Members
Current Members
Wen Dun, MD, PhD
- Associate Research Scientist
Education and Training
- MD, Shanxi Medical University
- MS, Pharmacology, Shanxi Medical University
- PhD, Physiology, Shanxi Medical University
- Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Gea-Ny Tseng, Columbia University
- Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Penelope Boyden, Columbia University
Over the past two decades, Dr. Dun dedicated her professional career to determining the electrophysiological and structural basis of abnormal heart rhythms. She now applies her expertise in molecular electrophysiology to understanding how soluble guanylyl cyclase regulates ion channel signaling within specific membrane microdomains, in the failing heart. Dr. Dun also leads many of the in vivo and ex vivo cardiac functional and physiological studies of the Tsai lab.
Ilaria Russo, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Education and Training
PhD, Pharmacological Sciences, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Cardiovascular Research, Laboratory of Nikolaos G. Frangogiannis, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dr. Russo has been focused on studying cardiac remodeling in rodent models of heart failure. Through her doctoral and post-doctoral training, she has developed expertise in cardiac imaging of animal models (echocardiography and cardiac MRI), extracellular matrix remodeling, and fibroblast biology. As a post-doctoral research scientist in the Tsai Lab, Dr. Russo is applying her imaging skills and background in fibrosis to study the role of myocardial NO/GC1/cGMP signaling in right ventricular remodeling and function. Her current projects also provide further training in myocyte signaling, integrative cardiac physiology, and human tissue analysis.
Christos Tzimas, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Education and Training
- PhD, Molecular Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Anthony J. Capobianco, Wistar Institute
- Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Serge Fuchs, University of Pennsylvania
- Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Despina Sanoudou and Evangelia Kranias, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens
Dr. Tzimas’ research background spans cancer biology and cardiovascular biology. For his doctoral thesis, Dr. Tzimas studied ubiquitin and transcription factor NF-κB signaling. His initial postdoctoral training in cancer biology focused around molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis in animal models and in the role of peptide hormone and cytokine receptor degradation in physiological and pathological conditions. In subsequent postdoctoral training in cardiovascular science, Dr. Tzimas studied the role of calcium homeostasis in the pathophysiology of cardiac disease and the molecular mechanisms of arrhythmogenesis in animal models. In the Tsai Lab, Dr. Tzimas is working on elucidating differential mechanisms of soluble guanylyl cyclase signaling within caveolae and dyadic junctions of cardiac myocytes, including post-translational modifications that govern its subcellular localization and cyclase activity. He is also pursuing projects in the lab that focus on the molecular signaling of right ventricular dysfunction and right heart failure
Past Members of the Tsai Lab
Sowda Ahmed
Education and Training
- Medical student research trainee, supported on NIDDK T35 training grant
- Current position: MD candidate, University of Minnesota Medical School, Class of 2021
Petra Buergisser, MSc
Education and Training
- Senior Reseach Technician/Lab Manager
- MSc, Biology of Disease, Utecht University, Netherlands
- PhD candidate (non-degree), Experimental Cardiology, Erasmus MC & UMC Utrecht, Netherlands
- Current position: Research Technician, Laboratory of Ruben Bierings, Department of Hematology, Erasmus MC, Netherlands
Jeffrey Chukwuneke, MD
Education and Training
- Medical student research trainee, supported on NHLBI T35 training grant
- MD, Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Class of 2018
- Current position: Resident, Diagnostic Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University
Haejung Chung, MA, MS
Education and Training
- Senior Research Technician
- MS, Nutrition Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
- MA, Nutrition Science, Kansas State University
- Current position: Research Worker, Laboratory of Susan Steinberg, Department of Pharmacology, Columbia
Gaston Jean-Louis, Jr.
Education and Training
- Medical student research trainee, supported on NHLBI T35 training grant
- Current position: MD candidate, Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Class of 2020
Julianne Kleitsch, BS
Education and Training
- Post-baccalaureate research trainee
- Columbia Post-baccalaureate Premed, Class of 2018
- Current position: MD Candidate, SUNY Downstate, Class of 2023
Katherine Lee, MS
Education and Training
- Master's degree thesis advisee
- MS, Columbia Institute of Human Nutrition, Class of 2016
- Current position: MD candidate, SUNY Downstate, Class of 2020
Yanan Liu, PhD
Education and Training
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist
- MS, Dermatological Pharmacology, Tianjin Medical University, China
- PhD, Cardiovascular Pharmacology, University of Hong Kong, China
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Laboratory of Zeljko Bosnjak, Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin
- Current position: Associate Research Scientist, Laboratory of George Vlad, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia