People
Research in the Bhattacharya Lab merges the fields of stem cell biology and immunology to understand the basic biology of lymphocyte development, and to develop creative translational strategies to combat infectious disease.
Lucas received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Mumbai and went on to complete his Ph.D. from the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi in 2016. He joined the lab in 2017 and since has been working to define why certain antibody specificities dominate an immune response to viral infections, and how the plasma cells that produce these antibodies persist. Outside of the lab, he enjoys going to movies, exploring new locations and cultures as well as enjoying the local cuisine.
Hannah received her Bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and is currently a PhD student in the graduate program of Washington University in St. Louis. She moved with the Bhattacharya lab in 2017 to continue working on her thesis project. Hannah is establishing the metabolic mechanisms of stem cell differentiation and designing strategies to overcoming immune barriers to stem cell transplantation.
Tyler grew up in Hastings, Nebraska before attending Midland University, where he graduated in 2017 with a B.S. in Biology. He entered the ABBS program and joined the Bhattacharya lab in March of 2018. Tyler’s work focuses primarily on better understanding the mechanisms related to transcription factors that affect antibody responses in plasma cells and memory B-cells. Outside of science, Tyler enjoys sports, movies, and the many restaurants of Tucson.
Bao grew up in Vietnam up until he was 14 when his family moved to the Bay area in California. He attended UC Berkeley and did his undergraduate research in Dr. Christopher Chang's lab studying copper biology in biological systems. After graduation, he moved across the bay and worked as a research associate in Dr. Stephen Floor's lab at UCSF studying mRNAs. There, he had his first experience working with gene editing and stem cells, which he intended to study for his PhD in Dr. Bhattacharya's lab.
Moving to Arizona was a big change for him, but the community of students and faculty here at the UofA MD-PhD program has been so welcoming. He feels at home and has found groups of amazing and supportive friends and mentors who he can rely on. Over the past year on the medical school side, he had amazing opportunities to immerse himself in a great line of healthcare community service activities. He has been working with the Shubitz free family care clinic every month and has the opportunity to practice his medical interview and physical exam skills with experienced third and fourth year medical students. Recently he even got to travel to Mexico with MexZona, a non-profit organization that offers monthly free family care to the community of Rocky Point, Mexico. Their group consisted of medical students, undergraduates, physicians, nurses and pharmacists served over 100 patients that day. It was honestly the most rewarding medical experience he has ever had. He is excited to start his PhD journey and is looking forward to a lot of pipetting!
In his free time (surprisingly he still manages to have free time thus far), he watches a lot of TV shows and movies, especially anything horror-related. The food scene here in Tucson has surprised him every time because of how good everything has been. Please reach out if you need recommendations! Ramen, curry katsu, KBBQ , pho, indian food... you name it!
Ran (Ryan) Wei was from originally from Guangzhou, China. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2017 with BS in Biology. In 2019, he joined Bhattacharya lab as a research technician, where he is currently investigating the genetic pathway of stem cell differentiation into plasma cell. Outside of work, he enjoys movies, TV shows, workout and riding his motorcycle on the Mt. Lemmon.
