Meet our Team

David’s passion for hearing research is personal: in his sophomore year at Cornell, he was diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma. After studying medicine at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, he spent two years in the lab of Artur Indzhykulian, MD, PhD at The Massachusetts Eye and Ear working with viral vectors in vivo and helping to develop a machine learning algorithm for data analysis. This led to industry, where he spearheaded in vivo studies for a candidate GJB2 gene therapy. In the Manor Lab, David hopes to continue research on novel gene therapies for hearing loss and to expand his surgical and imaging skills. In his free time, David can usually be found collecting and listening to records, riding his 80’s randonneuring bicycle around Mission Bay, rock climbing, or skiing in the San Juan Mountains.

Lauren received her bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from California State University of San Marcos in 2020. After graduating, she worked with Johnson and Johnson in their discovery biology department. She joined the Salk Institute in 2022 as a research assistant to pursue a career in academia. In the Manor lab, she works to explore the dynamic physiology of the inner ear. Laurens projects focus on the effects various compounds or diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, have on hearing and inner hair cell function. To study these effects, she utilizes Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) tests, microdissection techniques, and high-resolution confocal microscopy. She plans to pursue her PhD in cell biology in the upcoming academic year. In her free time, Lauren enjoys hiking, binging Hulu, and spending time with her pets and family.

Yuning Wang is a Research Assistant in the Manor Lab. She graduated from UCSD with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a master’s degree in biology. During her contiguous BS/MS program, she was introduced to confocal microscopy and membrane structure segmentation in electron microscopy images. Now in the Manor Lab, she is interested in visualizing and analyzing organelle dynamics in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease models with Cara and also in neuronal models with promoted neural plasticity. Inspired by her previous and current research work, she is very keen to learn about deep learning and how it can be applied to enhance data analysis (including the experience) associated with various imaging techniques. When not working, she enjoys playing fetch with her dog, reading & watching sci-fi / fantasy related books & shows and learning new pieces on her guitar.

Yasmin is a multi-talented Senior Data Scientist and Machine Learning Engineer who recently joined the Cell and Developmental Biology department at UCSD as a Postdoctoral Employee, focusing on leveraging AI in cochlear analysis and auditory science. Her extensive expertise spans biomedical image processing, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision. Proficient in a broad spectrum of programming languages and libraries, Yasmin excels in manipulating various image modalities and has been instrumental in significantly enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of medical image analyses. She earned both her Ph.D. and ME degrees with an impeccable GPA of 4.00/4.00 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her professional journey has taken her from a fellowship at the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications under NIH to her latest role at Akoya Biosciences. There, she was deeply involved in several impactful projects before her transition to UCSD. With an impressive array of publications and strong leadership credentials, including nine years in teaching and administrative capacities, Yasmin has garnered numerous awards and honors that underscore her position as a leading innovator in her field.

Cara Schiavon is a Postdoctoral Fellow residing in both the Manor and Shadel labs. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida and later completed her PhD studies at Emory University where she studied the role of small GTPases and their effectors in the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics. Cara’s expertise is in various cell culture techniques and a wide variety of fluorescence imaging modalities with a current focus on live-cell imaging. Presently, she is studying how the actin cytoskeleton regulates organellar dynamics with a focus on disruptions of organelle dynamics in the context of neurodegenerative diseases such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Cayla is the image analysis specialist for the Biophotonics Core. She received her BS in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University, where she worked with Dr. Jeetain Mittal to study the transient structures of disordered peptides using molecular dynamics simulations. Cayla then went on to earn her PhD from Stanford University, working in the lab of Dr. Alex Dunn. There she worked on several projects developing analysis tools and pipelines to quantify subcellular structure and motion from 3D and 4D microscopy data. Cayla’s current interests include both the continued improvement of traditional image analysis pipelines to make these robust and accessible, and the use of deep learning to extract traditionally difficult-to-measure quantities from microscopy data.

Julien obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Cell Biology and Physiology from the University of Lille, France, and then followed a Master’s degree in Health Biology. He went on to pursue a PhD at the ONCOLille institute in France, where he researched the intricate link between cancer and neuroscience, with a specific focus on breast-to-brain metastases. His research investigated the molecular landscape and uncovered the crucial functions of tyrosine kinase receptors and neurotrophins in this pathological context. Julien has a range of proficiencies in cell culture techniques and fluorescence microscopy. He pursued further studies at the Ikeuchi Lab, the University of Tokyo, Japan, specializing in iPS cell engineering. Julien will begin working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Manor Lab in early 2024, where he will study how the actin cytoskeleton affects organelle dynamics. This research holds particular significance in the context of neurodegenerative diseases such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. In his free time, Julien enjoys traveling, photography, and playing ice hockey.

