Team, BloodFlowLab

Oliver Bracko

Principal Investigator

Oliver Bracko will be a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Miami. He will join the Department of Biology in 2021 after finishing his postdoctoral training at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University with Chris Schaffer. Previously, he was in the Lab of Susanne Wegner at the University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland, and did his PhD in the Lab of Sebastian Jessberger at the ETH Zürich, Switzerland. Oliver enjoys the outdoors and is an active birder.

Gabriela Rodriguez

PhD student

Gabriela is pursuing her Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Miami. Gabriela’s research focuses on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, where she works towards elucidating the relationship between immune cell dysfunction and disease onset and development. Specializing in platelets, she seeks to uncover novel biomarkers for AD that would contribute to the development of early, non-invasive detection methods.

Madeleine Weick

PhD student

Maddie has joined the Blood Flow Lab to pursue her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Her project focuses on the impact that the peripheral immune system (and the body’s subsequent inflammatory response) has on the development and progression of neurodegenerative disorders. Her experience in research began as a post baccalaureate research fellow at the National Institute of Health, strengthening her foundation in Molecular Biology and Genomics. Maddie then continued on to join a biotechnology startup in Silicon Valley where she was able to hone her skills at the bench as a member of the Drug Discovery team. She intends to continue evaluating potential therapeutic targets to treat neuropsychiatric disease and other neurological disorders. Outside of the lab, you can find Maddie in search of the best restaurant that Miami has to offer.

Supriya Chakraborty

PhD student

Supriya is the first PhD student in the lab. He is studying the microvascular dysfunction in the Frontotemporal Dementia using Progranulin-deficient mouse model. Supriya has got his B.Sc degree in zoology from RKMVC College and M. S from IISER Mohali, India. He likes cycling and painting in his free time.

Zeynab Tabrizi

PhD student

Zeynab is a PhD student . She is researching the potential involvement of neutrophils in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Her primary focus will be the identification of specific subpopulations of neutrophils and their interactions within the Alzheimer’s pathogenesis. She holds an MSc degree in medical immunology and has a background as a researcher, actively contributing to several research projects exploring the etiology of neurodegenerative disorders such as schizophrenia, paranoid personality disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and addiction. She enjoys traveling, and swimming.

Poorva

Research Associate

Poorva is a Research Associate with a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics from Indiana University, graduating in May 2024. She currently contributes to ongoing projects in the lab, focusing on bioinformatics tasks, including Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis. Prior to this role, Poorva was a Research Associate at the IU School of Medicine, where she worked on brain cancer research, specifically targeting Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) and Glioblastoma. Her research aimed to understand the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and explore strategies for targeting cancer stem cell microenvironments using NK cells.

Bartu Sevil

Undergraduate Researcher

Bartu is a pre-medical undergraduate student studying at the University of Miami, majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Mathematics. He hopes to attend medical school after he graduates. Bartu has done clinical research work in the past concerning studies relating to cardiovascular incidents, hypertension, weight loss, and hyperlidemia. Bartu enjoys playing basketball, going to the gym, and spending time friends in his free time.