The Lamba Lab
Focusing on retinal repair and modeling disease with stem cells technologies
People
Deepak A. Lamba, PI
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My research interests focus on retinal repair using stem cells technologies for patients with inherited and age-associated degeneration. I have been involved in this work since 2004 as a graduate student in Dr. Thomas Reh’s lab. In October 2011, I established my own lab at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA. In 2018, my lab moved to UCSF’s Department of Ophthalmology and is currently housed at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research to focus on novel stem cell-based retinal therapies and bringing them closer to the clinic.
Sangeetha Kandoi, Post-doc
Sangeetha Kandoi received her Master of Science in Microbiology from University of Madras, Chennai, India. She then took up a position at a stem cell industry and after 8 years of her research experience focusing on adult stem cells, Sangeetha pursued her academic career and earned a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India in 2018. She did a majority of the studies for her Ph.D. at Loyola University, Chicago and the University of Cincinnati, USA. Her Ph.D. research focused on exploring the pathophysiological consequences of myosin binding protein-C gene mutations in vitro by utilizing patient-specific iPSCs. She then joined Dr. Lamba’s lab in August 2018 and her current post-doctoral research is aimed at optimizing the iPSC-derived transplantation strategies for vision restoration. In her free time, she loves traveling, watching cricket and cooking.
Shereen Chew, SRA
Shereen works on retinal development using stem cells and converting them into retinal organoids. She did her undergraduate and Master’s studies at Cal Poly SLO in Biomedical Engineering. However, she decided that developmental and molecular biology was more of her passion, so she interned at The Buck Institute in the Lamba Lab and went back after graduation to continue as a Tech.
Kathleen Chirco, Postdoc
Katie received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Iowa under Dr. Robert Mullins. As a grad student, she studied the role of C-reactive protein and the complement system in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. In 2017, Katie joined the Lamba Lab as a postdoc. Her work focuses on studying Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a severe congenital form of blindness. Using iPSCs generated from mouse models of LCA, as well as LCA patient cells, she aims to make retinal organoids to study the development of LCA in vitro and look for novel ways to treat the disease.
Jonathan Ramirez, SRA
Jonathan joined the Lamba Lab in 2016 as part of an internship program and is now a research associate whose goal is to create a 3D retina in a dish from human pluripotent stem cells (PSC). The current focus of his research is retinal organoid self-assembly from human PSCs. By elucidating the cell to cell and cell to ECM interactions that make retinal organoid self-assembly possible, we will be able to create hydrogels that recapitulate retinal histogenesis with greater control than is currently possible with cellular self-assembly. Jonathan came to California in 2004 to fulfill his dream of being a cheesemaker. He later dabbled in management and physical therapy before realizing he was a bioengineer all along!
Cassandra Martinez, Lab Assistant
Cassie is currently attending San Francisco State University to obtain her bachelors in both cellular and molecular biology and Physiology. She joined Lamba Lab in 2017 with the desire to expand her knowledge and skills in research. Her aspirations are to continue cultivating her curiosity for biology and ultimately becoming an individual that is part of the frontier of modern science.