Our Group


Principal investigator

Manolis Roulis, PhD

Manolis Roulis, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
 manolis.roulis@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
 LinkedIn profile

Manolis studied Biology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He pursued his doctoral studies in "Alexander Fleming", in Athens, Greece (Kollias lab), focusing on the role of TNF and MAP kinase signaling in the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in mouse models. His postdoctoral studies in the same lab led him to the discovery of a fibroblast-mediated mechanism of intestinal epithelial homeostasis. He moved to Yale and joined the laboratory of Richard Flavell, where he focused on the functional diversity of intestinal mesenchymal cells and investigated the role of specific fibroblast populations in intestinal tumorigenesis as well as in chronic inflammation and fibrosis. He started as an Assistant Professor at UPenn in July 2023.


Investigators

Eleanna Kaffe, PhD

Eleanna Kaffe, PhD

Instructor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
 eleana.kaffe@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
 LinkedIn profile

Eleanna studied biochemistry and earned her PhD at the University of Thessaly in Greece, focusing on mass spectrometry and liver diseases. As a postdoctoral researcher in "Alexander Fleming" in Athens, Greece (Aidinis lab), she studied the role of phospholipid metabolism in liver fibrosis and cancer, by employing mouse models and mass spectrometry-based lipidomic analyses. She moved to Yale and worked on congenital cholangiopathies (Strazzabosco lab). Then she joined Richard Flavell's lab at Yale, where she developed a novel humanized mouse model that bears a functional human hepatic tissue - read her 2023 paper in Cell here. Her current research focuses on the role of lipid metabolic pathways in chronic liver and intestinal diseases. She started as an Instructor at UPenn in September 2023.

Lauren Questell

Lauren Questell

PhD student - Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Group / Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology
 lauren.questell@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Lauren is a PhD student in the CAMB-MVP program, with an interest in understanding host-diet-microbe interactions in the context of colorectal cancer. She earned her BS in Environmental Science from Johns Hopkins University and worked at the U.S. EPA before shifting her focus to human health. She completed her ScM in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins, where her thesis research in the Suez Lab explored the impact of artificial sweeteners on the gut microbiome and metabolic health.

Shimin Liu

Shimin Liu

Master's student
 shimin.liu@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Shimin is a Master's student in the Biotechnology program of UPenn and she joined the lab in September 2024. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, where she conducted research in cancer biology and stem cells. She is interested in cell interactions between immune cells, fibroblasts, and tumor cells within the tumor microenvironment. Outside the lab she is a figure skater. 

 

Kaily Ayisi

Kaily Ayisi

Undergraduate student

Kailey is an undergraduate student majoring in neuroscience at UPenn. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she joined our lab in June 2024. Kailey has an interest in studying neurological disorders as well as the interactions between fibroblasts and neurons. She plans to pursue an MD in the future.

Kaley Chen

Kaley Chen

Undergraduate student

Kaley is an undergraduate student studying nursing at UPenn, originally from California. She joined our lab in November 2024. Kaley is interested in studying metabolic pathways in human disease and she works with Eleanna on mass spectrometry and lipidomics.

Bruno Ndiba Mbwaye Roy

Bruno Ndiba Mbwaye Roy

PURM undergraduate student
 brunombw@seas.upenn.edu

Bruno is an undergraduate student in the School of Engineering at UPenn, originally from Cameroon. He joined the lab in May 2025 as a fellow of the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM). He is interested in computational and data-mining approaches to discover mechanisms of pathogenesis of gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases and colon cancer. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis.

Chiara Santoso

Chiara Santoso

PURM undergraduate student
 csantoso@sas.upenn.edu

Chiara is a UPenn undergraduate student and a fellow of the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM), originally from Jakarta, Indonesia. She is studying Biology and Computer science, with a strong focus on the intersection between the two fields. She joined the lab in 5/2025, and she is particularly interested in how data-driven approaches can be used to unravel complex biological systems, leading to advances in molecular biology and healthcare. 


Administration

Deborah Johnson

Deborah Johnson

Administrative Assistant, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
 deborah.johnson3@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
 215-573-4765

Deborah Johnson joined the lab in April 2024 as the Administrative Coordinator. Prior to joining the lab she spent 19 years at Penn Nursing as a Research Project Manager on various projects.  Deborah is co-author on several research publications and enjoys going to Broadway Musicals.

Alumni

Investigators

Yutong Li, BSc  |  Master's Thesis student (Penn Bioengineering) |  9/2023-5/2025 | → Georgia Institute of Technology, Bioengineering Ph.D. Program

Zhixin Liang, BSc  |  Master's student (Penn Bioengineering) |  12/2023-12/2024 | 

Yange Cui, PhD  |  Postdoctoral researcher  |  1/2024-1/2025 | → Research Associate, UPenn

Maria Sacta, MD, PhD  |  Allergy/Immunology Fellow (CHOP) |  Visiting member 1/2025-5/2025 | → Attending physician, CHOP

Undergraduate students

Makayla Cheng  | UPenn, Bioengineering  |  10/2023-7/2024