Meet the Principal Investigator
Wen-Hong Li, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Endowed Title: Southwestern Medical Foundation Scholar in Medical Research
Department: Cell Biology | Biochemistry
Graduate Programs: Biological Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering
Lab Members
Ivan Arreola
Research Technician II
- B.S. in Mathematics, minor in Statistics, 2018
- University of Texas at San Antonio, Ronald E. McNair Scholar
Since 2020, Ivan has been testing and documenting the detailed nature of a fluorescent probe (designed/synthesized by Dr. Li and collaborators) to label intracellular amyloid aggregates in Type 2 Diabetic donors and RIP-hIAPP diabetic mice.
Thomas Sin
Research Scientist
- Ph.D., Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Postdoctoral work, UTHealth Houston
Since 2022, Thomas has developed a strong interest in studying the therapeutic potential of various novel, carefully-designed compounds that exhibit increased selectivity for pancreatic beta cells and water solubility in insults induced by lipotoxicity and high glucose challenges.
Juanzhu Yan
Postdoctoral Researcher
- Ph.D., Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Since 2022, Juanzhu has been focused on developing zinc-tropic agents for targeted delivery of therapeutics to islet beta cells for preventing or treating diabetes mellitus (DM), and imaging pancreatic islet beta cell mass with bimodal fluorescence and PET imaging probes.
Victoria (Tori) Lewis
Research Technician I
- B.S. in Biochemistry, 2023
- Baylor University
Since joining the lab in 2024, Tori has acquired skills for in vitro testing of drugs in cell lines. She has also become adept in various assays of proteins and molecules important to the characterization of diabetes.
Brendan O'Reilly
Lab Helper
- B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, 2022
- Texas A&M University - College Station, Magna Cum Laude
Since 2022, Brendan has spent time familiarizing himself with surgical techniques to further projects in the lab.
Ipsita Chakraborty
Postdoctoral Researcher
- Ph.D., Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
- Postdoctoral work, NCATS/NIH, Maryland, USA
Since 2023, Ipsita has been designing and synthesizing prodrugs of natural anti-oxidants to improve bioavailability and beta-cell targeting specificity.
Daniel Shin
Research Assistant I/Lab Manager
- B.S. in Neuroscience, 2023
- Baylor University - Waco
Since 2023, Daniel has been analyzing fluorescent probes and other research chemicals relevant to the mechanisms of diabetes mellitus. He has also been developing his surgical techniques for fiber optic transmission of zinc in murine models.
Join Our Lab
Learn more about opportunities in the lab!