Luis Rodríguez, PhD
Principal Investigator Luis was born and raised in El Paso, Texas before moving to the DC Area in the early 2000's. He was first introduced to lung biology and injury in the lab of Dr. Geraldine Grant at George Mason University before further developing his molecular tool box with Dr. Michael Beers at the University of Pennsylvania. While his research interest started with understanding the role of the fibroblast in pulmonary fibrosis, he has embraced the complexity of cell types and states in the lung and hopes to find overarching mechanisms that coordinate cell-cell communication during lung injury and repair. Luis has a deep passion for fostering the future generation of scientists and is enthusiastic about mentoring. Consequently, you can always find an open door in his office to discuss any scientific or non-scientific question you might have stumbled across. In his spare time he will plant himself on a couch and watch movies which he claims are “great”. |
Durwood Moore, MS
Research Associate Durwood is the brave first hire of the Rodríguez Lab. Durwood has a strong background in pulmonary fibrosis with a Masters from George Mason University that explored the relationship between fibroblast senescence and the apoptotic resistance that is associated with IPF fibroblasts. In the lab Durwood manages the various transgenic lines we have and is actively involved in validating new injury models to better recapitulate the complexity of human disease.
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Ramtin Mashhoon, BS
Masters Student Ramtin was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. During his undergraduate work, he became fascinated by the ways coding and computational methods can be applied to biological data, which inspired him to pursue a master’s degree in Bioinformatics at George Washington University. In the lab Ramtin is applying informatic tools to understand how the alveolar epithelial differentiation program is disrupted in lung fibrosis. He is specifcally interested in reductionst organoid models as platforms for understanding epithelial differentiation.
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