Visiting Collaborators/Trainees

  • Fernando Danilo González Nilo, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (CBIB), at Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile. Dr. González visited Dr. Zakharian’s lab during March 22-28 of 2019, for the collaborative project on TRP channels function/structure relationship.
  • Jaime Huerta, Graduate student at the Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile, visited Dr. Zakharian’s lab during March 22 – April 12 of 2019, to learn about TRP channels purification and functional characterization.
  • Erkin Kurganov, PhD-student, SOKENDAI, Division of Cell Signaling, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), National Institutes of Natural Science, Okazaki, Japan. Erkin visited Dr. Zakharian’s lab for training of the planar lipid bilayer technique for the period of April-May 2016.
  • Kunitoshi Uchida, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Okazaki University, Japan. Division of Cell Signaling National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, Okazaki, Japan. Dr. Uchida received the grant from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI Fellowship in the amount of $37,570.00, to visit Dr. Zakharian’s lab for training of the planar lipid bilayer technique for the period of September 7th 2013 till February 24th 2014.
  • Pia Elustondo, PhD, Research Associate at the Department Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada. Dr. Elustondo visited the lab in October of 2014 for an experimental help on our collaborative project, entitled “PHB/PolyP complexes in mitochondrial mPTP”.
  • Zahir Hussain, PhD, a Professor at the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Hussain visited the lab from June 6th till August 6th of 2014, for a collaborative project dedicated to TRP channels regulation in planar lipid bilayers.
  • Elena N. Dedkova, DVM, PhD, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Physiology Rush University of California, Davis, CA. Dr. Dedkova visited the lab in September of 2014 for an exchanged experience and to receive experimental help performing biochemical identification of PHB deposits in cardiomyocytes, and detection of PHB in blood samples obtained from animals with heart failure and diabetes.
  • Nataliya V. Balashova, PhD, an Assistant Professor at
 the Department of Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Philadelphia PA. Dr. Balashova received the Burroughs Welcome Fund (BWF) 2013 Collaborative Research Travel Grant (CRTG) in the amount of $5,000 to visit Dr. Zakharian’s lab in August of 2013. The project was dedicated to “Functional activity of bacterial toxin in artificial lipid bilayers.”

Students/Scholars

David Gao, B.S. M-2, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

Nadarra Stokes, B.S. M-3, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

Robert George, B.S. M-3, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

Carlos Becerril, B.S. M-4, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
Elective Program Title: Critical Thinking Using the Scientific Method, September-October 2016

Samuel Mueting, B.S. The James Scholar, M-3, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
December 2015 – date.

Kaleigh Tockes, B.S. M-4, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
December 2015 – date.

Tyler Dawson, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria
August 2015 – August 2016.

Nadia Churchill-Gilstrap, Eureka University
August-November 2015

Gayane Nersesyan, University of Chicago
September 2-30, 2014

Gabriel Sahakyan, Dunlap High School
June 9 – July 31, 2014

Heather Kentzel, Eureka University
June 2 – August 23, 2014

Samiha Sarkar, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
July 7 – August 4, 2013
June 16 – August 15, 2014

Alexandria Bowman, M-4 Student
August 5-30, 2013
Program Title: Critical Thinking Using the Scientific Method