Principal Investigator
Megan Cooper, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics, Rheumatology & Immunology
Division Director, Rheumatology & Immunology
- Email: cooper_m@nospam.wustl.edu
Megan (she/her) grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and completed her MD, PhD training at The Ohio State University. She is a Pediatric Rheumatologist and Immunologist and is the Director of the Clinical Immunology program and The Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Outside the lab she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and traveling to beach destinations (or at least dreaming about doing so!).
Personnel
Faculty
Erica Schmitt, MD, PhD
Instructor in Pediatrics, Rheumatology and Immunology
Erica grew up in Wisconsin where she obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then completed her MD, PhD training at the Medical College of Wisconsin. During her graduate studies at MCW she studied the role of induced regulatory T cells in mucosal tolerance. She then entered the Physician Scientist Training Program at Washington University where she completed her pediatric residency training at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and then entered the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Program. Erica is interested in studying immune deficiency and immune dysregulation. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, baking, and outdoor activities.
Staff
Rachel Bielecki
Research Technician II
Rachel grew up in O’Fallon, Missouri and received her Bachelors of Science in Biology from the University of Missouri St. Louis. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time cooking with her husband, who is also a self-proclaimed foodie, or cuddling with her pitbull Buddy and her two cats. She also enjoys hobbies such as crocheting, playing board games, watching anything thriller or mystery related, and attending Friday night commander at her local game store.
Ana Kolicheski, PhD
Staff Scientist
Ana Kolicheski was born and raised in Curitiba, Brazil, where she got her bachelors in Veterinary Medicine. Her love for science and genetics made her study abroad for her Masters in Animal Breeding and Genetics through the EMABG Master’s scholarship in the Netherlands and Sweden. She completed her PhD training in veterinary pathobiology at the University of Missouri where she analyzed whole genome sequences of dogs and identified disease causing mutations in different breeds. She transitioned to human genetics and studied the genetics of Early Onset Parkinson’s disease and healthy neurological aging during her post doctoral training at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. She is now working to identify genomic mutations that cause rare pediatric immune diseases and assisting on the bioinformatics analysis of the lab’s projects. Kolicheski is a huge heavy metal fan, singer, animal lover, gamer and overall “nerd”.
Jennifer Laurent
Research Lab Supervisor
Jennifer has always resided in the St. Louis, Missouri area. She obtained her B.A. in Mathematics and BS in Biology at Saint Louis University. Jennifer has worked in labs on the Washington University School of Medicine campus since 1996. Outside of the lab, she enjoys spending time with her husband and twin sons. In addition, Jennifer volunteers as a coach for a local youth team and works with other nonprofit organizations on both the state and national levels.
Kristen McDaniels
Clinical Research Coordinator II
Kristen McDaniels grew up in Grand Rapids, MI and completed her BS in Biology at Michigan State University. She has had quite a few twists and turns in her career path, beginning with working in the pharmaceutical industry at Pfizer after college, a 15 year Dental Hygiene career, followed by a transition to clinical research at Wash U. Prior to joining the Peds immunology and rheumatology group, Kristen spent 4 years as a CRC with medical oncology, working on many treatment trials for lymphoma patients. Kristen enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors with her husband Chas, watching her 14 yr old son Henry play lots of sports, shopping and cooking with her 12 yr old daughter Julia, and spoiling her cockapoo Bo.
Alex Paul
Bioinformatics
Nermina Saucier, MS
Senior Research Technician
Nermina Saucier joined the Cooper lab in the summer of 2010 as a research technician. She received her B.A. and M.S. in Biology from Saint Louis University. Outside of lab, she enjoys rock climbing, camping, hiking and spending time with her husband Jon and daughter Lydia.
Yongjun Wang, PhD
Senior Scientist
Yongjun grew up in Hebei province, China and obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Genetics and Breeding. He transitioned to biomedical research after joining Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University. He has previously worked at The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, and Saint Louis University. Before joining the Cooper lab, he was a Research Assistant Professor at Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences and The Director of Biomedical and Obesity Research Core at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In his spare time, he enjoys watching TV shows and playing tennis with his teenage son.
PhD students
Elizabeth Schmitz
MSTP student
Elizabeth Schmitz is an MSTP student in the immunology program. She grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota. She received her bachelor’s degree in bioinformatics from the University of Pittsburgh where she did research on transcriptional repressors in T-cells. Subsequently, she did post-baccalaureate research at the NIH where she studied genetic causes of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In the Cooper Lab, she is currently working on understanding somatic causes of immune dysregulation. In her free time, she enjoys cuddling babies in the SLCH NICU, baking, and crafting with friends.
Stacey Sohn, MS
PhD Student, Immunology Program
Stacey Sohn is a PhD student. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Sogang University in South Korea. Her current research focus is about NK cell metabolism. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movie and cooking.
Josh Tobin, BA
MSTP Student
Josh Tobin is an MSTP student in the immunology program. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received his Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University where he studied metabolic regulation in the opportunistic fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. Josh then worked as a technician at the University of Pittsburgh studying the immune response to Influenza-Aspergillus superinfections. Currently, he is studying B-cell immunodeficiencies in the Cooper Laboratory. In his spare time, Josh enjoys running in Forest Park, exploring St. Louis, and spending time with his new puppy, Oliver.
Undergraduate/Visiting students
Matthew Du
Undergraduate Student
Matthew Du grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is an undergraduate student at Washington University studying Biochemistry with a minor in Human-Computer Interaction. At WashU, Matthew is involved in promoting global healthy equity through an on-campus organization, choreographing traditional Chinese lion dance performances, and assisting an introductory computer science course as a teaching assistant. In his free time, Matthew enjoys doing digital art, playing violin, and spending time with family and friends.
Michelle Liu
Undergraduate student
Michelle Liu grew up in Avon, Connecticut, and is an undergraduate student at WashU studying computational biology with a minor in anthropology. At WashU, Michelle is involved in Science Olympiad, a club which prepares local middle school students for competitions and hosts annual Science Olympiad competitions for middle and high schoolers. She is also a TA for the general chemistry lab and is a study group leader for Calculus III. In her free time, Michelle enjoys taking walks around campus and exploring Forest Park.
Past personnel
Jahnavi Aluri, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Miriam Ben Abdallah, BA
Undergraduate Lab Assistant
Maria Cimpean
PhD Student, Immunology Program
M. Tyler Harmon
Undergraduate assistant
Diana He
Undergraduate Research Student
Kelsey Kelly Trammel, BS
Research Technician II
Molly P. Keppel, MS
Lab Supervisor
Charles Mackin, MS
Research Technician
Annelise Mah-Som, BS
MD, PhD Student
Emily Moore
Subsequent Position: MSTP Student Columbia University
Jalalah Muhammad
Undergraduate researcher
Katherine Owens
Research Lab Supervisor
Sammy Risma
Research Technician
Michelle Ritter, RN, BSN
Research Nurse Coordinator
Nathan Schedler
SLU Undergraduate Student
James Tarbox, MD
Fellow, Allergy/Immunology
Subrat Thanapati, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Kelsey Toth, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Tiphanie Vogel, MD, PhD
Fellow, Pediatric and Adult Rheumatology