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ScienceLIVE Interns and Trainees

Co-founders & Staff

RTI & MAPS, UMass Chan Medical School
Athma Pai, PhD

Assistant Professor, RNA Therapeutics Institute

Dr. Pai is an RNA systems geneticist who uses functional genomics and computational approaches to address open questions in mammalian gene regulation. Athma received her Ph.D. from the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, working with Yoav Gilad and collaborating closely with Jonathan Pritchard’s group on human and comparative genomics analyses. She then moved on to postdoctoral research as a Jane Coffin Childs fellow at MIT working with Christopher Burge, focusing on understanding the changes in mRNA splicing after immune response and developing methods to measure the dynamics of such processes. Athma assumed her current position as an Assistant Professor in the RNA Therapeutics Institute at the UMass Chan Medical School in January 2018. Her lab works on developing and applying methods to study the kinetics of RNA processing and understanding how various steps in RNA maturation are coordinated through lifecycle of an RNA molecule.
Interns, Students & Postdocs

UMass Chan Medical School
Christine Carbone

PhD Candidate, RTI, UMass Chan Medical School

PhD Candidate in Andrei Korostelev's Lab, RTI, UMass Chan Medical School
Katarzyna Dubiel

Postdoctoral Fellow, UMass Chan Medical School
Maryam Fatouraei

Graduate Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Erica Hildebrand

Postdoctoral Fellow, UMass Chan
Eleni Jaecklein

Graduate Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Aylish Klepper

Undergraduate Intern, Wellesley College
Timmy Le

Graduate Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Joe Magrino

Graduate Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Evan Offord

Medical Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Maya Spichal

Postdoctoral Fellow, RTI, UMass Chan
Ximena Zottig

Postdoctoral Fellow, RTI, UMass Chan Medical School

Christina Baer, PhD

Director, SCOPE, Associate Professor, MAPS

Dr. Baer completed her PhD in Biophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, CA. Sher has been the director of the SCOPE since 2017. Her extensive experience with wide-field, confocal, and multi-photon imaging, plus skills in molecular tools development and quantitative image analysis provides essential scientific support to the UMass Chan Medical School research community. SCOPE has become a catalyst for optical experimentation at UMass Chan, serving as a site where engineers and biologists interact to develop innovative instruments and analysis methodologies that are readily accessible to the community.
Mary Pickering, PhD

Director, Public Engagement with Science, RTI

Dr. Mary Pickering graduated from Providence College with Bachelor degrees in Chemistry and Biology. She completed her PhD and postdoctoral work at UMass Chan and returns to the university after serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor at area colleges. Dr. Pickering is one of the co-founders of ScienceLIVE, a STEM educational outreach program for middle school students in the Worcester area. She joins the RTI to expand the impact of the experiential program by developing and implementing engaging content and provide opportunities for trainees to develop science communication skills.
Nathan Bamidele

PhD Candidate, RTI, UMass Chan Medical
Shalaka Chitale

Postdoctoral Fellow, UMass Chan Medical School
Rachel Duong

Medical Student Class of 2022, UMass Chan Medical School
Aurian Garcia Gonzalez

MD/PhD Class of 2021, UMass Chan
Sushmita Hoque

MD Student, Class of 2021, UMass Chan
Eraj Khokar

Postdoctoral Fellow, RTI, UMass Chan
Melanie Kossuth

Nursing Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Silvia Lee

Graduate Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Michelle Narvaez Ramos

MD Candidate, UMass Chan Medical School
Charlotte Reames

Lab Manager, UMass Chan Medical School
Lorissa Smulan

Postdoctoral Fellow, UMass Chan

Angela Messmer-Blust, PhD

Sr. Scientific Advisor, Associate Professor, RTI

Dr. Angela Messmer-Blust studied cell motility during her graduate studies at the University of Toledo where she received her PhD (2009). She began her postdoctoral research at the CardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School under Jian Li, investigating transcriptional regulation in diabetes and obesity. Following her postdoctoral studies, she held editorial positions at the Journal of Visualized Experiments, and later joined Cell Press as the director of scientific conferences from 2012 - 2017. In 2017, Dr. Messmer-Blust joined the faculty of the RNA Therapeutics Institute as Assistant Professor and Senior Scientific Advisor where she develops and directs departmental initiatives including the annual RNA Therapeutics symposium and ScienceLIVE educational outreach in the Worcester area.
Stacey O'Neil

Project Manager, RTI

Stacey has over 20 years of experience in executive administrative support as well as project & event management. She joined the RTI in 2017 and has been with the University of Massachusetts for over 10 years, previously working in business operations at UMassOnline in the President's Office. She manages several initiatives including the annual RNA Therapeutics Symposium, ScienceLive Educational Outreach Program, the RTI seminar series, website development and immigration for foreign nationals joining the department . Outside of work Stacey enjoys kayaking, flea markets and time with her family.

Office Location: AS4-1046A
Office Phone: 774-455-4682
Mobile: 508-380-6077
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Michelle Bellerose

Scientist, Moderna, UMass Chan Medical Alum
Sammie Doxsey

Project Assistant Intern, UMass Chan Medical School
Ishani Dasgupta

Postdoctoral Fellow, UMass Chan Medical School
Pooja Dutta

Medical Student, Class of 2024, UMass Chan Medical School
Sarah Hansen

MD Student, Class of 2024, UMass Chan
Nicholas Jacques

Graduate Student, UMass Chan Medical School
Erin Kim

Undergraduate Intern, Wellesley College

Erin Kim authored and illustrated the Emma RNA Saves the Day coloring book as an intern from Wellesley College in 2021, led by co-founder, Dr. Angela Messmer-Blust. For more on the coloring book
Carolyn Kraus

Graduate Student, RTI, UMass Chan