The Chen Lab MIMI Research Team
Talented graduate and undergraduate students are the instrumental backbone of the Chen Lab MIMI Laboratory at the University of Idaho.
Meet the team members!
PhD Student
Katelyn Heckathorn
Katie is a PhD student in Nutritional Sciences. Her research interest focuses on determining binding of digestion-released human milk peptides to cell surface receptors as a way to interrupt downstream activation of the proinflammatory NF-kB pathway, relevant to necrotizing enterocolitis. In her free time, Katie enjoy running, cooking and reading.
PhD Student
Sara Schumacher
Sara is a PhD student in Nutritional Sciences. She splits her research time between two different projects. Sara is currently the lead student researcher in the Maternal Stress and Vitamin D Supplementation study as part of the COBRE in Nutrition and Women’s Health program.. Her other project is using snRNA sequencing to evaluate the differential effects of human milk vs. infant formula feeding on cell types within the gastrointestinal tract during early development in neonatal piglets. Sara’s goal is to one day extend her research into the clinical setting and work with infants and parents in a NICU setting.
PhD Student
Marilyn Stein
Marilyn is a PhD student in Nutritional Sciences. After a successful 28-year career using industrial statistics and technical writing at a high-volume manufacturing facility, she retired from her first career and began exploring her next journey: understanding the mechanisms leading to obesity. Marilyn’s research focuses on investigating the inflammatory sequela of Normal Weight Obesity under the direction of both professors Yimin Chen and Ann Brown. She also manages randomization for the Maternal Stress Study. Marilyn’s career goal is to support further research activities to better understand biological system dysfunction triggering obesity.
MS Student
Mehedy Hasan Abir
Abir is a Master’s student in Nutritional Sciences originating from Bangladesh. His research interest is in using non-pathogenic bacteria as a secretory delivery system of anti-inflammatory peptides into the gastrointestinal tract targeting the distal intestines.
MS Student
Atesha Banki
Atesha is a Master’s student in Dietetics. She joined the Chen lab to explore her passion for nutrition in the research setting, and to better apply current research to her future clinical practice. Atesha’s research project is analyzing metabolomic sequence data from piglets fed human milk vs. infant formula to assess developmental differences between the two feeding regimens.
MS Student
Kaylyn Fish
Kaylyn is a Master’s student in Dietetics. She joined the Chen lab to gain experience in nutrition research. Kaylyn is assisting in the Maternal Stress and Vitamin D Supplementation study as part of the COBRE in Nutrition and Women’s Health program..
MS Student
Abigail Plaza
Abbie is a Master’s student in the Dietetics program. She is interested in clinical nutrition and sports nutrition for her future practice. Meanwhile, Abbie is excited to gain research experience using the cell culture model and will be assisting with growing and maintaining cell cultures for experiments in the Chen Lab.
MS Student
Amal Thelakkadan
Amal is a Master’s student in Nutritional Sciences who was a practicing dental surgeon in India. She is interested in getting research experience in human intervention trials to see the effects of nutrition on health and wellness. Amal is assisting in the Maternal Stress and Vitamin D Supplementation study and other areas of research activities in the Chen Lab.
Undergraduate Student
Aubrey Bureau
Aubrey is an undergraduate student majoring in Medical Sciences (pre-Med). She is dedicating her research focus on the Maternal Stress and Vitamin D Supplementation study. Aubrey will be analyzing the psychometric measures of the study to determine the relationship between vitamin D status and maternal stress/depression risk. She is also one of the point-people that runs the social media accounts for the Chen Lab MIMI research program.
Undergraduate Student
Ella Bureau
Ella is an undergraduate student majoring in Animal & Veterinary Science. She is assisting in analyzing metabolomic sequence data from piglets fed human milk vs. infant formula to assess developmental differences between the two feeding regimens.
Undergraduate Student
Annika Farley
Annika is an undergraduate student majoring in Medical Sciences. She is assisting in in growing and maintaining cell cultures for experiments.
Undergraduate Student
Mya Gackstetter
Mya is an undergraduate student majoring in Nutritional Sciences (pre-dental). She has gained experience in growing cell culture for experiments during her time in the Chen Lab. Mya is now dedicating her research focus on the Maternal Stress and Vitamin D Supplementation study. She plans to analyze and compare the oral microbiome of vitamin D vs. control groups. Mya is also one of the point-people that runs the social media accounts for the Chen Lab MIMI research program.
Undergraduate Student
Sydney Roehr
Sydney is an undergraduate student majoring in Nutritional Sciences. She is assisting in growing and maintaining cell cultures for experiments. Joining this research environment has been eye-opening for her to gain hands-on experience working with different cell lines, and participate in research meetings to see the troubleshooting and problem-solving that underpin scientific progress. Sydne plan to pursue a PhD in Molecular Nutrition/Nutrigenomics, focusing on how nutrition alters gene expression, epigenetic signatures, and inflammatory pathways involved in chronic disease.
