TEAM 2023-03-17T19:49:37+00:00

Edward A. Burton, MD, DPhil, FRCP

Professor of Neurology
Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
UPMC Endowed Chair in Movement Disorders

Dr. Burton was awarded his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degrees with honors from the University of Birmingham Medical School, England, UK.  He completed a general medicine residency in Oxford, UK and neurology residency in Birmingham, UK.  He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford, UK for work in the lab of Prof. Dame Kay Davies, FRS on transcriptional regulation.  He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh in the lab of Prof. Joseph C. Glorioso, PhD and was awarded his Doctor of Medicine degree with honors from the University of Birmingham, England, UK for the resulting research on neurological gene transfer.  He completed higher specialist training in neurology as Clinical Lecturer in Neurology at the University of Oxford, and a clinical fellowship in movement disorders at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, before joining the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Burton divides his time between carrying out research into Parkinson’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and related conditions at the University of Pittsburgh, and providing clinical care to patients in the movement disorders clinics at UPMC and Pittsburgh VA Hospital.

Qing Bai, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Dr. Bai was awarded her PhD in biochemistry and genetics from Purdue University and completed postdoctoral training in virology and molecular biology at the University of Pittsburgh and Oxford University.  She specializes in construction and characterization of transgenic and knockout zebrafish models and in the design and construction of recombinant viral vectors.

Darius Hossainian

MD Student, Dean’s Fellow

Darius was awarded his BS degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and is currently a student in the MD program at Pitt.  He is carrying out research into tauopathy using zebrafish chemical rescue screens to identify and verify new targets for novel drugs.  Darius will graduate from the MD program in May 2023 and will enter the Pitt/UPMC residency training program in anesthesiology.

Meera Garg

Pitt Undergraduate Researcher

Meera is a student in Pitt’s 8-year MD program.  She recently completed the CNUP summer undergraduate research program, and is currently analyzing microglial dynamics in zebrafish models of neurological disease by intravital time lapse imaging.

Binxuan (Jenny) Jiao

Tsinghua MD/PhD Student

Jenny is a third year medical student from Tsinghua University in Beijing.  She recently completing her training in biomedical research at Pitt and is currently completing her PhD requirements and medical school training in Beijing.  Her work focuses on developing a novel high spatial resolution chemoptogenetic method for ablation of specific organelles in neurons in vivo, to evaluate their function in the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration.

Phil Bartel

MD Student, MPH Student, Dean’s Fellow, and Roth Scholar

Phil completed his ScB in Cell and Molecular Biology and his AB in Anthropology at Brown University, and was awarded an academic scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  He was awarded both a Dean’s Fellowship and a Roth Scholarship to study genetic modifiers of tauopathy.  He is currently completing his MPH before returning to the MD program.

Oluwaseyi Pearce

Visiting Graduate Student

Seyi is a third year PhD student in Oliver Bandmann’s lab at the University of Sheffield, UK.  He is the recipient of a prestigious Battelle Studentship providing a semester of research in the USA.  He is studying genetic and chemical modifiers of synucleinopathy, using transgenic zebrafish models.

Lab Alumni/Honorary Life Members

Victor Van Laar, PhD

Research Instructor

Dr. Van Laar received his PhD in Terri Hasting’s lab in PIND and completed postdoctoral training with Sarah Berman.  He was part of the team from 2018 – 2020 and worked on mitochondrial mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease and is employing live imaging in the zebrafish CNS to understand how RedOx metabolism contributes to pathophysiology.  Victor moved to Ohio State University to pursue his career as a scientist in June 2020.

Vladimir Ilin, MD

Research Scientist

Dr. Ilin was awarded his MD degree from Northern State Medical University in Russia. After working as a surgeon for more than 10 years, he trained in electrophysiology at the University of Connecticut. He was part of the team from 2015 – 2020 and worked on electrophysiological and kinematic analysis of zebrafish neurodegeneration models. Vladimir moved to the neurology residency program at UPMC Hamot in June 2020 to complete clinical training as a neurologist.

bursa escort bursa escort escort bursa escort bursa bursa escort bursa escort bursa escort bursa escort