Members

Fang Liu

Fang started her studies in Medicine at China Hebei Medical University. In 2012, she joined Gail Robertson’s lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study co-translational regulation of ion channels involved in the ventricular action potentials.

Jin Li

Jin received her M.S in Medicine from Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, China. She spent couple years doing research focusing on Epigenetics in the lung and the deregulation of epigenetic enzymes in pulmonary inflammation and infection in University of Pittsburgh. She joined the Robertson Lab in 2018.

Daniela Beltran-Hernandez

Daniela is a recent grad B.S. in Neurobiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and planning to pursue an MD/PhD. She previously worked under Dr. Stacey Schaefer on the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) neuroscience project, studying factors of health and well-being in an aging sample of Americans. After discovering an interest in molecular mechanisms, she joined the Robertson lab in the Summer of 2019 as an undergrad and is currently a research intern at the lab. She will be working with Dr. Jenny Knickelbine as she aims to identify mechanisms of co-translational association between two related subunits (1a and 1b) of the hERG voltage-gated potassium channel.

Dr. Erick Rios Perez

Erick did his PhD studies in Mexico City at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in the lab of Dr. Guillermo Ávila. During his PhD project, he investigated the effects of aldosterone in the electrophysiology of adult rat atrial myocytes with special interest in L-type Calcium channels. He joined the Robertson lab in October of 2015 at UW-Madison and has contributed to our understanding of cotranslational control of excitability in hte heart. In addition, along with Fang Liu, Erick has created a new stable cell line expressing hERG1a and hERG1b for advanced drug safety screening to mitigate the risk that new drugs in development will cause catastrophic arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Dr. Catherine Eichel

Dr. Jennifer Knickelbine

Jenny received a B.S. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Zoology and Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied the role of neuropeptides on behavior of parasitic nematodes and their potential as therapeutic targets. She joined the Robertson lab in 2017 with an interest in translational cardiovascular research and molecular mechanisms behind ion channel production and regulation. She aims to identify mechanisms of co-translational association between two related subunits of the hERG voltage-gated potassium channel, which is responsible for the major repolarizing current in the cardiac action potential.

Dr. Lisandra Flores Aldama

Lisandra received her B.S in Biochemistry at Havana University, Cuba, where she studied the mechanism of action of an antitumoral peptide by means of proteomic analyses. Later, she received her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology in Universidad Austral de Chile, in the lab of Dr. Sebastian Brauchi. During her Ph.D. project, she studied the underlying mechanism of Calcium-dependent inactivation of TRPV5 and TRPV6 channels, establishing an evolutionary-structural-functional correlate of this phenotype in representative species of vertebrates.

 Whitney Stevens-Sostre

Whitney graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez with a B.S. in Biology. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in different areas of research, such as cell and developmental neurobiology, molecular and muscle biology, and neuroscience. After graduating, she worked as a research technician at the University of Chicago, where she analyzed signaling pathways that influence gliogenesis. Having discovered her passion for neuroscience, she joined the Neuroscience Training Program 2016 and is pursuing her doctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Gail Robertson. Currently, her research uses electrophysiology to study structure and function relationships of KCNH/Eag voltage-gated potassium ion channels.

Margaret Jameson

Margaret graduated from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology in 2015. She then graduated with a Master of Science degree in Pharmacology at the University of Michigan in the lab of Dr. Lori Isom. Following the completion of her Master’s program, she joined the lab of Dr. Jack Parent in the Neurology Department at the University of Michigan. Currently, she is interested in how voltage gated ion channels interact at the RNA and protein levels to achieve the appropriate balance of ion channel types and macromolecular composition.

Winnie Moy

Winnie Moy is an undergraduate majoring in Biology with a Certificate in Global Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently working with Margaret Jameson on understanding the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias at the mRNA and protein level. She was recipient of the AHA-UW-Madison Undergraduate Research Fellowship in the summer of 2019. Currently, her research focuses on validating antibodies with immunofluorescence for voltage-gated ion channel identification in cardiomyocytes.

Breanna Raab

Breanna is an undergraduate at UW-Madison, double-majoring in microbiology and neurobiology. She is hoping to pursue a career as an MD and is currently assisting the Robertson lab with laboratory maintenance with hopes of participating in future research. She joined the lab in Spring 2020.

Postdoctoral Trainees

Greg Starek, Ph.D., 2014-2016
David Jones, Ph.D., 2012 – 2018 : Dr. Jones is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Internal Medicine at University of Michigan .
Phu Tran, Ph.D., 2011-2013
Harinath Sale, Ph.D., 2006-2007
Eugenia Jones, Ph.D., 2002-2007
Jinling Wang, Ph.D., 2002-2004
Anne Lynn Gillian, Ph.D., 1999-2000
Janet Branchaw, Ph.D., 1997-1998
Ebru Ayudar, Ph.D., 1996-1998
Ian Herzberg, Ph.D., 1995-1997

Predoctoral Trainees

Kelli Pointer, 2013-2015
Yaxian Zhao, 2011-2018
Sunita Joshi, 2007-2014
Rebecca Uelman, 2006-2012
Sarah Wynia, 2004-2009
Elon Roti Roti, 2003-2009
Pallavi Phartiyal,2003-2007
Adam Rucker, 2003-2005
Alexander Welge (nee Jamal Tayyib), 1999-2001
Matthew Trudeau, 1993-1998

Undergraduates

Rikin Soni, 2018-2020
Aliyah Keval, 2017-2019
Jonathan Silignavong, 2015-2018
Jamie Klett, 2012-2015