People
Principal Investigator
Alex Hughes, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania
Secondary Faculty, Cell & Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Member, Penn Bioengineering graduate group
Member, Cell & Molecular Biology graduate group (Developmental, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Biology program)
Postdoctoral: Jane Coffin Childs Fellow, UC San Francisco (mentor: Prof. Zev Gartner)
Graduate: UC Berkeley (mentor: Prof. Amy Herr)
Undergraduate: University of Auckland, New Zealand
-
Alex Hughes is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Originally from California and New Zealand, he graduated with a B.E./B.Sc. in Chemical & Materials Engineering/Pharmacology at the University of Auckland, NZ in 2008. He completed his graduate studies at UC Berkeley in 2013 working with Amy Herr on microfluidic and single-cell proteomics. Dr. Hughes then completed a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellowship with Zev Gartner at UC San Francisco, where he developed DNA-based cell patterning technologies to model the mechanical and cell collective basis of curvature at tissue interfaces during embryonic development.
Dr. Hughes's research focuses on engineering organogenesis. Most recently the Hughes lab has studied the cellular, signaling, and mechanical basis of kidney development using human kidney organoids, advanced cell patterning and imaging technologies, and dynamic tissue scaffolds. Dr. Hughes's honors and awards include a 2023 BMES-CMBE Rising Star Junior Faculty Award, 2021 NSF CAREER Award; Jane Coffin Childs, American Cancer Society and NIH F32 postdoctoral fellowships; and a Society of General Physiologists Scholarship at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.
POSTDOCS
Louis Prahl, PhD, NIH F32 Fellow
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: lprahl@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am studying how signaling interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal tissues sculpt kidney collecting ducts during development and how congenital kidney defects arise. I use DNA-based cell patterning to create spatially defined interfaces between tissues and then observe and interpret the results using live imaging and mathematical modeling.
Graduate students
Catherine Porter, Bioengineering, NSF GRFP Fellow
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: cmporter@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am developing methods to produce and characterize human-cell-derived kidney organoids that are amenable to high-throughput disease modeling as well as drug and genetic screening.
Mariia (Masha) Alibekova, Penn M.D.-Ph.D., Bioengineering, Tau Beta Pi Fellow, ASN Predoctoral fellow
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: almari@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am working on the development of highly multiplexed single-cell proteomics sequencing methods to simultaneously analyze the abundance of thousands of proteins and post-translational modifications for a better understanding of the basis of cell function. My goal is to improve the understanding of cellular development, differentiation, and disease progression.
Zheyuan (Aria) Huang, Bioengineering
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: pikaria@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am working on creating a synthetic 3D model of tissue branching to study early kidney branching morphogenesis and the effects of scaffold geometry on branch patterning in vitro.
Jiageng Liu, Bioengineering, NSF GRFP Fellow
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: jiageng@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am working on biophysical characterization and reconstruction of cell collective dynamics during early nephrogenesis using cell engineering, organoids, and imaging.
Sam Grindel, Bioengineering
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: sgrindel@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am working on nephrogenesis pace-making in kidney organoids.
Sachin Davis, Bioengineering
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: sacdavis@seas.upenn.edu
Research: I am working on rhythmic nephron formation and synthetically reconstituting planar cell polarity.
Ronald Canlla, Bioengineering
Location: 390 Towne
Phone: (215) 573-6260
Email: rcanlla@seas.upenn.edu
Research: TBA
Alumni
John Viola, Ph.D. (2024, Hughes lab). Scientific advisor, Riverside Law.
Nathan Petrikas
Ananya Gupta. Clinical research coordinator, Penn Medicine.
Trevor Chan. Penn BE PhD student.
Gabriela Hayward-Lara. Penn CDB PhD student.
Marysol Chu Carty. Cornell PhD student.
Michael Foster
Siera Rosen. Penn CDB PhD student.
