Lab Members

Mark Aronovitz

Mark J. Aronovitz is the Director of the Mouse Physiology Laboratory in the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute.   He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and an active Member of the IACUC Committee (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) at Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Dentistry, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences and the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. 

The Mouse Physiology Laboratory is actively involved with developing and utilizing mouse models of cardiovascular and vascular disease.

Mark Aronovitz

Wendy Baur

Wendy Baur is responsible for the supervision and function of the Cell Culture Core.  She obtained a bachelor's degree from Montclair State College in New Jersey and graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Master of Science degree in 1978.  She has been with Tufts Medical Center since 1979 working and consulting with various research investigators, mainly in the departments of Surgery and Cardiology.  She has extensive expertise with all aspects of cell culture, especially with vascular cells.  Her duties include the establishment and maintenance of cell lines utilized by the MCRI staff, training and supervision of cell culture technicians, coordination and communications with laboratory personnel and upkeep of supplies and equipment for the core.

Wendy Baur

Carol Galayda

Carol Galayda is a Research Associate in the Histology Core of the MCRI. She graduated from the University of Connecticut with a BS in Animal Science and then received her histology license while working in toxicology research at CIBA-Geigy. Carol worked in pharmaceutical research at Wyeth-Ayerst in New York and in Massachusetts area hospitals prior to joining the MCRI.

Carol Galayda

Francesca Gordon, Ph.D.

Francesca earned her BA in Biology from Oberlin College in 2000 and her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in 2007.  Before joining the laboratory, she investigated the role of the non-coding RNA, Meg3, in angiogenesis in mice.  She is currently a Research Fellow in Gavin Schnitzler's lab where she is studying the relationship between genome-wide changes in estrogen-mediated ER binding to DNA and changes in gene expression. 

Francesca Gordon

Patricia Griffiths-Rossiter

Patricia Griffiths-Rossiter is the Research Administrator for the MCRC. She has been at Tufts Medical Center since 1992.  In her capacity as Research Administrator, she oversees human resources, over 25 grants/contracts, and purchasing for the laboratory. Before joining the MCRC Patti spent time at the Joslin Diabetes Center, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the New England Deaconess Hospital.  Patti is an alumna of the Boston Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. 

 Patricia Griffiths-Rossiter

Gregory Imbrie, M.D., Ph.D.

Originally from Oregon, Greg Imbrie went on to receive his B.A. from Cornell University in 1999 and his M.D. and Ph.D from Boston University in 2007.  His thesis work elucidated the role of the 3'UTR of CK2 in development and oncogenesis.  He finished his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Duke University in 2010.  Greg then joined the MCRI as a Cardiovascular Clinical/Research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Karas.  He is investigating the mechanism of miRNA and exosome transfer in vascular cells, and their role in cell survival and proliferation.

Gregory Imbrie

Lakshmanan (Lax) Iyer, Ph.D.

Lakshmanan (Lax) Iyer received his Ph. D. from the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India in Computational Molecular Biophysics. He performed computational structure function studies of galactosyltransferase system as a Fogarty Fellow in the Structural Glycobiology section, Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD and was subsequently a staff member of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Center's bioinformatics team. Before moving to Tufts University, he was at the Bauer Center for Genomics Research at Harvard University providing training, consultation and collaboration in bioinformatics to Harvard wide researchers. His interests are in applying computational tools and databases to biological process and developing novel tools and strategies as and when required. His most recent work is a continuing collaboration with Professor Amin Kassis' lab at Harvard Medical School to discover novel targets for cancer imaging and therapy. He is working with MCRI investigators to investigate the molecular basis of cardiovascular biology.

Lakshmanan Iyer

Angela Lane

Atlanta native Angela Lane graduated from Smith College in 2007 with a B.A. in Biochemistry. She joined the MCRI in April 2010 and is researching the molecular regulation of cardiac hypertrophy with Dr. Rob Blanton. 

Angela Lane

Qing Lu, M.D., Ph.D.

