Katja Weinacht, MD PhD

Principal Investigator

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M.D. Technical University Munich, Germany
Ph.D. Technical University Munich, Germany

Research Interest: Manipulating cellular metabolism for therapeutic purposes 
Tapping into the immunotherapy potential of the thymus

Favorite Scientist: Peter Medawar, for he was as brilliant a scientist as he was a writer. Maybe I should have taken his “Advice to a Young Scientist” more seriously in order to avoid becoming the “Memoir of a Thinking Radish”. Regardless, in the end “Pluto’s Republic” will rise so we can all engage in “The Art of the Soluble” or choose to chase “The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice”. (Some of my favorite reads)

Email: kgw1@stanford.edu

Wenqing Wang, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

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B.S. in Biology, Peking University, China
Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

Research interest: My research focuses on understanding how changes in cellular metabolism affect the fate of hematopoietic stem cells using the disease Reticular Dysgenesis (RD) as a model. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from patients with RD cannot differentiate in both myeloid and lymphoid lineages, causing a lack of innate and adaptive immune functions. We have developed a novel CRISPR model for RD and discovered unexpected biological stressors. hope our findings will further the understanding of stem cell metabolism and make stem cell transplant safer and more effective.

Favorite scientist: My favorite scientist is Dr. John Sulston (1942-2018), who spent nearly a decade characterizing the developmental trajectory every somatic cell in the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. This work, seemingly dreary and tedious to many, lead to many groundbreaking advances using the model species. This work won him Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2002. Dr. Sulston had always believed that science was collaborative, creative, and, in the end, required humility.

Email: wqwang@stanford.edu

Kelsea M. Hubka, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

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PhD, Bioengineering, Rice University
MBE, Bioengineering, Rice University
BSc, Mechanical Engineering, Loyola Marymount University

Research Interest: Biomaterials-based approaches to engineering transplantable, functional thymus tissue to treat immunodeficiency in patients with 22q11 Deletion Syndrome. My PhD research focused on generating 3D gradients of heparin binding growth factors in hydrogels to model normal and diseased tissue processes such as tissue and organ development and cancer migration and metastasis. 

Favorite Scientist: One of my favorite scientists is Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini. Her passion for research and perseverance through the most difficult events in life one could imagine led to the Nobel prize-winning discovery of nerve growth factor. She is an inspirational human and scientist.

Email: hubka@stanford.edu

Priscila Slepicka, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

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Postdoctoral Fellow, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
PhD, Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Campinas
BSc, Biological Sciences, University of Campinas

Research Interest: Investigating the molecular mechanisms of thymic epithelial cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This project currently uses healthy-derived iPSCs as well as iPSCs derived from patients with 22q11 Deletion Syndrome. During my PhD and previous research experiences, I characterized pathways and biological processes of targets in tissue development and cancer biology.

Favorite Scientist: Dr. Jane Goodall (1934- ). The growing disbelief in climate change has open my eyes for scientists researching species conservation. Dr. Jane Goodall has studied Chimpanzees behavior during her whole life. Her work has shown that Chimpanzees have complex social skills, and they can make and use tools. Her work in Tanzania has also educated a local community and changed misbelieves about Chimpanzees. The Jane Goodall Institute supports environmental education of local communities, research in species conservation and sustainability. Dr. Jane Goodall’s work is inspiring and gives me hope for a better world.

Email: pslepick@stanford.edu

Martin Arreola, BS

Life Science Research Professional

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Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology, CSU Fullerton

Research Interest: One of my research interests is in learning how changes in mitochondrial metabolism affect ageing in mammals.

Favorite Scientist: Clair Patterson was a geochemist most famous for successfully dating our planet at 4.5 billion years old. During his research, he also discovered that lead levels in the environment had increased way beyond what is healthy for humans and that we were the cause of the pollution. His lifelong struggle to bring a scientific truth to the public, against the opposition of major oil corporations, is the reason he is one of my favorite scientists.

Email: martin00@stanford.edu

Nira Weinacht, C.S.

Lab Manager

Massachusetts Institute of Agriculture

Research Interest: Dissecting the surface architecture of organic matter using a high-throughput approach.

Favorite Scientist: My PI (most of the time)

Dani Nguyen, BS

Life Science Research Professional

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Bachelor of Science in Cell and Molecular Biology, CSU Fullerton

Research Interest: Stem cell therapy is one of my research interests, and I am a part of the Thymus Engineering project. My research focuses on the in-vitro differentiation of human iPSCs into thymic epithelial cells that can support in vivo T cell maturation.

Favorite Scientist: Atul Gawande is an American surgeon, and he is also one of my favorite scientists/physicians/and writers. He wrote Being Mortal in 2014, and the book inspired me to look at medicine from a different point of view. My favorite line from the book was "We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time, lives on the line. There is science in what we do, yes, but also habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing. The gap between what we know and what we aim for persists. And this gap complicates everything we do." 

Email: hdnguyen@stanford.edu

Abdulvasey Mohammed, BS

Life Science Research Professional

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Bachelor of Science in Genetics and Genomics, UC Davis

Research Interest: I'm interested in identifying the mechanisms that drive cell heterogeneity during early embryonic development, specifically through a transciptomic and epigenetic lens.

Favorite Scientist: A large part of being a successful scientist stems from believing and investing in your own capabilities and ideas. I don't think any other individual encapsulates this ideal quite like Barry Marshall. As an internist, Dr. Marshall refused to support the widespread medical belief at the time that gastric ulcers were primarily caused by stress. By biopsying his own patients, he was able to identify the previously unknown bacteria H pylori at the source of the issue. Unable to replicate conditions in animal models, he decided to test his findings on himself by drinking H pylori enriched broth. Soon enough he began to develop symptoms of gastric ulcers before successfully curing himself with antibiotics. He was rightfully awarded a Nobel Prize in 2005 for his work in this field. 

Email: avymohd@stanford.edu