Gregory Golden, PhD
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Title:  Postdoctoral Researcher
Affiliation: CMAI (Betts Lab)

Gregory Golden is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the laboratory of Professor Michael Betts at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He completed his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Golden currently studies the immune landscape of the pancreas and associated secondary lymphoid organs and the dynamics of the immune system during Type 1 Diabetes development. He has a particular interest in the role of T cells in the autoimmune elimination of beta cells.

Abhishek Kulkarni, PhD
Institution: University of Florida 
Title:  Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Affiliation: CBDS (Mirmira), CHIB (Brusko)

Abhishek Kulkarni is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the laboratory of Professor Todd Brusko at the University of Florida. He completed his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University School of Medicine. He joined Raghu Mirmira as a postdoc at the University of Chicago, where he studied the role of the polyamines-hypusine pathway in human pancreatic islet inflammation. His current work is focused on studying the role of the co-stimulatory protein CD226 in the antigen-presenting cell (APC) – T cell interaction in the context of T1D pathogenesis.

Olha Melnyk, PhD
Institution: Indiana University School of Medicine
Title:  Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Affiliation: CBDS (Linnemann)

Olha Melnyk is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the laboratory of Associate Professor Amelia Linnemann at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Applied Sciences-Physics from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Dr. Melnyk is studying pancreatic beta cell physiology, with a focus on autophagic flux and the autophagy machinery, through the use of intravital microscopy.  During her PhD studies, she became interested  in nonlinear optics and advanced microscopy techniques for live cell imaging.

Ali Shilleh
Institution: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Title:  Graduate Student
Affiliation: CBDS (Russ)

Ali Shilleh is a 5^th year PhD Candidate in the Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in the laboratory of Holger Russ. He is Serbian-born, Palestinian-raised and completed his BS from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and his MS in Nutrition and Biomedicine from the Technical University of Munich (Germany). Ali’s research focuses on determining the fate of human beta cells upon transplantation.