Elena Rebollo received her Ph.D in Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), where she focused on chromosome behavior during cell division using live imaging. She further specialized in Drosophila genetics, molecular biology, and live imaging during her postdoctoral stay at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Heidelberg, Germany), and later as an associate researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Barcelona, Spain). Since 2010, she is the head of the Molecular Imaging Platform at the Barcelona Molecular Biology Institute (CSIC). As visiting scientist at the Manor Lab, she is focused on addressing live cell imaging phototoxicity and she wants to contribute to developing deep learning-assisted label-free live microscopy approaches that may pave the path towards a more physiological imaging. In her free time, Elena enjoys reading, birdwatching, and playing guitar.

Joseph received his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Richmond. There, he studied the motor protein, MYO19, via the regulation of the attachment of MYO19 to the mitochondria, TRAK and MIRO proteins, and the role of calcium-binding in MYO19/MIRO interactions, in the lab of Dr. Omar Quintero-Carmona. Between his junior and senior years, he spent his summer in the lab of Dr. Erika Holzbaur as part of a research collaboration, which has since been published. During his senior year, Joseph was also in the lab of the late Dr. Samuel Abrash, studying computational physical chemistry. Joseph is currently shared between the Manor lab and the Terskikh lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, which specializes in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, as well as advanced imaging and imaging analysis tools for capturing epigenetic landscape. His research interests include using fluorescence microscopy, stem cell, and in situ models to better understand epigenetic age, the impact of transcription on chromatin dynamics, and nuclear actin. In his spare time, Joseph enjoys running and going to the San Diego Zoo.

Samprita joined the Manor lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow in December 2023, bringing a focused interest in auditory biology and a rich background in biochemical research from their PhD in the lab of Dr. Siddhartha S. Jana at the IACS, India, and a stint as a visiting researcher in Dr. James R. Sellers lab at NIH. At Manor lab, Samprita is interested in exploring the role of Eps8 in hearing loss, the age-related changes in the stereocilia of inner ear cells, and investigating mitochondrial dynamics in aged and partially reprogrammed cells. Known for their discovery of a novel isoform of non-muscle myosin IIA during their PhD, Samprita brings expertise in biochemical analysis and in-vitro studies. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, baking, and hiking, blending scientific rigor with personal passions.

Vijay is a joint research associate at the Manor lab and Kristen Harris’ lab at UT Austin. After completing his B.S degrees in Mathematics and Physics, he joined the Harris lab to work on automatic segmentation of membranes and ultrastructure in 3D electron microscopy. He enjoys creating all kinds of things with other people – especially music, food, knowledge and memories.

Cody Carroll holds a PhD and MS in statistics from the University of California, Davis and a BS in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin. His methodological research is focused on functional, longitudinal, and high-dimensional data, particularly in the context of human growth and aging, and his interdisciplinary work has spanned a range of fields, including neuroscience, medicine, epidemiology, conservation, and mountaineering.

He is currently an assistant professor of statistics and data science at the University of San Francisco. As a visiting scientist in the Manor Lab, Cody is interested in creating data-driven and statistical solutions and tools for problems that arise in the context of biology and neuroscience research. In free moments you’ll probably find Cody in a river, behind a pair of turntables, or on a road trip somewhere in California.

Jeffrey Chen received his BAs in statistics and economics from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently pursuing his MS in Data Science at the University of San Francisco. As a machine learning engineer intern in the Manor Lab, Jeffrey is developing automation scripts for comprehensive waveform analyses and Conducting deep learning-based image restoration and segmentation. In his free time, you can find Jeffrey training at the gym or releasing music under his artist name, xXCh3nXx. 

Abhi Erra is a current MS student in Data Science at the University of San Francisco with a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology with a specialization in Neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley. As a machine learning engineering intern in the Manor Lab, Abhi is interested in combining his interests in order to create data driven solutions to neurobiology. In his free time, Abhi loves to play tennis and basketball or go on lengthy walks.