Shala Yuan – Assistant Researcher, Lab Manager
Shala Yuan received her Master of Science from Central China Normal University, China. She has gained extensive research and lab management experience by working in different labs in France, Canada and the United States, including more than ten years in clinic lab management and human cell processing in a clinical grade human cell and gene therapy facility in Canada. Now she manages Dr. Galipeau’s research lab budget and her research interests focus on human and mouse regulatory B cells induction by fusokines. Her favorite hobbies are shopping, gardening and fishing.
Andrea Pennati – Assistant Scientist
Andrea completed a M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and a Ph.D in Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Milan, Italy. Before joining the Galipeau lab, Andrea worked as postdoctoral fellow with Giovanni Gadda at Georgia State University, in Atlanta, Georgia, in mechanistic enzymology of flavin-dependent enzymes.
He is currently investigating the role of novel engineered fusion cytokines as part of cancer vaccine and cellular immunotherapy strategies. Current studies are aimed at defining the possibility to use regulatory B cells, generated in vitro by treating B cells with the recombinant fusokine GIFT15 (GM-CSF and IL-15 fusion transgene), and potentially utilize GIFT15-induced regulatory B cells in the treatment of different neurodegenerative diseases as MS, ALS and Alzheimer’s disease. In parallel is studying the augmented anti-cancer B-cell immunity induced by GIFT4 (GM-CSF and IL-4 fusion transgene) in anti-melanoma cancer immunotherapy.
In his spare time, Andrea enjoys running – he is training for his second marathon – and spending time with his adorable furchild Tyke.
Raghavan Chinnadurai – Assistant Scientist
Raghavan completed his PhD in human biology with a specialization in Molecular Virology at the University clinic of Ulm in Germany and his postdoc at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is currently a staff scientist in Dr. Jacques Galipeau’s laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and also an honorary fellow and member of the UW Carbone Cancer Center. His research interest is to pursue a multidisciplinary scientific approach to understand how non-hematopoietic local tissue-resident stem cells, particularly Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and Hepatic Stellate Cells shape immune responses in the state of health, inflammation, injury and cancer. These insights are valuable to develop next generation cell therapy approaches to treat auto and allo immune disorders and immune intervention therapies for cancer.
In his personal time, Raghavan spends a lot of time playing with his two kids Aradhana and Saisathyan. He also likes to study and understand his native language of Tamil, which has a very vast and unique ancient literature with the embedded thoughts of great scholars.
Pradyut Paul – Assistant Scientist
Pradyut earned his PhD degree from University of Louisville, Kentucky, in Cell and Molecular Biology where his graduate research focused on investigating molecular mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle pathologies such as atrophies related to injury and cancer and retarded muscle regeneration. As a postdoctoral researcher, he also gained experience in understanding potential points of entry for Type-1 diabetes therapeutics.
In the Galipeau lab, his current research involves identifying molecular regulators that can mitigate the host immune response mediated rejection of allografts, focusing particularly on pancreatic islet transplantation therapy. The outcome of this work may help in development of novel cell-based immunotherapy for Type-1 diabetes and potentially several other human disorders.
Emily Nylen – Research Specialist
Emily is the animal technician for the lab and work alongside many of the lab members to help with animal work including breeding, injections, and various procedures. The disease models she works with include melanoma, colitis, a mouse model for multiple sclerosis, and diabetes.
She graduated from Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia in May 2017 where she obtained a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Health and Biomedical Studies. Emily worked as an undergraduate research student studying tumor immunology. While at Longwood, she was also a member of the women’s basketball team.
Post Doctoral Associates
Rahul Das
Rahul obtained his master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Calcutta, India, and his PhD from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Cell and molecular biology. His focus during his PhD was to investigate the role of Tribbles (Trbl) pseudokinase in Drosophila oogenesis and insulin signaling pathways. His current research in the Galipeau lab involves testing the effectiveness of cell-based immunotherapy to treat autoimmune diseases including Type 1 diabetes and determining the mechanism of differentiation of adipose mesenchymal stromal cells into mature adipocytes. His hobbies includes photography, especially macro photography.
Jayeeta Giri
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) act as a sensor for tissue injury and injury-induced inflammation, migrate to the site of injury, and directly attenuate inflammation via a plethora of mechanisms. One of those mechanisms involves the induction of alternatively activated macrophages (M2) with strong immunomodulatory capacities. Dr. Giri’s research interest is to precondition MSC in such a manner that it can polarize monocytes/classically activated macrophages to more M2 macrophages as well as to identify the molecular mechanism behind it, analyzing how the transfusion of these immune enhanced MSC affect pathogenesis and immune system dynamics using the mouse colitis model. Her hobbies include gardening and exploring the Madison area. The simplest things in life give the most pleasure: cooking a good meal to enjoy with friends.
Undergraduate Students
Molly Ryan
Molly is a Senior undergraduate working towards degrees in Neurobiology and Spanish. Molly is currently conducting research under Dr. Raghavan Chinnadurai investigating the immunobiology of MSCs. When not in the lab, she enjoys cooking, reading, exploring new restaurants and rock climbing.
Adam Kelly
Adam is a senior undergraduate working on a degree in History under Dr. Andrea Pennati investigating how GIFT15 Bregs influence T cell population dynamics in vitro. The goal of his project is to understand and elucidate the interaction between GIFT15 regulatory B cells (Bregs) and T cells through flow cytometry and other laboratory methods. Adam joined the lab in January 2017 and will continue to work with us until he graduates in the spring of 2019, when he plans to attend medical school. In his free time, he enjoys reading, watching sports, and exercising. He also volunteers at the local Meriter hospital and coaches for the Madison West High School football team.