Qing received her M.D. and Ph.D.  from Shanghai Medical University.  This was  followed by training in pediatrics and a position as a staff pediatrician in the Department of Infectious Disease at Children's Hospital, which is affiliated with Shanghai Medical University. She came to the United States in 1998 and joined Dr.Karas'  lab in 1999 for postdoctoral training.  Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that regulate ligand-independent nuclear localization of ER alpha in vascular cells.

Qing Lu

Amy McCurley, Ph.D.

Amy earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Richmond in 2003 and her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University in 2009. During her graduate work Amy studied the role of estrogen and arylhydrocarbon receptor signaling in optic nerve regeneration. Amy is currently a research fellow in Dr. Iris Jaffe's lab where she is investigating the role of the mineralocorticoid receptor in vascular injury.

Amy McCurley

Adam Mcgraw, Ph.D.

Adam McGraw received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Penn State University, where he studied RNA biochemistry and molecular genetics. Adam joined the MCRI in 2009 as a postdoctoral fellow working jointly in the labs of Dr. Iris Jaffe and Dr. Afshin Ehsan. His work explores the role of steroid hormone receptors in atherosclerosis and in intimal hyperplasia.

Adam McGraw

Najwa Mohammad

Najwa Mohammad graduated from Wesleyan College in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and in Business Administration with a concentration in Management. Post graduation she worked as a Research Technician in the Program in Molecular Medicine at UMass Medical School.  Najwa joined the MCRI in September 2009. She is working in the laboratory of Dr. Iris Jaffe where they study the role of vascular mineralocorticoid receptors in vascular disease.

Najwa Mohammad

Heather Nickerson

Heather graduated from Colby College in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology.  A lacrosse and ice hockey player at Colby, Heather earned two NESCAC titles and was captain of the ice hockey team.  She is a research assistant in the mouse physiology core.

Heather Nickerson

David Ostrosky

David Ostrosky is an Administrative Assistant in the Molecular Cardiology Research Center and provides support to Dr. Karas.  David received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University.  He previously worked for Sabre, Inc.

 David Ostrosky

Robrecht Thoonen, Ph.D.

Dr. Robrecht Thoonen received his B.S. in Biology (2001) and his M.S.in Biotechnology Cum Laude (2003) from Ghent University in Belgium. He then earned his Ph.D. in Science – Biotechnology (2010) from the Department of Molecular Biomedical Research at Ghent University. In his Ph.D. studies Dr Thoonen investigated the physiological and pathophysiological role of soluble Guanylate Cyclase by the generation and characterization of apo-soluble Guanylate Cyclase mice in the Brouckaert laboratory, a work that was rewarded with the Young Investigator Award at the 4th International Conference on cGMP in Regensburg, Germany. He recently joined the MCRC where he is currently investigating the role of Regulator of G-Protein Signaling 2 (RGS2) in smooth muscle cells in addition to further exploring the vascular phenotype of the apo-sGC mice.

Robrecht Thoonen

Kazutaka Ueda, M.D., Ph.D.

Kazutaka Ueda received his Ph.D from Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan.  He joined Dr. Mendelsohn's lab in January 2010 to investigate the role of estrogen receptors in blood vessels.

Kazutaka Ueda

Guang-Rong Wang, M.D.

Guang-Rong Wang  received his M.D. degree from the Shanghai Medical University and was a Research Assistant Professor/Physician-in-charge in China.  His research  in China consisted of the work on enterotoxigenic E.coli, Hepatitis B virus, catecholamines and other topics. For this work, he earned a number of awards, including a highly prestigious national one. From 1988 to 1994, he was a visiting scientist working with Dr. Edward B.Goldberg on the assembly and physiology of bacteriophage T4 in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine.  He arrived  at Dr. Michael E. Mendelsohn's Laboratory in 1994.  Since then, he has been a Research Associate working on the mechanism of platelet inhibition by NO, including the thrombin and thromboxane receptors and cGMP-dependent protein kinase as well its substrates.

 Guang-Rong Wang

Jin Zhao, Ph.D.

Jin Zhao received her M.D. (2003) from China Medical University, her Ph.D. (2008) from the Department of Medical Genetics, Peking Union Medical College. Dr. Zhao joined Dr. Karas’s lab in September 2008. Her research is focusing on estrogen regulation of microRNA expression in the vasculature.

Jin Zhao