OUR TEAM

Pia is a second year orthopedic, trauma and spine surgical resident from Cologne, Germany. She graduated Medical School in 2022 and was a registered Scrub Nurse specialized in spine surgeries. Pia joined the Hofstetter Lab in the end of 2023 as a postdoctoral research scholar to expand her knowledge in the research field and especially in the field of spinal cord injury and investigate neuroprotective treatments. She really enjoys working in an international team with all the different personalities and individual backgrounds. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities (which is a lot of fun in the vicinity of Seattle) and going to concerts.

Jeff joined the lab in 2017 as a recent graduate from Western Washington University. He previously worked in Western’s Behavioral Neuroscience program, studying the neural basis of sucrose craving under Dr. Jeffrey Grimm. In the Hofstetter lab, he assists with all active projects by performing histological analysis of tissue specimens, and by evaluating the functional deficits associated with spinal cord injury. He enjoys outdoor activities all over the Seattle area, including hiking and rowing.

​Jen earned her Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans, where she worked on the development of a novel minimally-invasive therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. She has extensive experience with the design and fabrication of targeted contrast agents and their use in conjunction with either focused ultrasound, in a therapeutic context, or specialized imaging. In her current role, her primary focus is the development and application of novel high speed ultrasound contrast imaging techniques to assess injury-induced hemodynamic changes in the spinal cord.

Wyatt Loeser is a rising senior at Mercer Island High School. He plans on majoring in the
sciences and is very interested in the world of medicine. Wyatt is inspired by his grandfather
who was a neurosurgeon and may follow in his footsteps but wants to keep his options open.
Outside of the scholarly scene, Wyatt enjoys cycling around Mercer Island, ski racing in and
outside of Washington, and surfing on Lake Washington.

To be updated

Natalie Kai Yi Yap was a new research clinical coordinator for the Hofstetter Lab. She graduated from the University of Washington with a double Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical engineering and Dance in Spring of 2021. Her final year capstone project focused on the development of a novel locally targeted drug delivery microneedle device to reduce inflammation during secondary spinal cord injury. She had actively managed the clinical front for multiple studies for the lab by using her knowledge and experience gathered during her undergraduate studies. One of her many important tasks was to recruit participants for studies as well as ensure the studies were compliant with human subject regulations. Natalie hoped to enter medical school specializing in neurological surgery and she believed her experience at the Hofstetter lab would further perpetuate her goal

To be updated

Abi is an undergraduate in the class of 2023 at the University of Washington. He is majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Bioethics on the premed track. He is very interested in the medical field and hopes to become a physician in the future. He is founder of HiddenHealth, a website platform designed to engage students to educating others on global health issues and medical research. Away from school, Abi spends his time volunteering at the ED at Evergreen Health, playing tennis, creating digital art, and has recently gotten into cycling.

Emma joined the lab in October of 2021 and is an undergraduate in the class of 2025 at the University of Washington. She is majoring in Neuroscience, minoring in Anthropology, and is pursuing medicine. She is very interested in behavioral neuroscience, pediatrics, and psychiatry. She is also intrigued by the relationship between music and medicine, and has explored this connection through organizations where students provide musical therapy to nursing home residents and hospital patients. Outside of academics, Emma likes to spend her time volunteering, helping lead Grey Matters Neuroscience Journal, and composing orchestral music.

Noor is an undergraduate student in the class of 2023 at the University of Washington and has been a part of the lab since October 2020. She is studying Biochemistry with a minor in Bioethics and is hoping to go to medical school. Noor has a particular interest in the intersection of social care and medicine and aspires to work in underserved communities as a general practitioner. In the lab, Noor works on studying the effects of bladder denervation after SCI. During her time at UW, she has created and taught a course to help students succeed in biology. Outside of this, Noor spends her time photographing concerts and experimenting in darkrooms.

Dane received a Master's degree in Applied Bioinformatics through the University of Oregon, completed a year-long internship at the University of Washington with the Applied Physics Laboratory and Neurological Surgery Department, and has continued as a data science consultant. He works on image processing using contrast enhanced ultrasound in a spinal cord injury model. He created visual representations of inflammation patterns, perfusion rates, and other unique trends that aligned with different SCI injury types. He plans to publish his findings in the near future. ​

Dane has also been a Data Analytics Consultant for the Business Development Department at Boeing in Seattle, Washington and a data science contractor with Amazon, LLC.

Dr. Tobias Prasse is a third year surgical resident who worked at the University Hospital of Cologne (Germany) after graduating Medical School in 2019. In 2020 he defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Rostock (Germany) dealing with bisphenol A and its effects on the morphology and biomechnical properties on rat bone. He joined the Hofstetter Lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral research scholar to analyze the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury with special focus on chronic damage. When he is not in the lab, he enjoys exercising and exploring the Seattle area.

Sanan was born in Toronto, Ontario but grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. He went to the University of Pittsburgh for his undergraduate education and majored in Neuroscience. While there he worked for the UPMC Department of Neurosurgery in a research capacity, under the mentorship of Dr. Juan Carlos Fernandez Miranda, working on skull base cadaveric dissection and high definition fiber tractography. He then went on to the University of South Florida for medical school where he continued research efforts in the field of Skull Base Surgery, working with Dr. Harry van Loveren, Dr. Siviero Agazzi, Dr. Fernando Vale and Dr. Puya Alikhani. While in medical school he also published in Dr. Greenberg’s Handbook of Neurosurgery. He started his neurosurgical training at the University of New Mexico, first as an unaccredited pre-residency fellow and then as a resident, before joining the University of Washington in his R2 year. 

