Lab Members

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Dr. Chen is a Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience at USC's Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute. She received her PhD at USC in 1990, and was a postdoctoral fellow at CalTech before returning to USC as a professor. Dr. Chen also acts as Assistant Director of USC's Neuroscience Graduate Program. In her spare time she enjoys spending time in her garden with her German Shepherd.

Kasey is currently a Neuroscience Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Jeannie Chen’s lab. She has become entirely captivated by the retina’s highly organized structure, function, and malfunction (specifically focusing the photoreceptor cells – i.e. rods and cones). She enjoys investigating rod cells’ complexity, problems, and beauty to hopefully provide new molecular insights that can be used to better the lives of people suffering from retinal diseases. When she is not working in the lab, you can either find her at Will Rogers State Beach playing beach volleyball or on a trail in the mountains outside LA. During the last two years, her bespoke cocktail game has greatly improved, and she has also mastered creating the perfect shoyu tamago and tamagoyaki. Kasey loves being active (skiing, horseback riding, biking, swimming, etc.), traveling (specifically to Japan), and eating delicious food in LA and beyond.

Anakha received her bachelor's degree at Rice University in 2017. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience at USC, with a particular interest in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's.

Nat joined the Chen lab while a student at USC, and stayed on after graduating in 2018 with a degree in biological sciences. In 2019 she moved to England to pursue an MPhil in translational biomedical research at the University of Cambridge. She rejoined the lab upon returning to the States and will be attending medical school in 2022. Nat likes to solve crossword puzzles, read classic literature, and (badly) play the electric guitar.

Dr. Sowmya Lokappa (Post-doc)
Dr. Sravani Ramisetty (Post-doc)
A.J. Cooper (PhD student, NGP)
Dr. Tian Wang (Post-doc)
Yun Yao (Lab Technician)
Helen He (Lab Technician)