LAB MEMBERS
Vivian Lee, MD
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
vivian.lee@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Vivian is a board-certified ophthalmologist with a subspecialty in ocular pathology. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, College of Arts and Sciences, Vivian attended the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by an ophthalmology residency at Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed an ophthalmic pathology fellowship under the mentorship of world-renowned ocular pathologists, Drs. Daniel Albert and Heather Potter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She returned to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania as an Assistant Professor, where she practices comprehensive ophthalmology and ocular pathology. In addition, Vivian leads a robust research laboratory, examining epithelial wound healing & tumorigenesis, and corneal nerve regeneration. As one of the few practicing ocular pathologists in the world, her research is enhanced by her clinical expertise, resulting in the development of significant translational research programs and collaborations.
Yoko Horiuchi, PhD
Senior Research Investigator
Yoko is a Senior Research Investigator in the Lee Lab. She obtained her engineering bachelor's and master's degrees at Tokyo University of Science, where she studied neural stem cell differentiation. Afterward, she was a Max Planck Institute PhD Research fellow and finished her PhD on planarian stem cells and regeneration at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in 2017. She gained additional training with Dr. Rompolas at Penn on live imaging of corneal regeneration, Dr. Ashraf at the University of Cincinnati on mesenchymal stem cells and miRNAs regulation, and Drs. Ito and Pleasure at the University of California, Davis on nerve regeneration and transcription factors regulation of oligodendrocyte differentiation. She completed an NRSA postdoctoral fellowship in the Seykora lab interrogating the role of Notch signaling in squamous cell carcinoma. With her expertise in stem cells and cancer research, she is interested in understanding how homeostasis is maintained to prevent disease with the ultimate goal of discovering treatment modalities for currently incurable diseases, especially in the skin and eye.
Chenyan Lin, MD
Senior Research Specialist
chenlin@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Chenyan Lin is a Senior Research Specialist and has worked in the Lee lab since 2018. She is an expert in wound healing assays and cell signaling pathways in ocular surface epithelial cells. She oversees the technical aspects of all experiments including tissue culture, immunohistochemistry, processing of human tissue samples, and microcapillary-based western blot analysis.
Amy Chen
Undergraduate student
Amy is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Vagelos Life Sciences & Management Program, a joint dual degree program between the College of Arts & Sciences and Wharton School. She is interested in exploring cell signaling pathways in the epithelium and plans to attend medical school. In her free time, Amy likes baking, running, and bullet journaling.
Baotram Nguyen
Medical student
Baotram graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently a second-year medical student at Drexel University College of Medicine. This summer, she is working on high-resolution spatial transcriptomics of ocular tumors to identify novel biomarkers. In addition to loving everything about medicine, Baotram is also a huge Gritty fan!