Elizabeth Pollina
Assistant Professor
pollina[at]wustl.edu
Liz obtained her PhD in the fields of epigenetics and aging and did her postdoctoral work in molecular neurobiology. Liz is fascinated by how the environment impinges on the genome to modulate neuronal development and aging. Outside of lab, Liz enjoys reading, long distance running, and spending time with her young family .
Shilpa Padmanaban
Postdoctoral Fellow
p.shilpa[at]wustl.edu
Shilpa received her PhD from the University of Michigan, where she studied how telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes. Currently, she is broadly interested in understanding if DNA repair mechanisms are different in young and aged brains. In her free time, she enjoys painting, listening to music, and traveling.
Taylor Lambert
Research Assistant
lambert[at]wustl.edu
Taylor received her B.S. in Biological Chemistry and hopes to continue her education by attending medical school. Her research interests include investigating how sleep patterns influence neuronal development and longevity. Outside of the lab, she enjoys weightlifting, reading, and listening to music.
Zahra Bardaghi
Research Assistant
zahrabardaghi[at]gmail.com
Zahra received her bachelor’s degree from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. She is focused on understanding the long-term effects of neuroinflammation on behavior and memory in mice and the role of chromatin in these processes. When she’s not working in the lab, Zahra enjoys painting, aerial exercises, reading books, and camping.
Ena Haseljic
Graduate Student
e.haseljic[at]wustl.edu
Ena is a Ph.D. student in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics program. She obtained her B.S. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Rochester, where she explored longevity in bowhead whales. Her research interests include exploring DNA repair in neurons and investigating how sleep deprivation affects transcriptomics and epigenetics in neurons. In her free time, Ena enjoys playing volleyball, reading books, working out, and taking long walks.
Joowon Um
Graduate Student
j.um[at]wustl.edu
Joowon is a Ph.D. student in the Developmental Biology program. He obtained his B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles where he experimented on changing methylation levels in Arabidopsis thaliana via fusion proteins containing a methyltransferase domain. His undergraduate research has extended beyond to culture his present interest in the role of epitranscriptomics in aging. In his free time, he enjoys making Youtube videos and making Korean food!
Cecilia Lei
Postdoctoral Fellow
leih[at]wustl.edu
Cecilia did her Ph.D. at WashU in Dr. Shin Imai’s lab, where she probed the effects of aging on motivational behaviors and responses to social isolation in mice. In the Pollina lab, she will focus on 1) exploring how sleep and sleep deprivation affects the brain-gut axis at single-cell level and 2) screening for pivotal DNA repair factors that maintain genome stability in aging neurons. Aside from science, Cecilia enjoys feeding herself & others, watching anime & movies, and going on trips of all sorts.
Samantha Maradiaga
OGR Summer Student
samanthamaradiaga[at]icloud.com
Samantha is in her third year of undergraduate school. She is studying to get her Bachelors degree in Biochemistry. She is interested in attending graduate school and further studying molecular genetics. During her free time she enjoys to crocheting, hiking, and trying new foods.
Former Lab Members
In the Pollina Lab, we are honored to have the privilege to train the next generation of scientists and are committed foremost to the success of our members. We are thinkers, dreamers, doers, talkers, and friends. We believe the best science emerges from diverse viewpoints and training paths. We are committed to generating an environment where each person’s passion and individual character synergize to strengthen our team. Our core values are curiosity, generosity, resilience, integrity, and humor, and we celebrate the process of scientific discovery as much as the discoveries themselves. We are eager to recruit individuals to help shape this culture of inclusion and support.
Come join us! We are looking for talented post-docs, students, and bioinformaticians. Please send your cv and three reference letters to pollina[at]wustl.edu.