Tashmee is an undergraduate in the class of 2024 at the University of Washington and began working for the Hofstetter Lab as a sophomore. She plans to major in a B.S. in Public Health and Global Health with a focus on Neuroscience and is also on the pre-med track. She aspires to be a pediatric neurologist in the future, focusing on health disparities in underserved communities. Throughout high school and undergrad, she has been passionate about taking on leadership positions to promote social justice in a wide range of sectors, from student government to health and medicine-centered clubs at the UW. She hopes to bridge the gap between societal structural inequity and medicine. In her free time, Tashmee enjoys engaging in meaningful conversations about life and exploring nature. 

Brian began working for the Hofstetter Lab as a freshman at UW.  Over the two years he spent with the lab he went from a bioengineering major to an informatics major focusing in data science.  This change in major coincided with the Hofstetter Lab's development of contrast-enhanced ultrasound where Brian was able to apply his data science and image processing education.​

Brian is currently a software engineer at the Allen Institute for Cell Science in the Microscope team.  He is developing microscope automation software for many different types of acquisitions that our incorporated into the "Cell Explorer" project.  ​

Brian is also working with Dr. Donghoon Lee's lab in UW Radiology on MRI data analysis, and with UW software developers to create a fitness app.

Anna Marie was a Neurosurgery Intern for the Hofstetter Laboratory.  She helped to document motor neuron survival following a novel surgery in the rat spinal cord.  After her internship, Anna Marie completed her B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience at Western Washington University.  She went on to work at the Allen Institute for Brain Science where she helped classify neuronal and glial cell types in the human brain through transcriptional profiling.

Michael Cruz is currently a rising second year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He graduated cum laude at California State University Long Beach in 2012 where he studied Political Science and competed nationally in collegiate debate. His first passion has always been mentoring and teaching others, and he had fully intended to become a political science professor before switching careers to pursue medicine. His teaching track record includes science tutoring, high school competitive debate coaching, premedical mentorship, and professional training. Michael first came to the Hofstetter lab as an undergraduate post-bacc student, and has remained involved after he was accepted into UWSOM. His general research interests involve exploring clinical and basic science approaches to functional recovery after CNS injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. He recently finished a project involving development of an animal model to investigate plasticity induction with transcutaneous electrical stimulation after an acute spinal cord injury. In his off-time, Michael enjoys weight-lifting, hiking and reading books.

​Justin Nelson is currently a medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He graduated summa cum laude from Boise State University where he engaged in research investigating the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. His current interests include brain and spinal cord injury research and the field of neurosurgery.

Juliana is a class of 2021 undergraduate at the University of Washington. After a year in business school, she decided to switch her major to a B.S. in Public Health and Global Health. Beyond school, Juliana spends her time playing violin, volunteering at the ED of Seattle Children's Hospital, and watching sports. In the lab, she is involved with studying the effects of bladder denervation after SCI.

Ronak Jaisalmeria is a rising junior at Redmond High School. He has participated in various STEM based competitions such as Science Olympiad, Brain Bee, and USABO. He was chosen to represent Washington State in the National Brain Bee in 2020. He is a central administrator and teacher of the 501©3 nonprofit Science Infinity, an organization dedicated to educating younger students in STEM fields. He created an experimental device to help out Parkinson’s patients to prevent freezing of gait and is very interested in learning lab based aspects of brain and spinal-cord based injuries.

Yasameen is a graduate student at the University of Washington in the Masters of Applied Chemical Science and Technology program. She joined the Hofstetter team during her senior year of undergrad to help with conducting animal behavior analysis. With her background in Biochemistry as an undergrad, her main interest is understanding the pharmacokinetics and therapeutics of spinal cord injury treatments. Aside from academia, she works as a part-time office assistant at the UW School of Social Work. She spends her free time painting, solving puzzles and playing with her cat. 

​Chuc is an undergraduate at the University of Washington, double majoring in Psychology and Biology with a focus in Physiology. She discovered her interest in the nervous system as a high school student after enrolling in a college level Psychology course as part of the Running Start program. Seeking an opportunity to further her knowledge, she applied for an internship in the Neurological Surgery Summer Student program at UW, and was placed in the Hofstetter Lab. After the internship, she was invited to remain in the lab to continue her research efforts. Her work in the lab is focused on the use of hemostatic nanoparticles to prevent blood loss after traumatic spinal cord injury.

Julia graduated in the class of 2020 at University of Washington, majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Diversity. In addition to academics, she is an author and production manager for Grey Matters, UW’s undergraduate neuroscience journal. She is also a program leader for the cultural exchange program Unite UW. In the Hofstetter lab, Julia studies neuroinflammation and extracellular matrix interactions while also applying her editing and peer review skills to lab publications.

Brian is an undergraduate in the class of 2020 at the University of Washington, majoring in Electrical Engineering with a concentration of Digital Signal and Image Processing.  He is passionate about biotech and medical device industries where he could contribute his work to the creation of ideas and devices that could help people for the better.  He joined Dr. Bruce's lab to further his passion and knowledge of image processing and ultrasound imaging, specifically on spinal cord injury.  His work in the lab is mainly focused on reconstructing and processing data to obtain perfusion and blood flow images and 3D rendering volume models after spinal cord injury.

Jinci is currently a medical student at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She graduated with a BS at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN, majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Psychology. With a interest in medicine and research, she applied for the Neurological Surgery Summer Student Program and was selected to work in the Hofstetter Lab. She spent her summer doing research on validating our novel technique, ultrafast contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with the microsphere deposition technique. She has also researched non-traditional treatments for adolescents with mood disorders at the University of Minnesota.

​Rachel began working with the Hofstetter Lab during the Autumn of 2016 and volunteered in the lab a couple of days a week assisting with histology and data analysis. She graduated from the University of Washington in 2018 with a B.S. in Microbiology, and is beginning optometry school at Pacific University in Fall 2019.