Current Members

Principal Investigator

Nenad Bursac

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Embryonic and adult stem cell therapies for heart and muscle disease; cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue engineering; cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias; genetic modifications of stem and somatic cells; micropatterning of proteins and hydrogels.

Research Scientists

Karen Heman

I will be performing rodent surgeries to support cardiac and skeletal muscle studies.

Alastair Khodabukus

I work on developing more physiologically relevant tissue engineered skeletal muscle to study both healthy and diseased muscle physiology in human and rat cells.

Renzhi Zhan

I am working on human engineered skeletal and cardiac muscle for organ-on-chip studies.

Laboratory Staff

Yifan Chen

Binjie Li

I am currently working on designing a stretch device to enhance the development and maturation of cardiac muscle tissue.

Taylor Roberts

Post-Doctoral Associates

Ethan Lotz

I am interested in developing functional neuromuscular junctions in vitro, the roles immune and glial cells play in the innervation of skeletal muscle, and regenerative strategies for the reinnervation of skeletal muscle following volumetric muscle loss in vivo.

Graduate Students

Torie Broer

I am studying how the presence of immune cells affects the development and function of engineered skeletal muscle tissue.

Sophia Bunnell

I am working on cardiomyocyte proliferation in the context of regeneration.

Taylor Chavez

I am interested in engineering skeletal muscle tissue and studying its regenerative capabilities in vitro.

Zachary Fralish

I am interested in the functionality and regenerative capabilities of engineered skeletal muscle.

Abbi Helfer

I work on human cardiac tissue engineering from pluripotent stem cells, and gene editing.

Marisa Patsy

I am interested in the relationship between neurons and cardiomyocytes in the context of cardiac innervation, regeneration, and disease.

Jacob Scherba

I am interested in the relationship between cardiac fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, and the extracellular matrix as it relates to the biomechanics of cardiac disease and regeneration.