MEMBERS

Jason Bazil, Ph.D

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

I received my B.S. in Bioengineering at the University of Toledo and my Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University. I then completed two postdocs, one at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Physiology Department and the other at the University of Michigan in the Physiology Department under the tutelage of Dan Beard. My lab is at Michigan State University in the Physiology Department. We have lots of neat equipment and methods that are used to measure a multitude of heart and mitochondrial functional parameters to study the effect of ischemia reperfusion injury on cardiac function.

Alyssa Vadovsky

I am a second year MCIP graduate student. I earned my B.S. in Human Biology at Michigan State University in 2022 and started my M.S. in Physiology directly after. However, my passion for research quickly developed, which resulted in me switching to the doctoral program in the Fall of 2023. Currently, I am studying differences in calcium handling in male and female cardiac mitochondria to further uncover long-term effects of sex hormones. Outside of lab, I am a graduate teaching assistant for the Physiology Department and serve on the graduate student council. Upon earning my Ph.D., I plan to complete a postdoc and pursue a career in clinical research.

Jada Roberts

I am from the beautiful island, Port of Spain, Trinidad. I graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands in 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Fine Arts minor. In fall 2022, I became a graduate student in the Biomolecular Science Gateway program at Michigan State University and then soon joined the Molecular Cellular & Integrative Physiology (MCIP) program. I’m currently serving as the Department of Physiology COGS Representative. My hobbies are traveling and volunteering.

In the Bazil lab, I will be investigating the sex hormone estrogen in female guinea pigs to understand its ability to exert cardioprotective effects against ischemia/reperfusion injury. My research also involves estrus cycle tracking, vaginal cytology, and vaginal impedance.

Gayathri Reddy

I am currently a second-year medical student at MSUCOM. I received my B.S. and M.S. from Wayne State University. My interest in cardiovascular physiology is what led me to Dr. Bazil’s lab.

Chloe Roth

I am a senior studying Human Biology at Michigan State University. After I graduate in the Spring of 2024, I plan on attending graduate school abroad to pursue a PhD in the cardiovascular sciences, specifically the molecular mechanisms of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Desiree Tuohy

I am an undergraduate student studying Physiology at Michigan State University. In the future, I would like to go to medical school to become a geriatric physician or pursue a PhD. I work as a caregiver in assisted living and am getting my phlebotomy certificate soon! In my free time, I enjoy volunteering with the elderly and camping. I have been part of Dr. Bazil’s Lab since the fall of 2023 and look forward to further cultivating my knowledge in his laboratory.

Joseph Kesto

I am an undergraduate junior studying Neuroscience and Public Health at Michigan State University. I also am a certified medical assistant and phlebotomist persuing a masters in Public Health and a medical degree as well. A fun fact about me is I speak four languages; English, Arabic, Aramaic, & Spanish.

Karthick Satheesh

My name is Karthick Prem Satheesh Kumar and I am a Neuroscience major and a Pharmacology and Toxicology minor at MSU’s Lyman Briggs College. My interest in medicine and the inner workings of the human body has led me to this lab, which I have been involved with since 2019 and am eager to learn more. My future plans include research and medical school.

Lawand Barwary

I’m a Human Biology student with big dreams of going to med school. Right now, I’m engaged in gaining patient care experience and contributing to this awesome research. I’m planning on taking a gap year but excited to keep the journey going and become a compassionate and skilled physician!

Yizhu Zhang, PhD, Lab Manager

Yizhu was the first Bazil Lab’s lab manager. She has a broad background in molecular and cellular biology, plant biology, rodent models and mitochondrial physiology. Her extensive experience in biotechnology supported various projects in the lab, and we were lucky to have her from 2016-2019.

Sathyavani Malyala, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow

Vani received her PhD in Computational Cardiac Electrophysiology from The University of Sheffield, UK in 2016 under the mentorship of Professor Richard Clayton. She was the first postdoc in the Bazil Lab and developed a computational model explaining how calcium overload induced inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation in cardiac mitochondria. In 2019, she left the lab to continued research as a Research Associate in Cardiac Electrophysiology Modeling at the University of Sheffield, UK

Neeraj Manhas, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow

Neeraj received his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Computational Biology from the National Institute of Technology Bhopal in India. He was the second postdoc in the Bazil Lab and developed a key model of the succinate dehydrogenase activity and ROS production. This paper was selected for publication in “The year in JBC:2020” top 20 articles under the Computational Biology section. In 2020, he became an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Technology in Raipur, India.

Quynh Duong, DO/PhD

Quynh was the Bazil Lab’s first graduate student. She is a DO/PhD student currently in her residency at Stanford University. She earned her B.S. from Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) with a major in chemistry and minor in biology in 2016. She developed our ETS-ROS model of capable of simulating respiration and ROS production from isolated cardiac mitochondria fueled with a variety of substrates. She loves baking, knitting, outdoor activities, chocolate, Vietnamese foods and sushi. The lab was fortunate to have her, and we wish her well!

Jasiel Strubbe, PhD

Jasel was the second graduate student in the Bazil Lab. He was a graduate student in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Program. Jasiel obtained his BSc in Chemistry with a minor concentration in Biology, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, in May 2016. He was the recipient of a prestigious F31 NIH Fellowship (F31-HL152623) and played a crucial role in our understanding of the devastating effects of calcium phosphates on mitochondrial ultrastructure and function.  He also performed a key HTS and identified several novel compounds of interest that can protect mitochondria against calcium overload. Many of the beautiful movies you will see on this site were developed by his hard work and dedication. He is now in the PK group at Charles River.

Katie Zhong, Research Assistant

Katie received her B.S. degree from MSU in December 2017. She attended Western Michigan University in 2018 and became a Physician Assistant. During her time with the lab, she assisted Quynh in measuring calcium effects on ROS production by guinea pig cardiac mitochondria. She is also a very artsy person and created the cartoon artwork on this website!

Matt Vander Ploeg, Undergraduate

Matt was in the Lyman Briggs Honors College and received his BS in Physiology with a minor in Global Public Health and Epidemiology. His current work is investigating the effects of ischemia reperfusion injury on metabolic enzymes in cardiomyocyte mitochondria. He played key roles in early lab projects and was a stellar undergrad.

Savannah Molner, Undergraduate

Savannah was an undergraduate in the Biomedical Laboratory Sciences Program at MSU and is now a Physician Assistant. She worked on a project that investigated the enzyme activity of the TCA cycle in cardiac mitochondria under normal and ischemic conditions.

Bill Millar, Undergraduate

Bill was an undergraduate Chemical Engineer. His project was focused on generating new models of mitochondrial energetics using methods developed in the Bazil Lab. He also worked on a project with Drs. Bazil and Wiseman that explored how diabetes affects skeletal muscle metabolism and function.

Hai Truong, Undergraduate

Hai was an undergraduate majoring in Microbiology. He assisted Jasiel in determining the calcium buffering power of isolated cardiac mitochondria from guinea pigs. Specifically, he helped obtain data used to calculate the concentration of calcium inside and outside of the matrix.

Yi (Ivy) Zhang, Undergraduate

Ivy was a junior undergraduate student major in human biology at Michigan State University. She is from Hunan, China, and she is interested in cardiac function and biochemistry. She was a great help in the lab and standardized some of our stock solutions preparations. Her hobbies are reading, cooking and playing basketball.