Meet Our Team | Ohio State Mentoring Initiative

Gunjan Agarwal, PhD

Professor

College of Engineering

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Gunjan Agarwal is a professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with research interests in the field of Bioengineering. She studies study extracellular matrix remodeling at the molecular and cellular scales by employing and developing microscopy-based approaches. Dr. Agarwal serves as a mentor faculty for four graduate programs at OSU and actively involve undergraduates for research. She believes learning, practicing and disseminating best practices in mentoring can help enrich both the mentor and mentee experiences as well as improve overall research productivity.

Ralf Bundschuh, PhD

Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Biophysics Graduate Program and Professor of Physics

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Physics

Email: bundschuh.2@osu.edu

Ralf Bundschuh is a Professor of Physics with courtesy appointments in Chemistry & Biochemistry and in Hematology. He got his undergraduate degree at the University of Cologne, Germany, and his PhD at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He joined OSU in 2001 as an Assistant Professor after a postdoctoral position at UC San Diego. His research is in theoretical/computational Biophysics, more specifically in computational RNA Biology and biological sequence analysis. He is also one of the two co-directors of the Interdisciplinary Biophysics Graduate Program at OSU (since 2006) and one of three PIs of the NIH funded training program in Molecular Biophysics. Thus, in addition to mentoring his own approximately 10 graduate and 20 undergraduate trainees over the last two decades, he has provided guidance to a large cohort of graduate students at the interface between the life and the physical sciences and experienced first hand the importance of good mentoring for student success.

Aryanne de Silva, PhD

Assistant Director of Trainee Affairs

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Email: aryanne.desilva@nationwidechildrens.org

As the Assistant Director of Trainee Affairs at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH), Aryanne de Silva organizes and leads the activities of the Office of Trainee Affairs (OTA). The OTA supports the research, professional, and personal development of graduate students and postdocs at NCH. She is interested in providing mentor trainings at NCH for faculty who mentor trainees and for trainees to develop their own mentoring skills. Such a training for faculty would benefit trainees as strong faculty mentors are shown to help trainees with their research. Training trainees to be effective mentors will also assist in enriching trainees’ professional development and in supporting future trainees. Trainees often provide peer mentorship and mentorship to those with less research experience, and many trainees will also become future faculty. Prior to her role in the OTA, Dr. de Silva was a postdoctoral scientist at NCH for two years and had the opportunity to mentor 8 research assistants both in her lab and in collaborating labs. She is also in her second year of mentoring a high schooler through the Upward Bound Science and Math program and have been involved in other science mentoring events. From these experiences, and her experiences as a graduate student mentoring and advising undergraduates in her lab and of those that she taught as a teaching assistant, Dr. de Silva sees the value in research mentorship and mentorship training.

Heithem El-Hodiri, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

College of Medicine

Department of Neuroscience

Email: el-hodiri.1@osu.edu

Heithem El-Hodiri, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Principal Investigator in the Center for Molecular and Human Genetics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Research Institute. He is also faculty co-director of the Office of Trainee Affairs and the Research Institute Trainee Association. His research focus is gene regulation of progenitor cell development in the developing and regenerating retina. He is interested in bringing mentor training expertise to our department to improve mentoring of research trainees and to provide senior trainees with mentoring tools as they prepare to transition to faculty or principal investigator positions.

Michael Freitas, PhD

Professor

College of Medicine

Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics

Director

Biomedical Science Graduate Program

Email: Jennifer.garvin@osumc.edu

Dr. Freitas is a Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, and the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine at the OSU Wexner Medical Center. Dr. Freitas research is focused in the area of mass spectrometry and bioinfused applied to cancer proteomics and chromatin biology. He is a recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award and the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Research Award. Dr. Freitas serves as a scientific advisor to the OSU Campus Chemical Instrument Center’s Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility. Current research is focused on development and application of multiomic methods to understand chromatin regulatory networks in cancer. The lab has extensive expertise in characterizing protein modifications and identifying protein:protein interactions by mass spectrometry. Dr. Freitas is also a cofounder of MassMatrix Inc., a software company that develops protein analysis solutions for BioPharma. Dr. Freitas is a leader in bioinformatics education at OSU. He is the founder and primary faculty leader of OSU Data Science for Scientists club. The club meets weekly to dicuss topics in HPC/cloud computing, scientific workflows, and quantitative data analysis including applications of machine learning for data reclassification. He has also developed the Data Science Boot Camp, and Career Discovery in Biomedical Sciences courses that are taught to graduate students in BSGP.

