Lab Members

Nadig is the Edward G. Elcock Professor of Surgery, chief of Organ Transplantation in the Department of Surgery and Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is an adult and pediatric multiorgan transplant surgeon and also Professor in the departments of Microbiology-Immunology and Pediatrics. He co-directs the NIH-funded Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in immunology from Oxford University. He has served as a national and international visiting professor and has been identified as a “Key Opinion Leader” in the Transplantation Society as well as a “Rising Star” in the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. Nadig is the Chief Medical Advisor to Pandorum Technologies, Ltd, Pvt., and his research interests are focused on innovations in transplantation tolerance, including cellular therapy, biotechnology and transplant immunology. Nadig was named as one of Charleston, South Carolina’s Forty Under 40 in 2015, is featured in a 2016 TEDx Talk on organ donation and has a recently published textbook entitled Technological Advances in Organ Transplantation. 

Jaishankar is Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Feinberg School of Medicine. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed his postdoctoral training at Northwestern University. Along with Nadig, he co-directs the Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory. Jaishankar’s research interests are focused on developing novel therapies, including nanotherapies for transplant tolerance and identifying cellular and molecular mechanisms that contribute to transplant immunology.

Sarath is a Research Associate working with Pandorum International on a collaborative effort with the Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory (CTIL). Pandorum International is a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine company focusing on developing exosome-based therapeutics for various clinical applications. Sarath earned a double Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology from the University of Milan and the University of Barcelona, where his research focused on cardiovascular diseases. He obtained postdoctoral training in stem cells at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where his research focused on cardio-oncology and heart failure. Sarath brings more than ten years of research experience to CTIL to propel Pandorum’s platform technologies from bench side to clinic.

Luisa is a Research Associate working with Pandorum International on a collaborative effort with the Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory (CTIL). Pandorum International is a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine company focusing on developing exosome-based therapeutics for various clinical applications. Luisa obtained a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Physiology) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In her graduate work, she integrated nanotechnology and regenerative medicine to improve lung fibrosis treatment. Luisa did her postdoctoral training at Northwestern University, performing research in the field of stem cells and advanced biomaterials for neural tissue engineering. Luisa brings more than ten years of research experience to CTIL to propel Pandorum’s platform technologies from bench to clinic.

Hope is a graduate student in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) and completed the first two years of medical school at Northwestern before starting her Ph.D. in the Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory (CTIL). She graduated from the University of Iowa in 2023 with a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and a certificate in Clinical and Translational Sciences. Hope has always been passionate about transplant immunology research, previously working in a lab that studied the role of the T helper 2 pathway in graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplant. She continues that passion in the CTIL by focusing on the role of the mitochondria in ischemia-reperfusion injury and transplantation. In the future, she hopes to have her own basic science transplant lab and apply that work to her patients as a clinician. Outside of the lab, Hope plays softball and enjoys spending time with her dog, Cosmo.

Simseok A. Yuk obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Purdue University, a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and dual B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from Purdue University. He has engaged in multidisciplinary research, including nanotechnology for sepsis treatment, siRNA therapeutics for cancer, vaccine formulations (covering subunit, plasmid, and mRNA vaccines), and nanoparticle synthesis using microfluidics and multi-inlet vortex mixers.

Meredith Taylor is a postdoctoral research fellow supported by the Multidisciplinary Training Program in Child and Adolescent Health (TL1), an NCATS-funded training program. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Dayton and her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She completed two years of general surgery residency training at the Medical University of South Carolina prior to starting her laboratory work at the Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory (CTIL). Her research endeavors are focused on the impact of ischemia-reperfusion injury on endothelial cells, specifically autophagy and mitophagy.

Yu Min Lee is a Research Technologist II working at the Comprehensive Transplant Immunobiology Laboratory (CTIL). She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior with a minor in Data Science. Yu Min has previous research experience working with computational models on behavioral endocrinology using agent-based simulations within her lab during undergrad. She also has clinical research experience at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center on pediatric cutaneous melanoma and the management of positive sentinel lymph nodes. Through her passion for clinical research, she hopes to pursue a career in medicine in the near future.