The Lab
People — Past & Present
The Ekker Lab is built on curiosity, collaboration, and a shared commitment to turning genomic discovery into real-world impact.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Santiago Restrepo-Castillo
Postdoctoral Fellow
Novel methods for mtDNA editing
Graduate Students
Adriana Morales Gomez
PhD Candidate · 2021–present
ALS and gene editing; CHCHD2/CHCHD10
Rae Mayo
PhD Student · 2023–present
Mitochondrial disease modeling in zebrafish using advanced DonorGuide gene editing
Aparna Sahu
PhD Student · 2024–present
Advances in mtDNA gene editing for zebrafish disease models
Victoria Diaz
PhD Student · 2024–present
Mitochondrial RNA transport (shared w/ Dr. Sabharwal)
MD Roushan Ali
PhD Student · 2025–present
Mitochondrial signaling
Smit Patel
Graduate Student · 2025–present
Human mitochondrial DNA editing; hearing loss
Technicians
Sara Bohra
Research Technician
Amanda Zumbrock
Research Technician
Research Support
Ron Sistrunk
Zebrafish Facility Manager
UT Austin
Undergraduates
Kyler Mitra
Undergraduate Researcher
Zebrafish hearing loss and mtDNA variation
Rishav Sarkar
Undergraduate Researcher
Zebrafish retinal disease modeling
Ayana Bahadur
Undergraduate Researcher
Rare disease research
Ananya Anand
Undergraduate Researcher
Rare disease research
Anjana Reddy
Undergraduate Researcher
Rare disease research
Danya Qadan
Undergraduate Researcher
Mitochondrial disease modeling in zebrafish
Rebecca Song
Undergraduate Researcher
Genetic compensation
Andrew Azer
Undergraduate Researcher
Jishnu Vijendran
Undergraduate Researcher
Executive Assistants
Suzette Nava
Executive Assistant
Daniela Rodriguez Marty
Executive Assistant
Alumni
The Ekker Lab has trained scientists now leading labs, building companies, and advancing medicine worldwide.
Postdoctoral Alumni 21 alumni
| Name | Period | Post Ekker Lab Role |
|---|---|---|
 Dr. Ankit Sabharwal | 2018–2023 | Faculty, UT Austin |
| Dr. Bibekannanda Kar | 2019–2023 | — |
| Dr. Maarten Rotmann | 2019–2022 | Entrepreneurial Education Manager, Mayo Clinic Florida |
| Dr. Rena Hale | 2021–2022 | Research Associate, Mayo Clinic OoE |
| Dr. Annapoorna Sreedhar | 2021–2022 | Entrepreneurial Education Coordinator, Mayo Clinic Arizona |
| Dr. Trupti Vardam-Kaur | 2019–2021 | Assoc Tech IP Dev Mgr, Mayo Clinic Business Development |
| Dr. Stefan Madansingh | 2019–2021 | — |
| Karl Clark | 2007–2010 | Associate Professor, Mayo Clinic |
| Christopher Pierret | 2008–2011 | Assistant Professor, Mayo Clinic |
| Jun Ni | 2007–2010 | — |
| Mara Robu | 2003–2007 | Assistant Professor, St. Olaf |
| Darius Balciunas | 2001–2007 | Associate Professor, Temple University |
| Anthony Person | 2004–2007 | Scientist, R&D Systems |
| Michelle Knowlton | 2004–2007 | Curator, Jackson Labs |
| Michael Pickart | 2002–2005 | Department Head & Associate Professor, UW-Stout |
| Sridhar Sivasubbu | 2002–2005 | Associate Professor, IGIB New Delhi |
| Kevin Neff | 2010–2012 | — |
| Alvin Ma | 2011–2013 | Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong |
| Prof. Henning Schneider | 2009–2010 (sabbatical) | Professor of Biology, DePauw University |
PhD Alumni 21 alumni
| Name | Period | Post Ekker Lab Role |
|---|---|---|
| Noriko Umemoto/Ichino | 2014–2020 | — |
| Gabriel Martinez Galvez | 2016–2021 | Concordia University, Montreal |
| William Gendron | 2016–2021 | Postdoc, Dr. Barry Lab, Mayo Clinic |
| Hirotaka Ata | 2014–2019 | MD/PhD, Mayo Clinic; Duke University |