Jennifer Garvin, PhD

Division Director and Associate Professor

College of Medicine

Health Information Management and Systems

VA Research Health Scientist and Affiliated Faculty

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Email: Jennifer.garvin@osumc.edu

As an informatics and health services researcher, Dr. Garvin undertakes studies to advance clinical and public health practice using a variety of informatics methods. She has professional training and research experience in implementation science, healthcare terminology and classifications, natural language processing, public health, clinical decision support, and formative and summative evaluation of health information technology. Dr. Garvin undertakes research in heart failure, cancer, and in prevention of disease and injury. Dr. Garvin has mentored undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of disciplines. She also mentors postdoctoral fellows in the VA as part of her role as the Associate Director of the Advanced Medical Informatics Fellowship and OSU junior faculty in clinical areas including informatics, asthma, autism, fall prevention, and public health. Mentoring is crucial to develop the next generation of clinicians and scientists and to accelerate translational research. Dr. Garvin loves learning new methods to be a better mentor. She has been lucky enough to have good mentors. In one instance where there were difficulties, it motivated her to research best –practices in mentoring and to continually improve my own skills. In sum, by facilitating high-quality mentoring through training, Dr. Garvin will have an exponential impact in scientific training.

Monica Giusti, PhD

Professor

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Department of Food Science and Technology

Email: giusti.6@osu.edu

Monica Giusti, is a Professor and Graduate Studies Chair at the Food Science and Technology Department, The Ohio State University. Giusti’s research has focused on the study of polyphenolics, potent antioxidants abundant in fruits and vegetables, believed to contribute to the ability of fruits and vegetables to fight chronic diseases. We can make foods healthier without sacrificing sensory appeal. Anthocyanins, for example, are natural pigments that can replace synthetic dyes, improving visual appeal and making foods healthier. In recognition for her innovative research she received the 2010 OARDC Director’s Innovator of the Year, the 2011 TechColumbus Outstanding Woman in Technology, the 2013 OSU Early Career Innovator of the Year. Her dedication to teaching has been recognized by the 2015 Rodney F. Plimpton Teaching Award and the 2017 Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers in Agriculture. She is also a member of the American Chemical Society and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

Marcela Hernandez, PhD

Administrative Director

Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

Email: hernandez.16@osu.edu

Dr. Marcela Hernandez received her BS, in Molecular Genetics, and an MS and PhD in Biochemistry. Her current role is to design and implement programs to enhance and support postdoctoral scholars including a special focus on those from underrepresented backgrounds. Her scientific training and research in biochemistry and molecular biology focused on control of gene expression at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. She is also the mother of twin boys, one of which has learning disabilities, which has made her active in the area of support and advocacy of students with disabilities at the K-12 and college levels. Dr. Hernandez became a scientist thanks to an awesome PhD mentor whose enthusiasm and love for science made her want to become a researcher. He taught her how to think like a scientist. This made her realize the importance of good scientific training and mentorship. She believes this is the single most important factor in becoming a successful STEM professional. She also cultivated a mentoring network that has helped her grow professionally. Dr. Hernandez is very passionate about mentoring and hopes to help the next generation of STEM professionals to retain their love for science and to maneuver around the traps that are responsible for the leaky STEM pipeline.

Jane Jackman, PhD

Professor

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Email: jackman.14@osu.edu

Dr. Jane Jackman is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University and the Director of the interdisciplinary Ohio State Biochemistry Program (OSBP). Dr. Jackman’s research focuses on enzymes that perform critical reactions in the maturation of non-coding RNA, such as tRNA and other small RNAs. Her group utilizes the tools of mechanistic enzymology and enzyme kinetics as well as model organism genetics to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and biological functions of these unusual enzymes. Dr. Jackman serves as a research mentor for both graduate and undergraduate students in her lab, and she is also coPI of an NSF-funded REU program in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry that actively recruits students from underrepresented minority groups with the goal of enhancing trainees’ preparedness for success in graduate school. As director of the OSBP graduate program and mentor to students from diverse backgrounds in her own lab, Dr. Jackman is very interested in developing and applying effective strategies to recruit and retain the broadest representation of students in STEM and in research. She is also interested in augmenting graduate curricula with career and professional development opportunities that enhance the long-term success of students in STEM-related fields.

