Meet The Team

Jenn (she/her) is from Granger, Indiana and completed her B.S. in biology with a minor in chemistry at Daemen University in Buffalo, New York. She is currently a 4th year PhD candidate in the Mollapour lab studying how tumour suppressor proteins become dysregulated in kidney cancer. Fun fact: She played volleyball in undergrad and was ranked 3rd in the nation for highest hitting percentage her senior year.

 Ojashpi Singh Kapali (she/her)

Hometown: Kathmandu, Nepal

Undergrad: Medical Laboratory Technology, Nepal

Currently a fifth-year PhD student with Dr. Vladimir Kuzneetsov in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Urology

Fun fact: I love to run. I run almost an hour every day 

​​Jyoti (she/her) is from Mumbai, India. She completed her BS in Biochemistry and Food Science and Quality Control, as well as her MS in Biochemistry, at Mumbai University. She has 3.5 years of industrial experience in pharmacovigilance before joining a PhD program. She developed an interest in bioinformatics during her job, which led her to pursue a PhD. She is currently a fourth-year PhD student in Dr. Bruce Knutson's lab, where she focuses on studying how nucleic acid sequences determine non-canonical structures in normal and breast cancer cells. Fun fact:  She enjoys dancing, painting, and sleeping.

Hometown: Kolkata, India

Education:BS in Microbiology Hons from St. Xavier’s College, MS in Biophysics and Molecular Biology from University of Calcutta 

Year, Lab: 3rd year, Bechler Lab, Cell and Developmental Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University 

Fun Fact: I can sleep anywhere and everywhere. That’s my superpower! 

Gargi Mishra (she/her)

Mount Holyoke College (Biochemistry major, Math minor)

Hometown: Pune, MH, India

Gargi is in the 4th year of the MD-PhD program at Upstate, doing her 2nd year of PhD this summer in the lab of Dr. Xin Jie Chen (Biochemistry and Mol Bio). 

Fun fact: Gargi’s birthday twin is Harry Styles whose music she supports above any other One Direction singer!

Kalai (she/her) is from Chennai, southern most part of India and finished her Bachelor’s in Physical therapy in India and Associate’s degree in Science in Montgomery College, Maryland. During her Associate’s degree, She got very excited about Biology and changed her career into Science and pursued Master’s in Biology at Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. She is the fourth year Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Dept at SUNY Upstate Medical University working under the mentorship of Dr. Patricia Kane. 
Fun Fact:- She is from Chennai, which usually has a temperature of 71*F to 98*F, where 71*F probably is the coldest it can get. But she end up in Syracuse where temperature goes as low as 0*F in winter.

Céline (she/her) is from Brockville, ON and completed her B.S. and Master’s at Queen’s University in Pathology and Molecular Medicine. She is a 4rd year MD/PhD student at Upstate entering her 2nd year of the PhD program. She is completing her PhD in the Waickman lab, using single cell transcriptomics to study immunologic profiles of dengue infection. Fun fact: Céline rode for her University’s Equestrian team and has been horseback riding for most of her life!

Rajanya (she/her) is from Kolkata, India. She completed her BS in Microbiology and MS in Biochemistry from Kolkata. She is currently a first year Biochemistry PhD student in Herberg lab. 
Fun fact: The show Grey’s Anatomy kind of brought her to Upstate! She is a huge F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan too and loves to travel! [almost in the process of planning her solo trip soon :) ]