Research Personnel

H. Isaac Chen, MD

Principal Investigator
Isaac.Chen@uphs.upenn.edu

Dr. Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Section Chief of Neurosurgery at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University. Subsequently, he completed medical school and neurosurgical residency at the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical interests include functional neurosurgery, epilepsy surgery, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumors (especially those in eloquent cortex).

Dennis Jgamadze, MD, PhD, MSc

Research Associate
jgamadze@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Dennis has been a post-doctoral fellow in the lab since the fall of 2014. He received his MSc degree in Molecular Bioengineering PhD from the Dresden University of Technology (Germany) in Neuroscience where he worked on establishing and characterizing 3D colloidal bead-based neural cultures and transplanting these cultures into the rat hippocampus. He is currently working on developing novel methods for repairing brain circuitry using a combination of stem cell biology, tissue engineering, and neural-optical-electronic interfaces.

Jaeha Kim

Research Specialist
Jaeha.Kim@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Jaeha Kim is a recent graduate from Swarthmore College, where he pursued a major in Biology and minor in Psychology. His research interests lie in neurosurgery and neural repair, and he currently works in arealization of organoid models towards certain cortical phenotypes. Outside of the lab, Jaeha enjoys reading, cooking, playing the violin, and golfing.

Mackenzie Castellanos

Medical Student
Mackenzie.Castellanos@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Mackenzie graduated from Indiana University in 2021 with a degree in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, she conducted research looking at the effects of the gut microbiome on animal behavior. Her research interests include exploring translational options for brain repair with neural tissue regeneration. Currently in the lab, Mackenzie is studying the histology of cortical organoids to investigate their compositional and organizational properties.

Sarah Hamimi

Medical Student
sarah.hamimi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Sarah Hamimi is a medical student from Alexandria, Egypt. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2022 with a BS/MS in Neuroscience. Her research interests include neural repair, and understanding the pathophysiology of brain injury, neuronal plasticity, and chronic pain. Her current project in the lab focuses on exploring strategies to optimize organoid transplantation following traumatic brain injury.

Ben Rees

Medical Student
Benjamin.Rees@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Ben graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2022 with a degree in Neuroscience. Prior to starting medical school, Ben performed research on brain-spine-machine interface technologies, non-invasive brain-machine interfaces, and cortical development in models of neurological disabilities. His research interests include neuromodulation and regeneration of neural tissue. In the lab, Ben’s projects focus on exploring the functional properties of developing and transplanted organoids using electrophysiological analysis.

Shikha Singh

Medical Student
Shikha.Singh@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Shikha Singh is a medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine interested in pursuing neurosurgery and learning more about movement disorders. She’s originally from the Bay Area in California and went to Johns Hopkins University for undergrad where she majored in Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience. Shikha helps the lab analyze how cortical brain organoids integrate with the native rat brain post transplantation into the motor cortex region after an aspiration injury.

Zarrar Nashman

Medical Student
zn46@drexel.edu

Zarrar Nashman is a Medical Student at Drexel University College of Medicine interested in pursuing neurosurgery. He completed his Bachelors from The University of Pittsburgh and his Masters from Columbia University. His research interest lies in the development of iPSC-derived hippocampal organoids. Currently, Zarrar is analyzing the histology after integration of transplanted organoids in rat motor cortex through various quantification methods.

Adam Sjoholm

Post-Baccalaureate Student
msjoholm@sas.upenn.edu

Adam graduated from the United States Military Academy in 2016 with a degree in computer science. He then completed five years of service as an infantry officer in the US Army. Adam is currently a student in the University of Pennsylvania's post-baccalaureate program, with a goal of applying to medical school. His project is investigating how to measure the effects of brain injuries and organoid transplants using animal behavior.

Joyce Lee

Undergraduate Student
joyceml@sas.upenn.edu

Joyce is an undergraduate student at Penn studying Health & Societies and Biology. Her research interests include the transplantation of neural tissue in the motor cortex in hopes of aiding brain repair following injury, using techniques like immunohistochemistry and computational analysis.

Arti Singh

Undergraduate Student
artsing@sas.upenn.edu

Arti is an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania studying neuroscience and PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) on a pre-medical track. She is interested in the study of neurological disorders and the integration of technology in finding novel solutions to aid patients with such disorders. She hopes to explore further avenues of research and entrepreneurship moving forward. Arti helps the lab study how cortical organoids integrate into the motor cortex of the native rat brain post-transplantation.

Nitin Seshadri

Undergraduate Student
nitin25@sas.upenn.edu

Nitin is an undergraduate student studying neuroscience in the College of Arts and Sciences. His research interests include the application of brain organoids in repairing neural damage from stroke, traumatic brain injury, or neurodegenerative diseases. His projects currently include investigating how to measure the effects of brain injuries and organoid transplants using animal behavior.

Faculty and Staff