus. He then complete his MD and PhD training at Stanford University School of Medicine studying cancer immunology. He is currently a research track resident at Stanford in the Psychiatry program. His interests involve investigating the serum antibody milieu in patients affected by various illnesses with post-infectious/infection-related compoents including PANS, schizophrenia and post-acute dequelae of COVID. 

Muge was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, where she earned her MD degree. Since 2023, she has been working as a postdoctoral scholar in the lab, focusing on investigating antibody responses in infectious and autoimmune diseases. Muge aspires to pursue her medical training in the U.S. and aims to become a clinical investigator and educator. A fun fact about her is that she had five cats while living in Turkey. She also used to compete in ping pong and handball and enjoysplaying any team sport.

Katherine grew up in rural New York State and earned her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at Cornell University. She then moved to Nashville, Tennessee and completed her MD and PhD training at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She is now a resident physician in the Stanford Pediatric Residency Research Track Program. Her current research in the Utz lab focuses on characterizing the serum antibody responses in pediatric patients exposed to viral infections including COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). When not in lab or caring for patients, Katherine enjoys spending time outside in the beautiful Bay Area with her husband and young son.

Alysa grew up in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, California, and earned her Bachelor's of Science at UCLA for Human Biology and Society. She joined the lab as a Life Science Research Professional to gain a better understanding of the complexities of autoimmunity and develop her technical research skills. In the future, she hopes to continue her education and pursue an MD. 

Woo Joo Kwon was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Vancouver, Canada. She received her BS in Biology and her MSc in Bioengineering at Stanford University. She joined the lab as a Life Science Research Professional to investigate autoimmunity and its role in neuropsychiatric illnesse

Marlayna was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended college in Ohio where she graduated from the College of Wooster and received a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. There, she completed a thesis focusing on creating a Boolean model of crosstalk between senescence and epithelial to mesenchymal transition. She was given the opportunity to present this research over the summer at the NetBioMed 2021 Conference. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games with friends, watching movies, and doing puzzles.

Rong Mao received her B.A. magna cum laude in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Prior to joining the Utz lab, she worked as a grants manager/strategist at UCSF and more recently a scientific writer and program manager at Stanford. She is currently working at a local biotechnology startup company.

Kirthi was born and raised in San Jose, California and attended college at the University of Chicago where she studied Economics, Math, and Biology. She is currently working as a Clinical Research Coordinator in support of Team Science’s biobanking efforts. In her spare time, she enjoys running, baking, and reading.

Sharon is a seasoned Administrative Associate in the Division of Rheumatology. She helps PJ extricate himself from all of the many administrative fiascos he creates. She can be reached at (650) 723-7038, by Fax at (650) 723-7509, and by email at sdickow@stanford.edu.   

Jeff is our webmaster. He's a freelance programmer and web site developor with skills in C++, PHP, Perl, MySQL, HTML and other programming languages. When not updating this site, he teaches science and robotics in New York City. He coaches  robotics and chess and teaches programming using Minecraft. Besides playing chess in the park, he enjoys biking and reading fiction, biography and about science and nature.

Michael grew up in Saratoga, California before leaving to pursue a bachelor's in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He joined the lab as an undergraduate student to learn about immunology and refine his applied wet laboratory skills. In his free time, Michael competes for the Emory Men's Golf team and enjoys drumming. He hopes to continue his education in pursuit of an M.D. 

Carlo grew up in Menlo Park, California, and left for DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, to pursue a B.S. in biology. He joined the lab as an intern to develop his lab experience and apply his biology coursework. In his free time, Carlo plays piano, produces music, and rides his bike. He plans to pursue further research experience and a masters in biology.

Ananya grew up in Southeast Asia before moving to the Bay Area where she is pursuing a bachelor's in Molecular Cell Biology with an emphasis in Immunology and Molecular Medicine and Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the lab as a SIMR student to learn about immunology and refine her applied wet laboratory skills, before continuing as a Jessica Saal fellow and NIH trainee. In her free time, Ananya trains for half-marathons, explores local beaches, and bakes chocolate lava cakes. She hopes to continue her education in pursuit of a medical degree.