Brianna Johnson, PhD

Program Manager

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Ohio Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation

Email: johnson.9155@osu.edu

Dr. Brianna Davis Johnson serves as the Program Manager for the Ohio Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Alliance, a program of the National Science Foundation that aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds who graduate with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degrees. She brings to this role scholarly expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in higher education and how they are shaped by cultural and organizational dynamics, as well as professional experience in strategic planning and leading diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Before joining the Ohio LSAMP Alliance, Dr. Johnson served as a graduate assistant at the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Community Engagement where she convened faculty to provide them with resources related to community-based learning and research, supported the Center’s strategic planning efforts, and mentored and trained undergraduate students on qualitative research methods. Prior to her doctoral studies, as a university administrator, she led departmental diversity and inclusion education initiatives and trained both students and professional staff on how to incorporate equitable practices into their everyday work. Dr. Johnson holds a BA in Educational Studies and Urban Studies from Washington University in St. Louis, an MS in Higher Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University, and a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy from The University of Texas at Austin.

Rachel Garshick Kleit, PhD

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professor of City and Regional Planning (CRP)

College of Engineering

Knowlton School of Architecture

Email: kleit.1@osu.edu

An interdisciplinary social scientist, her research focus is on affordable housing and social inequality. Her work has concentrated on the social network impacts of mixed-income housing, the influence of public housing redevelopment on the lives of original residents, the combination of social services and housing, and housing mobility. In her roles as a college professor, Head of the City and Regional Planning Section at OSU (2012-2018), and Associate Dean for Faculty Affair (2018-present), she has mentored many students, undergraduate and graduate, and faculty. As associate dean, she had broad responsibility of moving faculty through the tenure and promotion process as well as offering them professional development opportunities. Her goal as associate dean is to foster the most inclusive college of engineering in the Big 10. Her research, training, and experience have made her an adept facilitator of diverse groups. She has had specialized training the Art of Hosting Difficult Conversations focusing on implicit bias, Civil Discourse Training, and in academic leadership. She is eager to bring mentoring training to faculty at OSU to enhance institutional efforts in the area of faculty diversity and diversity in STEM.

Jeff Kuret, PhD

Co-Director of the OSU Interdisciplinary Biophysics Graduate Program and Professor of Biological Chemistry & Pharmacology

College of Medicine

Division of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology

Email: kuret.3@osu.edu

Dr. Kuret manages a laboratory that focuses on dementing illnesses of the elderly, with 25 years of experience working on Alzheimer’s disease. Since arriving at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1998, he has trained twenty doctoral students through projects that employ a combination of computational, biochemical and structural biological approaches. Student training typically involves weekly group meetings in addition to informal direct interactions, as well as yearly presentations in local competitions (i.e., the Hayes Graduate Forum, the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Symposium, and the OSU College of Medicine Research Day). Participation in national conferences is also strongly encouraged, and students typically attend one such meeting per year during their time in his laboratory. In addition to his experience as mentor, Dr. Kuret is in his eighth year as Co-Director of the OSU Interdisciplinary Biophysics Graduate Program, which is the premier training program in quantitative biology research on this campus, and am Co-PI of a campus-wide NIGMS-funded T32 program (GM118291) focused on Molecular Biophysics research. In these roles, he contributes yearly to BIOPHYS/MCDBIO/MICRBIO/MOLGEN/OSBP 7600, a course on the principles of good scientific practice (rigor, reproducibility and responsibility) for first-year doctoral students. He is excited about the synergy between this mentor training workshop and his own research and training efforts.

Stuart Ludsin, PhD

Professor

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Email: ludsin.1@osu.edu

Dr. Stuart Ludsin currently is a Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University (OSU). Before joining the OSU faculty as an Assistant Professor during 2007, he worked as a Fisheries Researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (2002-2007) in Ann Arbor, MI. Broadly, his research has sought to identify the factors and processes that affect food webs in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, using this knowledge to help management agencies solve fisheries management problems. He has consistently mentioned undergraduate, M.S., and Ph.D. students since joining OSU, and is very interested in ensuring that his students not only learn a lot but also grow as people and enjoy their degree programs.

Thomas J. Magliery, PhD

Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Graduate Studies

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Email: magliery.1@osu.edu

Thomas J. Magliery is Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Graduate Studies, for the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at The Ohio State University. He is also the co-director of the NIH T32-sponsored Molecular Biophysics Training Program and the faculty director of a summer research program for undergraduates at Ohio 5 liberal arts schools. Magliery earned his A.B. in Chemistry at Kenyon College and his Ph.D. in Chemistry as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, with Peter G. Schultz, finishing his research at The Scripps Research Institute. He was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow with Lynne Regan at Yale University in the Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. Magliery’s research interest is in the application of combinatorial, high-throughput and statistical methods to understanding the relationship of protein sequence and stability, as well as other biophysical properties. He also uses protein engineering techniques to improve the properties of proteins as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. Magliery started at Ohio State in 2005. Before he was Vice Chair, he was the Director of the Ohio State Biochemistry Program for 3 ½ years. He has focused must of his time as a graduate studies chair on issues related to strengthening mentoring systems and responsibility, professional development, and diversity. Magliery is the Chief Scientific Officer at Enlyton, Ltd., a start-up company focused on cancer imaging, using intellectual property from his lab. He recently completed an M.B.A. from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State, with emphasis on leadership and entrepreneurship.

