Team

Robert Krencik, PhD, studied neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, where he devised the first cellular system for the efficient generation of human glial progenitors and astrocyte subtypes from pluripotent stem cells. He conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco with Erik Ullian, PhD, where his studies illuminated mechanisms for human astrocytes in controlling the timing of synaptic plasticity. Currently, his lab is using organoid-like sphere cultures as a disease model of the human nervous system.

Dr. Krencik’s Google Scholar Profile

Dr. Tahanis has a Medical Degree, and a Master’s Degree in Molecular and Translational Neuroscience from Ulm University in Germany, where his research focused on motor neuron disease. Currently, he is identifying disease processes due to glioblastoma and genetic mutations that cause Parkinson’s disease.

Sajedeh has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is co-advised with Dr. Omid Veiseh at Rice University in Bioengineering department. Currently, she is developing cell-based therapeutics to improve neuron reconnectivity after various nervous system injuries.

Sailee has a PhD in Vision Neuroscience from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, where her research focused on the analyses of the development and function of stem cell derived cells in neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, she is working on understanding the contributions of astrocyte-dependent extracellular matrix and how it modulates neural synaptic activity and neuroregeneration.

Thao has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from University of Houston where she was trained in utilizing zebrafish as a platform for high-throughput drug screening and got her publication in Journal of Inflammation Research (PMID: 31695470). She also trained in various mice models, imaging modalities, and 3D cell culture. She then joined Dr. Yokoi lab as a postdoctoral fellow in May 2020 to study seed-and-soil dependent differences in cancer metastasis, resulted in her co-authored work published in Pharmaceutics (PMID: 33920216). She joined the Krencik lab in March 2023 and has been trained in brain surgery, organoid generation, and human pluripotent stem cell culture and differentiation. She will lead model establishment, transplantation, and behavioral characterization of Parkinson’s disease models. Besides conducting research, Thao participated in reviewing papers, presented her work at symposiums or scientific meetings, and training new lab members.

Megh received a Bachelor of Science degree in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was previously a research analyst at the Byer’s Eye Institute at Stanford University. He is currently an MD/PhD student at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and is pursuing his PhD in the Department of Medical Sciences. Megh’s thesis will focus on understanding the interactions between astrocytes and neuronal synapses by using bioengineered neural organoids produced from human pluripotent stem cells.

Joey holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and Mathematics from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. He is part of the inaugural cohort of the Houston Methodist branch of the Weill Cornell Medicine Neuroscience program and is co-advised by Dr. Amy Kuceyeski at Cornell University. His thesis explores the network activity of bioengineered neural organoids, while also applying Network Control Theory to understand epileptic activity. In his free time, Joey enjoys reading and writing.

Marisela Martinez de Kraatz is currently pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience from Weill Cornell Medicine in partnership with Houston Methodist. She received pre-graduate training at McGovern Medical School in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Frost, where she published her first paper related to small molecule inhibition of a notoriously difficult anticancer drug target (PMID: 37101428). During this time, she trained in molecular, biochemical, and cell culture techniques used to study receptor agonists used clinically as the primary pharmacological treatment to suppress excess hormone secretion in a variety of neuroendocrine tumors. As a graduate student in the Krencik lab, she is being trained in various techniques such as computational analysis of data, imaging modalities, and organoid generation utilizing differentiated human pluripotent stem cell culture. She is currently establishing a model of neurodegeneration/regeneration in organoids related to Parkinson’s Disease that will provide a platform for mechanistic dissection of neurodegeneration and small molecule screening. Marisela has presented her research at multiple conferences, meetings, and symposiums all over the U.S. Outside of the lab, she is on the committee for the “Women in Neuroscience” group in the Department of Neurosurgery.