Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Xufeng Wei, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Surgery

Research Interests:  

• LVAD and artificial lung implantation, and the biological responses to these devices
• Apoptosis and mechanotransduction in post myocardial infarction remodeling
• Left ventricular remodeling post myocardial infarction with LVAD unloading, including hemodynamics, protein signaling and EC coupling
• Stem Cell Therapy

Researchers and Staff

Eduardo Bento De Faria
Research Assistant

Research Interests: 

• Animal surgery and care

Raenadra Boyd
Research Assistant

Research Interests:  

• Animal surgery and care

James Cox
Research Assistant

Research Interests: 

• Molecular biology and gene expression
• Stem cell therapeutics
• Effects of macronutrient supplementation on the function of cardiac mitochondria pursuant to heart failure

Jun Ding
PhD graduate student

Research Interests: 

• design and develop double lumen cannula robotics

Saman Eghtesad
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research Interests: 

• Mesenchymal stem cell differentiation and survival for cardiac repair
• Immune effects of mesenchymal stem cells following engraftment in the heart
• Characterization of cardiac stem cells in small and large animal models

Narayana Garimella, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow

Research Interests: 

• Implement and Analyze "Materials Science Technology for Surface modification of Blood Contacting Interfaces of Medical Devices".
• Evaluate Biocompatibility of Devices: Oxygenation, Diffusion Characteristics and Blood-Compatibility.
• Identify and Investigate Material Issues and Parameters of Artificial Organs in order to modify or improve their performance.

Tieluo Li, MD
Research Specialist

Research Interests: 

• Molecular biology and gene expression
• Apoptosis and mechanotransduction in post myocardial infarction remodeling

Yang Liu, MD, PhD
Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Research Interests: 

• LVAD and artificial lung implantation and the biological responses to these devices

Nandan Kumar Mondal, PhD
Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Research Interests: 

• Cardiovascular disease & Heart Failure, Artificial organ, Left Ventricular assist device (LVAD), Blood Damage, Inflammation, Platelet activation, Hemostatic status, endothelial stem cells
• Microscopy, Molecular Biology, Cytology, Genetics, Immunology, Oxidative stress, DNA damage & repair study
• Indoor Air Pollution, Molecular Epidemiology, Lung Cancer and Public Health
• Drug Abuse and Adolescent Health

Abhinav Narain, MEng
Research Assistant

Research Interests:  

• Artificial Organs
• Biomechanics
• Design and development of medical devices

Shuqiong Niu, MD
Doctoral Research Fellow

Research Interests: 

• LVAD and artificial lung implantation and the biological responses to these devices
• Examining the effects of VAD and artificial lung implantation on thrombosis in a non-heart failure ovine model and human heart failure patients

Mark Pittenger, PhD
Research Specialist

Research Interests: 

• Development of cellular therapeutics
• Regenerative medicine technologies
• Studies of the characterization of stem and progenitor cells

Mara Repetto, DVM
Research Assistant, Research Project Coordinator

Research Interests:  

• Animal surgery and care

Pablo G. Sanchez, MD
Doctoral Research Fellow

Research Interests: 

• Lung Transplantation
• Organ Preservation
• Normothermic Perfusion

A. Claire Watkins, MD
Research Fellow

Research Interests:  

• Stem cell therapy for cardiovascular disease
• Artificial organs
• Heart/lung transplantation

Jiafeng Zhang, PhD
Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Research Interests:  

• Computational Fluid Dynamics, computational modeling of blood damage
• Discrete Element Method, FEM, granular flows