Andy Michel, PhD

Associate Chair of Entomology, Associate Director of the Center for Applied Plant Sciences, Professor

College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences

Department of Entomology

Email: michel.70@osu.edu

Dr. Michel is a Professor in the Department of Entomology at OSU. His goal is to understand how insect pests adapt to rapidly changing selection pressures in agroecosystems such as host-shifting to important crops or resistance to management tactics. Specifically, his research uses molecular ecology and population genomic techniques to characterize the genetic basis for insect pest adaptation and how these adaptive traits spread across the landscape. Understanding and demonstrating how insects adapt, as well as communicating research-based insect management recommendations, delays the evolution of resistance or emergence of pests, and ensures a safer, sustainable and more productive food supply. Dr. Michel has mentored several graduate students, post-doctoral research associates and junior faculty. He has also provided mentoring for committees focused on strategic planning of teams or organizations. As a departmental administrator (Associate Chair of Entomology and Associate Director of the Center for Applied Plant Sciences), he enjoys mentoring faculty, students and staff as well as interdisciplinary teams. Dr. Michel is interested in this training to help me succeed in these efforts, as well as the success of my mentees.

Jennifer Muszynski, MD

Associate Program Director for Research of the PCCM Fellowship Program, Pediatric Intensivist and Clinician Scientist

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Center for Clinical and Translational Research at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute

Email: jennifer.muszynski@nationwidechildrens.org

Dr. Muszynski is a pediatric intensivist and clinician scientist within the Center for Clinical and Translational Research at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her primary research focus is on the effects of blood product transfusion in critically ill children. In addition to mentoring several clinical trainees in my laboratory, in her role as Associate Program Director for Research for the PCCM Fellowship Program, Dr. Muszynski oversees faculty mentorship for all 12 critical care fellows. For the past 3 years, she developed workshops and didactic lectures geared toward mentees, designed to maximize the mentor-mentee relationship. She has given these workshops across the institution and at national meetings. Dr. Muszynski looks forward to engaging in an evidence-based training program to augment her skills as a mentor and as a trainer to other mentors/mentees. With the facilitating mentoring training, she will implement a mentor-training program for the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital with the help of their Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Dennis Durbin. Dr. Durbin previously implemented a mentorship program (using the CIMER approach) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is eager to institute a similar program to support the many faculty and undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, and clinical trainees who work and train at Nationwide Children’s.

Nicole Nieto, PhD

Assistant Vice Provost

Office of Academic Affairs

E-mail: nieto.12@osu.edu

Nicole Nieto has over 17 years of higher education experience with a focus on equity, inclusion, transformative leadership and effective dialogue. Nicole has played key roles in developing and creating innovative learning curriculums for faculty, staff, and students. Nicole has experience facilitating workshops and training for a variety of audiences including local governments, higher education, and industry. Nicole currently serves as Program Director for Ohio State ADVANCE in the Office of Research at The Ohio State University (OSU) where she serves to advance women faculty through consultations, initiatives and leadership development with a focus on STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine). Prior to that, Nicole was a Learning and Development Facilitator for Ohio State’s Office of Human Resources. Before that, she served in various roles at the OSU Multicultural Center. Nicole is also an instructor in the OSU Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Nicole received her B.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi in International Studies, her M.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of Alabama and her Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies from The Ohio State University.

David Penneys, PhD

Assistant Professor

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Mathematics

Email: Penneys.2@osu.edu

David Penneys is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on subfactor theory, a subject in operator algebras with connections to a wide variety of mathematics, including tensor categories, quantum algebra, mathematical physics, non-commutative geometry, and topological phases of matter. He was a recipient of OSU’s 2020 ASC Early-Career Faculty Excellence Award. Dr. Penneys mentors many PhD students and undergraduate researchers, and he leads a professional development seminar in the Mathematics Department for graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty. He is also a senior mentor in the Operator Algebras Mentor Network.

