ARAN LAB - Key Persons


Alex Nguyen

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Alexy Jabbour

Job Titles:
  • PrEP Case Manager at Clinicas De Salud Del Pueblo

Andres Felipe Romero Camelo

Job Titles:
  • Student

Antonia Capossela

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate
Antonia is a former B.S. Human Biology student at Scripps College. After graduating from Scripps, she joined Cardea Bio as a Research Associate. She then joined the Aran Lab as an Associate Researcher. During her time in the Aran lab, she worked on a project to create a micro-fluidic device platform that could simulate the blood-brain barrier.

Ayman Abdelaaty

Job Titles:
  • Quality Engineer at Edwards Lifesciences

Camille Leung

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Chance Kuo

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Chandni Tailor

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Student Researcher
Chandni is a former member of the Aran lab. She was a Pre-medical Post-baccalaureate Student at KGI and completed the program in Spring 2022.

Chester Chae

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Chester is a former member of the Aran lab. Chester is now a Regulatory Affairs Manager at Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

Christina Chai

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Deependra Ban

Job Titles:
  • Senior Scientist

Elizabeth Celaya

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Elizabeth is a former Aran lab member and graduated with her M.S. in Applied Life Sciences from KGI in 2019. She is a current Medical Student at University of California, Riverside (UCR).

Gabrielle Clouse

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Gabrielle is a former member of the Aran lab and has since moved to a new role at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Ijeoma Nnadozie

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student at Keck Graduate Institute

Irfan Saleh

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Jada Mack-Onyeike

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher

Jhaline Mast

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate

Jonalyn Herce

Job Titles:
  • Student
Jonalyn is a former PhD student in the Aran Lab. Prior to joining the lab, she received her M.S. in Applied Life Sciences at KGI and her B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Austin, Texas (UT Austin). In the Aran lab, her work is focused on using exosomes for bioengineering, medical diagnostics, and medical therapeutic applications. Her interests include working with blood-based biomarkers and their potential as therapeutics for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, organ-on-a-chip blood-brain barrier models, and drug delivery models for clinical applications. Jonalyn defended her thesis in July 2023.

Josephine Chu

Job Titles:
  • Student
Josephine is a PhD student in the Aran Lab. Prior to joining the lab, she received her M.S. in Biology through the Fisk-Vanderbilt BRIDGE Program in 2022 and her B.S. in Biology from San Diego State University in 2020. Her former lab experiences include performing protein studies using cancer antigens (Fisk-Vanderbilt BRDIGE Program) and using human pluripotent stem cells to create a disease model for autism spectrum disorder (CIRM BRIDGE Program). Outside of lab, her interests include fitness training, spending time with her puppy, Maple, and road tripping.

Joshua Littig

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Joshua is a former member of the Aran Lab. He is currently at the Western University College of Podiatric Medicine.

Kandance Fung

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Kandance is a former member of the Aran lab and has since moved to a new role at Charles R. Drew University as a medical student.

Katherine Smith

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Katherine is a former lab member of the Aran Lab. She is currently a Medical Student at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Kiana Aran

Job Titles:
  • Principal Investigator
  • Associate Professor of Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Keck Graduate Institute
Dr. Aran is an Associate Professor of Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Keck Graduate Institute, a member of the Claremont Colleges, a visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California Berkeley, and the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Cardea Bio. Dr. Aran also serves as a Consultant of Drug Delivery and Medical Diagnostics for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She received her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the City University of New York in 2007 and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the Rutgers University in 2012. She then continued her postdoctoral studies in bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and was a recipient of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) postdoctoral training fellowship at the Buck Institute for Aging Research in 2015. Her efforts have been recently recognized by many awards in science and STEM including the Clinical OMICs 10 under 40 Award and the Athena Pinnacle Award. Dr. Aran was also the recipient of the NSF Career Award to develop the next generation of electronic sensors.

Lauren Yamagami

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Student Researcher
Lauren is a former member of the Aran lab. She graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 2020.

Leilani Arvizu

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher ( 1 Year )
Leilani is a former M.S. Medical Device Engineering student at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). During her time in the Aran lab, she used python programming to create a tracker for researchers performing QA on our graphene biosensors and assisted in a project collaboration with NASA to create an automated plasma/serum isolation microfluidic device platform. In Spring 2023, she graduated with her M.S. degree and is now working as a Bioinformatics Officer at Loam Bio.

Maria Jose Melo De la Carrera

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher
Maria is a former member of the Aran Lab. She is currently a Software Developer at Applied Medical.

Mary Bessell

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher ( 1 Semester )
Mary is a former M.S. Applied Life Sciences student at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). During her time in the Aran lab, she worked on a project to create a microfluidic device platform that could simulate the blood-brain barrier. In Spring 2023, she graduated with her M.S. degree.

Matt Sandoval

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Noor Chaudhry

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher ( 2 Years )
Noor is a former M.S. Applied Life Sciences student at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). During her time in the Aran lab, she worked on a project to create a microfluidic device platform that could simulate the blood-brain barrier. In Spring 2023, she graduated with her M.S. degree with plans to apply to medical school.

Payam Amiri

Job Titles:
  • Student
Payam is a former PhD student in the Aran Lab. Prior to joining the lab, he received his Masters of Business and Science (MBS) degree at KGI. In the Aran lab, his work was focused on developing a microfluidic blood-brain barrier organ-on-a-chip, an automated microfluidic small animal blood exchange system, and blood microfiltration devices to further explore the biology of aging.

Peichi "Peggy" Chou

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher

Pranali Malewadkar

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher

Reza Hajian

Job Titles:
  • Senior Scientist

Sarah Mughal

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student

Sean (Hsiang-Wei) Lu

Job Titles:
  • Senior Mechanical Engineer at Autonomous Medical Devices Incorporated
Sean is a former member of the Aran Lab. Sean is now a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Autonomous Medical Devices Incorporated.

Serine Torosian

Job Titles:
  • Communications Specialist at Glendale Community College
  • Student Researcher
Serine is a former member of the Aran lab. Serine is currently a communications specialist at Glendale Community College

Shae Hubbell

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate at Mammoth Biosciences
  • Undergraduate Student Researcher
Shae is a former member of the Aran lab and graduated from Pitzer College in 2020. Shae currently works as a Research Associate at Mammoth Biosciences.

Sophia Sy

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher ( 1.5 Years )
Sophia is a former M.S. Medical Device Engineering student at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). During her time in the Aran lab, she used CAD software and 3D printing techniques to generate carriers for our graphene biosensors and assisted in a project collaboration with NASA to create an automated plasma/serum isolation microfluidic device platform. In Spring 2023, she graduated with her M.S. degree and plans to work in industry.

Swathi Sridhar

Job Titles:
  • Student Researcher ( 1.5 Years )
Swathi is a former M.S. Applied Life Sciences student at Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). During her time in the Aran lab, she worked on a project to create a microfluidic device platform that could simulate the blood-brain barrier. In Spring 2023, she graduated with her M.S. degree with plans to apply to PhD programs.

Victor Mora

Job Titles:
  • Summer Student