International Postdoc Panel
Moderator
Alessandro Gardini, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Wistar Institute Dr. Alessandro Gardini is an Associate Professor in the Gene Expression and Regulation Program at The Wistar Institute. He was born and raised in Italy, where he earned a B.S./M.S. in medical biotechnology at the University of Bologna and attended the Graduate School of Molecular Medicine at the University of Milan. He trained as a postdoctoral fellow in Philadelphia and in Miami before starting his lab at Wistar in 2015. |
Panelists
Sakshi Arora, PhD
Research Associate, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Dr. Sakshi Arora is a Research Associate at Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics (CCMT) with Beverly Davidson (since February 2019). She did her PhD from India in HIV-1 Virology and prior to joining CHOP was in Germany for 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow. Her current research at CHOP focuses on optimizing viral vectors for gene therapy. She is developing lentivirus vectors that can potentially be used as therapy for Cystic Fibrosis. In addition, she is also focusing on using adeno associated virus (AAV) for pediatric encephalopathy. She is also developing tools to maximize viral vector production for both lentiviruses and AAV. |
Roshell Muir, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Drexel University Postdoc (2015 - 2018), Drexel University Dr. Roshell Muir is a Senior Research Associate in immunology at Drexel College of Medicine (DUCOM), with expertise in systems immunology research and project management that straddle the fields of basic science and applied clinical studies. During her time as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Muir co-founded and served on the Executive Board of the Drexel Postdoctoral Association which brought together postdocs from all 15 colleges and schools across 3 campuses; and was the first postdoc representative to serve on the DUCOM Women in Medicine and Science faculty committee which promotes professional development for women staff and faculty. Learn more about Dr. Roshell Muir here. |
Khumoekae Richard, PhD
Postdoc, The Wistar Institute Dr. Khumoekae Richard is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Dr. Luis Montaner’s lab at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, PA. A citizen of Botswana (Africa), Richard earned his PhD from Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Canada where he was a recipient of the competitive Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) Diamond Jubilee Scholarship and later a SANTHE PhD Fellowship Award. Richard is interested in combinatorial and interdisciplinary research that uses immunotherapy plus latency reversal strategies to search for HIV cure. His PhD thesis project focused on documentation, screening and characterization of novel chemical compounds derived from natural sources, including African traditional medicines, that can modulate latent HIV-1 infection and the biological mechanisms associated with their HIV latency modulation. |