William Ray

Director of the Computational Biology/Bioinformatics Division for the OSU Biophysics Graduate Program, Associate Professor of Pediatrics

College of Medicine

Department of Pediatrics

Email: ray.29@osu.edu

William Ray is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Ohio State and a PI in the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. However he knows nothing about pediatrics: In 17-years wandering around Ohio State as a student, he accumulated a BS in Mathematics, an MS in Computer Science, a PhD in Biophysics, and most of a MFA in Photography. Now, as the director of the Computational Biology/Bioinformatics division for the OSU Biophysics graduate program, he enjoys doing basic research in a clinical research institute, developing novel ways of communicating – usually visually – scientific data to help users explore and understand it. His research group is populated with graduate and undergraduate students working on projects that bridge to, and are co-mentored by faculty in a variety of basic domain sciences looking for better data analytics. His lab also typically hosts a gaggle of High School students from local STEM programs who work closely with the more advanced trainees. Projects in the Ray lab range from investigating Quantum Computing applied to complex biological networks, to developing novel statistical and visualization tools for understanding co-evolution in proteins and other networks, to engineering new approaches and instruments for assessing human performance or delivering therapy. Dr. Ray sees mentoring as both an important skill to improve, and, as a communication modality, a valuable topic of research. When Will remembers what free-time is, he builds houses, pours concrete, and sometimes teaches woodcraft skills to scouts on campouts and hikes.

La’Tonia Stiner-Jones, PhD

Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs and Assistant Professor of Practice

College of Engineering

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Email: stiner-jones.1@osu.edu

As Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering, Dr. Stiner-Jones is responsible for providing leadership on graduate affairs and professional development for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees and supporting diversity and inclusion of these groups. As Assistant Professor, she is responsible for teaching, scholarship, and service to the department. Her research interest is in understanding the barriers to female and minority student access and participation in graduate education in engineering and the role of temporal intervention strategies in facilitating participation and completion. She has been mentoring students for 17 years and understands the role of mentoring in student persistence, success and professional development. Dr. Stiner-Jones received her Bachelor’s and PhD. degrees from Wright State University in Dayton, OH and her MBA from Capital University in Bexley, OH. After completing her PhD in Biomedical Sciences, she completed postdocs in neuroimmunology and psychoneuroimmunology at Ohio State.

Leo Taylor, PhD

Program Manager for Faculty and Staff Affairs

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Email: taylor.3408@osu.edu

Dr. Leo Taylor is the Program Manager for Faculty and Staff Affairs in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. He is also a behavioral ecologist and entomologist who, prior to leaving research in 2019, was interested in the mating behavior of insects and spiders. He was born and raised in Muncie, IN and received a B.S. in psychology (’98) and M.S. in biology (‘05) from Ball State University. In 2015 he received his Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University where he researched native lady beetle decline. After graduating from Cornell, Dr. Taylor taught biology courses at Ithaca College. Leo is passionate about equity and inclusion in academia, particularly issues facing women and LGBTQ individuals, people living with HIV and those struggling with the stigma associated with mental illness. He currently facilitates a mental health support group for Ohio State graduate students. Dr. Taylor has mentored graduate and undergraduate students as an instructor, postdoc, and support group facilitator. In his current role, he mentors faculty and staff about diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. He is interested in implementing a new training program for CFAES faculty to equip them with proven mentoring skills so they can better serve graduate students and postdocs. In his spare time Leo enjoys learning how to play the guitar, teaching himself to sew, and spending time with Roxy, his pitboxer.

Noah Weisleder, PhD

Professor

College of Medicine

Department of Physiology and Cell Biology

E-mail: Noah.Weisleder@osumc.edu

Noah Weisleder received his B.S. in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He conducted his postdoctoral studies at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School where he joined the faculty as Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Dr. Weisleder is currently an Associate Professor of Physiology and Cell Biology at The Ohio State University and was previously the Faculty Director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Dr. Weisleder has published numerous peer-reviewed publications or book chapters in the fields of muscle physiology, cardiovascular disease, cytoskeletal dynamics, membrane repair and cellular calcium homeostasis in normal physiology and disease states. He has chaired sessions at national and international meetings on muscle physiology and metabolism and been invited to present his research at several international conferences. His research efforts were supported by a Fellowship from the American Heart Association, grants from the muscular dystrophy association, a Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health as well as multiple R01 NIH research grants. Additionally, he is an inventor on multiple US patents, numerous international patents, and additional published US patent applications. These inventions became the basis for the formation of TRIM-edicine, a biotechnology company developing protein therapeutics targeting regenerative medicine applications, where Dr. Weisleder is a Founder and served as Chief Scientific Officer. For these efforts, Dr. Weisleder was awarded the Kauffman Foundation Outstanding Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Award.