Principal Investigator

William Zacharias, MD, PhD

Will is a physician-scientist who cares for patients in the adult intensive care unit with severe critical illness and advanced lung diseases. During his clinical training, he became interested in a fundamental question common to the fields of pulmonary disease, critical care medicine, and basic lung biology: how does the lung regenerate after injury, either in the acute or chronic setting, and what factors drive the outcome of lung regeneration in individual patients? To build a toolkit to address these questions, his work in the laboratory has focused on investigating the molecular determinants of lung development and lung regeneration to understand the connections between developmental injury and adult disease. More distinctly, Will has focused on the integration of extracellular signaling interactions with intracellular transcriptional and epigenetic regulation to pattern complex tissues during development, homeostasis, and regeneration after injury. The driving goal of his research is to advance therapeutic approaches to help patients with currently untreatable respiratory illnesses.

With his independent research group, he has turned his attention to understanding the precise mechanisms driving the development, health, maintenance, and activation of the distal lung progenitor niche, a site of active signaling throughout life and a region crucial to recovery after respiratory injury, infection, or toxic exposure.

Using a combination of mouse genetic models, organoid culture systems, and evaluation of lung samples from nonhuman primates and human lung transplant patients, the lab is using multimodal approaches to develop an improved molecular understanding of lung regenerative biology. Ultimately, their goal is to develop therapies to promote human lung regeneration and improve patient mortality and quality of life. Recently, Will has focused on unraveling the molecular mechanisms defining AEP state, with an emphasis on epigenetic regulation of progenitor function.

In his free time, Will enjoys golfing, reading, and spending time with his family and their two dogs.

Co-Investigator

Amanda Zacharias, PhD

Amanda is research biologist aiming to understand how an embryo develops: its gene expression, cell signaling, cell shape changes and cell migrations. She is interested in how cellular metabolism impacts these processes and how vitamins influence cellular metabolism in embryos.

To study the functions of cellular metabolism, she aims to understand the embryonic development of a simple animal completely using time-lapse imaging. Amanda utilizes the organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) due to their fast, inexpensive and simple nature, allowing her to study their development more comprehensively. She is interested in how environmental factors might impact different developmental processes, and recently discovered that vitamin B12 significantly improves cell migration and embryo survival in a class of developmental mutants.

In her free time, Amanda enjoys listening to music, caring for her indoor plants, and spending time with her family and their two dogs.

Kathleen Cook, BS

LAB MANAGER & RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Kathleen (she/her) is a research assistant and the laboratory manager. With a blended background in illustration and biology, she enjoys creating scientific illustrations and employing novel bioimaging techniques such as superresolution microscopy to evaluate alveolar regeneration. When not in the lab, she enjoys hiking, painting, printmaking, and identifying native Ohio flora and fauna.

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Helen Warheit-Niemi, PhD

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Helen (she/they) received her PhD from the University of Michigan, where they studied the effects of pulmonary fibrosis on the immune response to infection. Helen’s current research focuses on understanding the developmental origins of lung disease to evaluate lung regeneration after sequential injuries. In their free time, they like reading, trying new restaurants, and caring for exotic house plants.

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Tushar Ganjawala, PhD

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Tushar (he/him) earned his PhD in gene therapy at Wayne State University in Detroit. His current research is focused on adapting fluorescent biosensors to image the metabolism of C. elegans embryos across developmental timepoints, as well as live alveolar organoids. When not in the lab, he enjoys playing and watching cricket as well as cooking.

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Joshua Sheak, MD, PhD

CLINICAL FELLOW
Josh (he/him) is a resident neonatologist and clinical fellow. He is interested in the mechanisms of lung injury and repair in the Rhesus macaque model of chorioamnionitis and its effect on neonatal lung disease and neonatal pulmonary hypertension. In his spare time, Josh enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, and discovering new musical artists.

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Sharlene Fernandes, MS

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Sharlene (she/her) received her master’s degree in Molecular Biochemistry and Bioinformatics from George Washing University in 2016, and has been a research assistant at CCHMC since. Sharlene has significant experience in embryonic molecular biology techniques, cell culture, and histology. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading and trying new restaurants.

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Amber Elitz, BSE

GRADUATE STUDENT
Amber (she/her) is a 6th year MSTP student and 4th year PhD candidate in the Development, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Medicine program at UC. She is interested in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, utilizing injury models such as influenza to elucidate alveolar organoid structure and regeneration. Outside of science, she enjoys baking, going to the local farmer’s market, and spending time with family.

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Barbara Zhao, BS

GRADUATE STUDENT
Barbara (she/her) is a 5th year MSTP student and 3rd year PhD candidate in the Development, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Medicine program at UC. She is excited about unraveling the genetic details of lung regeneration following influenza injury, as well as the developmental origins of lung regeneration. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, going out with friends, and hitting the gym.

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Hyunwook Lee, BA

GRADUATE STUDENT
Hyunwook (he/him) is a 4th year MSTP student and 2nd year PhD cadidate in the Development, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Medicine program at UC. He is excited about applying novel techniques to culture complex embryonic murine alveolar organoids to assess post-injury lung regeneration. When not at his lab bench, he enjoys playing pickleball and running.

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Xinyuan Li, MS

GRADUATE STUDENT
Xinyuan (she/her) is a 1st year graduate student in the Development, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Medicine program at UC. She is interested in the role of disrupted vesicular trafficking in alveolar maintenance and regeneration. When not in the lab, she enjoys spending time with friends and trying new restaurants.

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