Daniel Hills (B.Sc.)

Lab Manager

Research Interests

Education

Bachelor of Science (BSc) Biology,  Emory University College of Arts and Sciences, 2016

Daniel graduated with a Bachelor’s in Biology from Emory University. He is specifically interested in translational biomedical research with a focus on immune based technologies and regenerative medicine. While at Emory as a SURE and IMSD scholar, he gained years of varied lab experiences. His past research experiences have included working with 3D bioprinting technologies, optical fibers and probes, data analysis, and assisting in design of and conducting experiments on mice models of sickle cell, chronic kidney disease, and hypoxic ischemia encephalopathy.

Daniel hopes to pursue a career in translational research that combines his previous experience in imaging, nanotechnology, and immunology into the fast-evolving field of regenerative medicine.

PhD Chemical Engineering, University College London, 2017

Ana Quiroga received her PhD (2017) in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. Her research project was focused on the development of a mathematical model based on the energy metabolism of mammalian cells producing monoclonal antibodies. The model was used to develop a computational platform for the optimization and acceleration of upstream process development, in specific for the development of low-cost and tailor-made supplemental media and optimized feeding strategies for fed-batch cultures.

During her MSc in Chemical Engineering and Double major BSc (Eng) in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Universidad de Chile, she optimized the production of enzymes for detergents, in E. coli, using Design-of-Experiments (DoE) and mathematical modelling, and discovered the advantage of mathematical models over DoE to optimize biological systems. Currently at BSEL, Ana works on the development of a computational application based on a dynamic mathematical modelling framework, using patient-, leukemia- and treatment-specific data to predict outcomes and optimize chemotherapy regimens for patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

The model consists of a pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) module and a population balance models (PBMs) module that describes the concertation and effect of different chemotherapy drugs in the bone marrow (BM) populations: both normal cell populations (stem cells, progenitors and precursors) and abnormal cell populations (leukemic sensitive blasts (LSB) and leukemic resistant blasts (LRB)). The precision therapy tool has the potential to personalize optimal standard and novel treatments for AML in real time.

Elana Cooper (MS)

PhD Candidate

Research Interests

Education

BSc Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2010

MS Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, 2012

Elana gained valuable experience in orthopedic tissue engineering and regenerative medicine throughout her 4 years of undergraduate research at the University of Pennsylvania. During her masters, at the City College of New York, she received a NSF Bridge to Doctorate Fellowship that afforded her clinical collaborations at the Hospital of Special Surgery and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. This work, researching biomechanical aspects of cartilage degradation and tissue repair strategies, garnered her growing interest in osteoarthritis (OA).

Following an internship at Corning Inc. in MSC growth surface development, Elana received a GEM PhD Fellowship as a Corporate Product and Process Development Fellow to engage in doctoral research with commercialization potential. While at Georgia Tech she has evaluated OA along cell-tissue, tissue-joint, and joint-whole body levels through ex-vivo microcomputed tomography (uCT) and in vivo 3D joint kinematics via biplanar x-ray radiography. She is now expanding into the molecular realm within the Biomedical Systems Engineering Lab (BSEL) to evaluate potential OA cellular therapeutics for her PhD.

Elana currently serves on the Early Stage Professionals Committee for the International Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) where she is gaining more exposure to research, regulatory, and commercial aspects of cell therapy development. At BSEL, she has sights on applying these principles to her translational research. Her PhD research explores iMSC-derived, 3D in vitro models of OA, identifying metabolic targets that attenuate local inflammation and enhance joint repair.

Paulino “PJ” Jarquin received his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Mississippi State University’s department in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in the spring of 2019. He first started his research career working for The United States Department of Agriculture – ARS (USDA- ARS) division developing an integrated network of sensors for sustainable and optimal crop growth. After this, he went on to interning for Alcon as a Manufacturing Science & Technology Engineer where he assisted in optimizing manufacturing for intraocular lenses. During his last two years in his undergraduate studies, PJ researched novel therapies for mitigating osteoarthritis under the guidance of Prof. Steve Elder. This research tenure led him to present his work at local and national conferences, winning two presentation awards for his research, and then being awarded Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for MSU’s College of Engineering in 2019.

In 2019, PJ moved to Atlanta, GA to start his PhD in Biomedical Engineering in a joint program between The Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. PJ was awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and is distinguished as an Emory University Centennial Scholar. As a BSEL lab member, he is studying novel ways to recapitulate the human bone marrow microenvironment to study erythropoiesis. He hopes these advances in erythropoiesis will allow for the development of a bioreactor to produce functional red blood cells

Alejandro received his degree of chemical engineer at the National Technological University (UTN), Buenos Aires, Argentina. During his final year of study and after obtaining his degree, he worked in process risk management consulting for oil, chemical, food and pharmaceutical companies. After being awarded with a Fulbright Scholarship, Alejandro continued his studies and obtained his Master in Biotechnology at Texas A&M. During his masters he worked on bioprocessing and downstream purification of proteins. His research on this field led him to an internship at Merck & Co. where he gained experience on monoclonal antibodies manufacturing.

After completing his masters, Alejandro came to Georgia Tech to pursue his PhD in Bioengineering. His research is focused on developing a 3D in vitro leukemia model, analyzing cancer metabolism to culture leukemic cells.