Boula Baskhairoun
Summer Intern
Narasimman Gurusamy M.Pharm, PhD
Assistant Professor of Research
I am evaluating the effect of epigenetic modifiers in controlling the inflammation of lung injury using human macrophages and human lung micro vascular endothelial cells. The specific roles of non-coding RNAs such as small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and micro RNAs (miRNAs) in regulating the inflammation are being evaluated.
Shivaani Kirankumar
I am Shivaani Kirankumar, an aspiring researcher from India. I have an undergraduate degree in Genetic Engineering. I worked under Dr. Rajasingh Johnson as an exchange student from December 2019 to July 2020 on reprogramming induced pluripotent stem cells into osteocytes for my undergraduate thesis project. I am interested to pursue research on cancer genetics and stem cell biology. My hobbies include dancing, singing and reading books.
Currently, I am doing my MS in cellular and molecular biology program at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.
Jayavardini Vasanthan
Hi, I am Jayavardini from India. I was an exchange student who came to UTHSC to work under Dr. Johnson for my undergraduate thesis. UTHSC hosts a group of brilliant minded, patient, and kind hearted people who provide the perfect environment for learning advanced techniques and necessary laboratory skills.
Working under my PI, Dr. Rajasingh Johnson I gained a lot of knowledge in the field of Stem cells and was able to convert them successfully into a thesis and a publication.
Currently, I am doing my MS program at the University at Buffalo, NY.
Kyley Burkey
Kyley Burkey working under Dr. Johnson as an undergraduate Parker B. Frances Fellow at the University of Kansas Medical Center during the summer of 2018. While in the Johnson Lab, Kyley studied the use of epigenetic modification to modulate the polarization of macrophages into their two phenotypes (pro- inflammatory and anti-inflammatory) in an effort to control inflammation seen in pathologies like acute lung injury. Kyley went on to graduate from the University of Kansas-Lawrence with a degree in Chemical Engineering and an emphasis on Biomedical Engineering.
She is currently a second year MD- PhD student at the University of Kansas Medical Center and will be pursuing her doctoral degree in Bioengineering.
