People

Michala Clark. Michala helped with mulitple tasks in the lab, including cracking chicken eggs for a CAM assay. She had a special interst in Multiple Sclerosis, which made a great fit in the lab. She was accepted to medical school at Mizzou, and we are hoping she keeps in touch!

Lauren Flowers. Lauren is the reason we can do cell culture. She kept the lab running her entire tenure with us. Because of her hectic schedule with volleyball, she came in late at night to take care of all of us, the equipment, and all the cells. Without her work ethic, we would never be able to make any discoveries at all. She was accepted to medical school at Mizzou, and we know she will set the curve for her peers while there!

Lisa Gutgesell. Lisa was one of the very first students in the lab, deciding where equipment and supplies should go while unpacking boxes. She was there for our first in vivo experiment, and she was there when equipment and instruments broke. She was our human mold-detector. She even kept me organized. The only thing Lisa couldn’t do was fix our negative airflow, but she tried. She comes from an equally amazing family, all living extraordinary lives. The University of Chicago was fortunate to choose her for a PhD in 2018. Her career trajectory will always be our claim to fame!

Samantha Greaney. Samantha was my advisee for a few years before she finally took one of my classes. She then took another. Finally, she joined the lab. She always kept me on my toes, both in class and in the lab. Sam never ceased to amaze me. She’s a ballerina and a scientist, the one who is busier than most yet always finds time to help, the one who always shocked me but I never needed to worry about. The University of California - Davis was lucky to accept her to their PhD program in 2018. The lab is quiet without her.

Jakeb Baldridge. I can’t recall how Jakeb found our lab, but for us, finding him was like finding gold. Jakeb has an endless amount of ideas and creativity, which I suspect he gets from his family. We can’t work as fast as he thinks and creates. He’s an Oklahoma guy who loves his family, loves the outdoors, and loves dreaming. Jakeb graduated and accepted a job as a technical sales rep with Lincoln Electric. We’ve no doubt he’s going to do something great and hopefully he’ll hire us someday - we definitely will always keep in touch with Jakeb!

Daniel Park. Daniel was one of the first students in the lab, getting excited over seeing MSCs eat glass. He was the student who quickly developed me as a scientific mentor. When new students come into the lab and have a great learning experience, they need to thank Daniel. His highlight in the lab came when he got 1st place on campus for his research; my highlight came when he realized he was the first person in the entire world to witness that MSCs eat glass. After graduation, Daniel accepted a clinical research position at Washington University in St. Louis. Luckily for us, Daniel keeps in touch.

Tony Ragusa. I don’t know who loves Tony more - me or my son. Tony was one of the first students in the lab, working out all the nuances of doing cell culture in Shrenk east. He hung the backwards clock, he used the dammit doll, and he was always startled in the evenings when lab gloves popped. Tony is now a medical student at the University of Missouri. He’s going to make this world a better place.

Emily Mulawa. Emily is the only engineer in the lab who could crack an egg. Probably because she was a double major of mechanical engineering and biology. Emily went on to do a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Colorado - Boulder. Since then, UC-Boulder asked us to send more students like Emily. Unfortunately for UC-Boulder, there are no students like Emily.

Michelle Rojo. Michelle was the heart of the lab during her tenure. She didn’t just embrace stem cell research, she excelled at it. Michelle went to my alma mater, Tulane University, for her PhD. There is nobody else I’d rather send to Tulane.