Lab Members

Prinicpal Investigator

Education: 

• PhD in Molecular and Developmental Biology,  University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Research Foundation.
• Postdoctoral training: Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Insititute.
• Undergraduate Degree: B.A. in Biotechnology and Biochemistry, Minnesota State University 

I am a developmental biologist by training. Having been exposed to developmental biology starting with the sophomore year as an undergraduate, through working with Dr. Ellen Brisch (MSUM), and then working with two extraordinary developmental biologists Dr. Chris Wylie and Dr. Janet Heasman (CCHMC) for my PhD thesis, I was inspired to embark on a career as a developmental biologist my self. The very first time I saw a sea urchin egg divide and develop into an embryo under a light microscope, I knew this is what I will be studying for the rest of my life – the amazing process of how a ball of cells self organizes to become a fetus with structure, form, organs and a skeleton..., the program of embryonic development.

e-mail: Sumeda.Nandadasa@Umassmed.edu

Phone: (508) 856-3962

Karyn is the Nandadasa lab manager. She joined our group after completing her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Biology from Clark University, Worcester, MA and with decades of experience working as a veterinary technician. Karyn oversees a number of very exciting projects including synthesis of mRNA in  development of Lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs) to treat cystic kidney disease and the lab's entire transgenic mouse colony.

e-mail: Karyn.Robert1@Umassmed.edu

Phone: (508) 856-1620

Manu obtained his degree from the University of Liverpool in Biological and Medical science with a focus in molecular biology and genetics. He went on to complete his PhD at Oxford Brookes University where he studied flagellar substructures and flagellum assembly mechanisms in the single celled protist Trypanosoma brucei. He subsequently became interested in mammalian cilia and mechanisms of ciliopathy diseases which is the focus of his work in our lab.

Manu is also a lifelong pianist and enjoys playing soccer, cycling and hiking in his spare time.

e-mail: Manu.Ahmed@Umassmed.edu

Phone: (508) 856-1620

Sydney is a Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences graduate student pursuing a Neuroscience Ph. D. She received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. Sydney studies metalloprotease regulation of the extracellular matrix components in the perineuronal net and neuronal plasticity in addition to protein trafficking during primary cilia formation. 

Sydney enjoys traveling, camping, and sketching in her spare time.

e-mail: Sydney.Fischer@Umassmed.edu

Phone: (508) 856-1620