People

Imama Ahmed BS | Clinical Project Manager (Data and Operations)

Imama received her BS in Physiology & Neuroscience from UC San Diego in June 2020. Previously she has worked at the Department of Surgery and at the Tuszynski lab at UCSD. At the Tuszynski lab she worked on spinal cord injury research which focused on repairing spinal cord injury through stem cell treatment. She joined the Cherqui Lab in March 2021 and provides clinical research support. She will be contributing to the development and implementation of a clinical trial in the area of confocal microscopy for subjects with cystinosis.

Anusha Sivakumar Ph.D. | Project Scientist & Project Manager

Dr.Anusha Sivakumar is a Project Scientist and Project Manager at the Cherqui lab, leading the IND-enabling studies for Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA) program. Her research is dedicated to identifying and establishing the safety and efficacy profile of gene-edited hematopoietic stem cells as a potential therapeutic intervention for FA. Previously, she worked as a Senior Scientist in Research & Development at ThermoFisher Scientific Inc., focusing on commercial antibody validation and exosome sample preparation programs. During her doctoral studies, she investigated the role of mitochondrial structure-function relationships in the onset and progression of cardiac diseases, with particular focus on oxidative stress-induced injuries.

Veenita Khare Ph.D. | Post-Doc Fellow

Veenita received her PhD from CSIR- Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB) (Kolkata) India, where she investigated the role of the RNA helicase p68 (DDX5) in oncogenic signaling pathways. She joined Dr. Shannon Lauberth's lab at UCSD in January 2021 to explore the function of enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) in cancer. On receiving her PhD degree, she began working in Dr. Cherqui's lab in June 2021 to pursue her strong interest in hematopoietic stem cells and translational research. Her current project focuses on studying novel molecular mechanisms involving the Cystinosin protein and characterizing new mouse models for cystinosis. This research could lead to new therapeutic approaches for treating cystinosis.

Rafael Badell Ph.D. | Post-doc Fellow

Rafael received his MRes and PhD from Cardiff University in the UK where he investigated the cellular pathology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington and lysosomal storage diseases with a specific focus on different forms of Batten disease and Niemann Pick disease for the purposes of drug screening. During his PhD he also carried out multiple drug screening projects to identify potential small molecule therapies for lysosomal storage diseases. During his MRes he was awarded a letter of commendation as well as the Best Student Award for the best performance overall in his cohort. His PhD was funded by the Batten Disease Family Association and the Life Science Research Network Wales. Rafael strives to increase our understanding of lysosomal storage disease pathogenesis and find ways to treat these. In June 2021 Rafael joined the Cherqui lab as a Postdoc to continue developing therapeutic approaches for lysosomal storage diseases with a focus on stem cell transplantation and gene therapy using mouse models.

Jessica Schenck Ph.D. | Post-doc Fellow

Jessica received her PhD from The George Washington University in 2024, where she investigated the role of the viral protein Nef on neuroinflammation and demyelination in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. She joined the Cherqui lab in August 2024 to pursue her passion for translational neuroimmunology. Her current project focuses on uncovering the underlying mechanisms of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease and developing hematopoietic stem cell-based gene therapies.

Subhashini Arumugam | Graduate Student Researcher

Subhashini is a PhD student in the Bioengineering program and joined the Cherqui lab in 2025. Her research focuses on uncovering mechanisms of microglia mediated neurodegeneration in Friedreich's Ataxia, a rare neurodegenerative condition caused by a mutation in the Frataxin gene. She also studies how our HSPC gene therapy mitigates these mechanisms to help advance our strategy towards clinical translation. Subhashini graduated from the University of Maryland with her Bachelor's in Bioengineering in 2019. Prior to starting graduate school, Subhashini worked as an Associate Scientist at Astrazeneca, where she developed monoclonal antibody drugs against various diseases including COVID-19. Subhashini is passionate about developing translational next-gen therapies and hopes to continue working in the cell therapy space upon graduation.

Rhea Plawat | Graduate Student Researcher

Rhea received her Neuroscience honors from the University of California, Los Angeles. Post graduation, she worked in a pharmacology lab developing and testing a small molecule inhibitor against the commonly altered epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as a therapeutic for glioblastoma brain cancer. She joined the Cherqui lab in September 2025 to pursue her passion for developing novel therapeutics targeting brain disease states. Her current project involves correcting a point mutation in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene in hematopoietic stem cells using advanced CRISPR base-editing tools as treatment for familial Alzheimer’s disease.

Lily Rae Nielsen | CIRM Bridges Intern

Lily received her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2024 and worked in a molecular biology and virology lab studying the role of both human and viral co-factors in HIV virion assembly. Lily is now a Regenerative Medicine master’s candidate at Cal Poly, SLO. As part of her MS program, Lily joined the Cherqui Lab in August 2025 as a CIRM Bridges Intern. Working on the Alzheimer’s Disease team, Lily is investigating the clonal dynamics and migration of HSPCs post-transplantation in our murine model of Familial Alzheimer’s Disease.

Hannah Rosario | CIRM Bridges Intern

California State University San Marcos

Quinn Brown | CIRM Bridges Intern

Quinn is a CIRM Intern from the Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program based at CSU

San Marcos, who joined the Cherqui lab in August 2025 to work fulltime in stem cell research. They are working under Rafael Badell-Grau, contributing to research on a hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy treatment for the lysosomal storage disease Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIC. They are two years into their undergraduate schooling pursuing a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology.

Noah Lemercier Barthel | CIRM Bridges Intern

San Diego State University

Juan Londono Esguerra | CIRM Bridges Intern

Juan José is a Microbiology student at San Diego State University and a scholar in the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)-funded BSCRIP program. Through this program, they joined the Cherqui Lab at UC San Diego in July of 2025, where they conduct research on Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA), a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction. Their work focuses on evaluating cellular models of FA to investigate mitochondrial health, oxidative stress, and the functional impact of gene therapy interventions. By contributing tho the preclinical assessment of therapeutic strategies, they aim to better understand how targeted genetic approaches can restore cellular function. Juan José aspires to pursue a Ph.D. in genetics and immunology with a long-term goal of advancing gene and stem cell therapies for complex diseases.