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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Katie Reding, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate Katie grew up in the DC area, where she earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Maryland. She continued at the University of Maryland as a technician and then PhD student in Dr. Leslie Pick's lab studying the gene regulatory networks that coordinate segmentation during insect embryogenesis. Her dissertation work focused on identifying genes that function as non-canonical pair-rule segmentation genes in the milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, and along the way she also developed methods for CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis in this species. In the Rodríguez lab, she's excited to apply her background in genetics and developmental biology toward understanding epithelial cell dysfunction in lung injury. Outside of the lab, she enjoys being outside cycling, cooking, and knitting.
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Rana Alluqmani, PharmD
Masters Student Rana earned her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree in Saudi Arabia and developed a professional background in clinical pharmacy, pharmaceutical consulting, and regulatory affairs. These experiences shaped her interest in the evolving role of technology in healthcare and evidence-based decision making. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Bioinformatics at The George Washington University, with the goal of integrating her pharmacy background with computational approaches to support the future of personalized medicine. Her project is focused on generating novel fibroblast models of intrinsic stress to define the potenital implications for fibroblast dysfunction in lung injury.
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Ashley Del Cid Romero
Undergraduate Student Ashley grew up in the New York City metropolitan area, where she graduated from Fox Lane High School. She is a current undergraduate student at the George Washington University majoring in Neuroscience. Throughout high school, Ashley was a research student in Dr. Georgios Karagiannis lab studying the emigration defects in regenerating thymi after a chemotherapy insult. She also completed a research project under Dr. Erica Sloan, where she studied the effects of beta-2 adrenergic receptor activation on the immune response of wild type and Adrb2 knockout mice. In the Rodriguez lab, she is excited to apply her research background and work hands on with cell cultures to investigate how aging affects epithelial cell plasticity.
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