| Brandon Simone | 2018–2021 | LEAH Labs → U Penn |
| Jarryd Campbell | 2012–2016 | Postdoc, UMN; Scientist, Recombinetics |
| Stephanie Westcot | 2006–2016 | Scientific Writer, IDT; Patent Attorney, Pierce Atwood LLP |
| Joanna Yang Yowler | 2013–2017 | Postdoc, Mayo Clinic Florida |
| Margot Cousin | 2011–2015 | Research Associate, Mayo Clinic |
| Alaa Koleilat | 2016–2020 | Faculty, OHSU Dept. Molecular and Medical Genetics |
| Patrick Blackburn | 2012–2015 | Assistant Member Faculty, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital |
| Greg Sindberg | 2014–2016 | Senior Medical Writer, Medtronic |
| Andrew Petzold | 2006–2010 | Associate Professor, Center for Learning Innovation, UMR |
| Brent Bill | 2002–2008 | Associate Professor, Dept. Biology, UT Tyler |
| Saulius Sumanas | 1995–2000 | Tenured Professor, Dept. Pathology, University of South Florida |
| Aidas Nasevicius | 1996–2001 | CSO, Yorktown Technologies |
| Ann E. Davidson | 1997–2004 | — |
| Kamalakar Chatla | 2014–2015 | Dr. Russ Pieper Lab, UCSF |
| Shelly Myers | 2006–2007 (M.S.) | — |
| Tyler H. Koep | 2011–2014 | CSO, OneOme |
MD/PhD Alumni 4 alumni
| Name | Period | Post Ekker Lab Role |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Bedell | 2008–2014 | Residency, University of Pennsylvania |
| Kirk Wangensteen | 2002–2007 | Faculty, University of Pennsylvania; GI and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic |
| Eleanor Chen | 2000–2004 | Assistant Professor, Dept. Pathology, University of Washington |
| Hyon Kim | 2001–2005 | Residency, Cincinnati Children's |
Undergraduate Alumni 13 alumni
| Name | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Julie Guttman | Medical School (Israel) |
| Paul Judd | Graduate School, BMBB, UMN |
| Jenny Shaffer | Medical School, Mayo Clinic |
| Hyon Kim | MD/PhD, UMN |
| Erin Walsh | Medical School, Mayo Clinic |
| Ken Finley | Graduate School, MCDB&G, UMN |
| Anna Kattan | Graduate School, Finland; Medical School, UMN |
| Cheryl Saunders | Graduate School, U. Washington |
| Dawn Demmon | Graduate School |
| Spencer Hermanson | Staff Scientist, Biotech |
| Paul Phelps | Fulbright Student Scholar |
| Nicole Boczek | Graduate School, Mayo Clinic |
| Daniel Chambers | — |
Former Technicians 3 alumni
| Name | Period | Current Status |
|---|---|---|
| Pete Strege | 1997–2000 | Scientist, Mayo Clinic |
| Mireya Mota | –Summer 2025 | Graduate student, Fall 2025 |
 Jace Klein | –Summer 2025 | Graduate student, Fall 2025 |
GREP / PREP Alumni 5 alumni
| Name | Program | Period | Post Ekker Lab Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roberto Lopez Cervera | PREP MOMSA | 2014–2017 | MD/PhD student, UMN Medical School |
| Jake Bergren | GREP | 2015–2017 | Senior Marketing Specialist, Merck |
| Kyle Schaefbauer | GREP | 2016–2017 | Research Technologist, Mayo Clinic |
| Alexandra Cook | GREP | — | — |
| Kaila Savage | GREP | 2022 | — |
Collaborative Graduate Students & Postdocs 7 alumni
| Name | Collaboration | Post Ekker Lab Role |
|---|---|---|
| Eric Mendenhall | w/ Catherine Verfaillie | Assistant Professor |
| Jeff Ross | w/ Catherine Verfaillie | Industry Scientist |
| Melissa Rusch | w/ Scott Selleck | — |
| Shannon Buckley | w/ Catherine Verfaillie | — |
| Abhishek Sohni | w/ Catherine Verfaillie | — |
| Anskar Leung | Postdoc w/ Catherine Verfaillie | Assistant Professor, Hong Kong |
| Sally Stringer | Postdoc w/ Dr. Scott Selleck | Assistant Professor, UK |
