Our Team
Principal Investigator
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Dr. Aguirre obtained his B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. In 2010 he obtained his Ph.D. in Material Science and Tissue Engineering at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). For his postdoctoral training Dr. Aguirre joined a world-leading lab on stem cell biology and regeneration at The Salk Institute under the supervision of J.C. Izpisua-Belmonte, where he introduced the concept of regenerative reprogramming and applied it to cardiac regeneration (Cell Stem Cell, 2014), and made significant contributions to non-coding RNA biology in human development (Cell Stem Cell, 2014; Circulation, 2015). Dr. Aguirre became Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego in 2017. In 2018 he joined IQ and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University. During his career, Dr. Aguirre has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Gangoiti Barrera Fellowship, the CIBER-BBN award, the Generalitat of Catalunya predoctoral fellowship, the Hispanic Center of Excellence award at the University of California and more recently an NHLBI K01 award.
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Aitor Aguirre, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Personnel
Kristen Ball is a research assistant and laboratory manager for Dr. Aitor Aguirre’s biomedical engineering lab located at MSU's Institute of Quantitative Health Sciences and Engineering. She received her bachelors of science degree from the University of Michigan in April 2018 where she studied biology and philosophy. She currently studies bioactive lipids and their impact on cardiac development through the use of stem cells and murine models.
Kristen Ball
Lab Manager (2018-present)
Postdocs
Dr. Venkatesan obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biotechnology at the Periya University and the Vellore Institiute of Technology (VIT) in India. In 2019 he obtained his Ph.D. in Medical Biotechnology at the Chettinad Acacdemy of Research and Education (CARE) working on the effect of marine sulfated polysaccharides in neurological disease in zebrafish. He has been awarded the Senior Research Fellowship from CSIR. Govt. of India. He currently studies the impact and importance of bioactive lipids on cardiac development and regenration using of human (iPSCs) stem cells, murine and zebrafish models.
Manigandan Venkatesan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral researcher (2020-present)
Graduate students
Aaron Wasserman is a Ph.D. student in the Cellular and Molecular Biology graduate program at MSU. Before coming to East Lansing, he obtained an M.S. in Physiology and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan. Aaron’s research in the Aguirre lab is focused on neuroendocrine reprogramming of the epicardium during the process of heart regeneration. He aims to identify neurohormones and signaling pathways that activate epicardial cells in the injured heart and convert them to a stem cell state..
Aaron Wasserman
(2018-present)
Yonatan (Yoni) Israeli has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from RMIT University in Australia, and a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Bristol in the UK. His research interests include regenerative medicine and the use of tissue engineering to create human disease models. Currently, Yoni is pursuing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the Aguirre lab, focusing on the fabrication of self-assembling cardiac organoids derived from human iPSCs to study cardiac development and to create disease models of the heart.
Yonatan Israeli
(2018-present)
Brett Volmert
(2019-present)
Undergraduate students
Renee Kinne is a junior studying Genomics and Molecular Genetics through Lyman Briggs. She is exploring the multitude of research possibilities in preparation for graduate school by utilizing the variety of techniques found in the Aguirre lab from cell culturing to mouse work. She is currently assisting Kristen in her research on bioactive lipids and their effect on cardiac development.
Renee Kinne
(2018-present)
Mitchell Gabalski is a sophomore studying Biochemistry and Biotechnology through Lyman Briggs College. He is planning on furthering his education by obtaining his PhD. He is interested in studying the use of nanomaterials, such as viruses, for drug delivery. Currently working in the Aguirre Lab, he assists graduate students setting up and carrying out experiments
Mitchell Gabalski
(2019-present)
Amanda Huang is a senior studying Biomedical Laboratory Science and Human Biology with a minor in Chinese through Lyman Briggs College. She is interested in regenerative medicine and its potential to impact patients in the real world. She intends to go to medical school in the future, possibly pursuing an MD-PhD. In the Aguirre Lab, she utilizes human pluripotent stem cells and mouse models to study epicardial cell activation in the context of heart regeneration.
Amanda Huang
(2019-present)
Hailey Bond is a Sophomore studying neuroscience and bioethics through Lyman Briggs. Currently, she is passionately exploring laboratory-based biomedical research in hopes to not only prepare for graduate school, but also help further the field of medicine. Looking forward in her career, she sees herself pursuing an MD- PhD. She is currently assisting Kristen in the zebrafish facility found in the Aguirre lab specializing in tasks involving the husbandry of the fish.
Hailey Bond
(2020-present)
Erin Bosman
(2019-present)
Kelsey Olen
(2020-present)
