Lab Members

Melissa received her bachelor of science in biochemistry and pre-med biology from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). She is involved in iPSC differentiation to notochord project, translational model development for PTOA and porcine IVD degeneration characterization. Melissa is a graduate student at Cedars-Sinai Master's Degree in Health Delivery Science (MHDS) program.

Patricia did research on Legionella pneumophila during her undergraduate studies. She received her Master’s in Biotechnology at California State University, Channel Islands (CI). She is currently working on regeneration of tendon following injury, using 3D scaffolds and stem cells. She is also focusing on rat biobehavioral testing for all the projects.

Giselle received her bachelor’s in kinesiology with a minor in biology from Occidental College. During her time as an athlete, she became interested in applying regenerative therapies for sports injuries. She is currently involved in a variety of projects including tendon regeneration, lower back pain modeling and intervertebral disc rejuvenation.

Nadia completed her doctoral degree at the Laboratory for the Bioengineering of Tissues (BioTis), University of Bordeaux, France. She developed a biomaterial capable of regenerating functional vascularized and innervated bone tissue using mimetic biomaterials without the addition of cells and growth factors. Currently, she is working on developing new treatments for post-traumatic osteoarthritis.

Sarah received her medical doctorate degree from Tehran Azad Medical University. She joined the Yu Lab, where she worked on using nanoparticles to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to brain tumor cells. Currently at the Sheyn Lab, she is involved in cell delivery systems into degenerated IVD to attenuate lower back pain.

Namdev obtained a PhD degree from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Ahmedabad, India. He developed a range of biomaterials for the regeneration of skeletal tissues, including cartilage, bone, and IVD. His current research focuses on cell-encapsulated biomaterial for the treatment of IVD.

Ahmet earned his PhD in biomaterials and tissue engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey. He worked on bone tissue engineering and developed various scaffolds for bone repair. Currently, his research aims to understand biological mechanisms in tendon regeneration and apply translational iPSC-based therapies.

Dean is a CIRM scholar who earned her BS in biology from Cal Poly Humboldt. She is interested in research that utilizes stem cells as a treatment for joint and musculoskeletal disorders. Currently, she is optimizing iPSC differentiation protocols to develop cell sources for orthopedic tissue engineering.

Julia received a BS in Pharmacy from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She joined the Koronyo Lab, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological assessments and therapies in transgenic mouse models. Currently, in the Sheyn Lab, she is involved in projects aiming to reduce pain and neuronal damage after spine traumatic injury, and developing new osteoarthritis treatments utilizing bioinformatics.

Tang, a skilled pain surgeon in minimally invasive medicine, holds a clinical medical doctoral degree from Capital Medical University, China. His current research primarily focuses on developing biomaterials-encapsulated cell therapies for the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases, such as intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) and osteoarthritis (OA).

Lea obtained her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Toronto, where she competed as a varsity swimmer. After experiencing an athletic injury, she became interested in regenerative medicine and pursued her MASc in biomedical engineering. Currently at the Sheyn Lab, Lea is engaged in projects centered around osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration.