Caitlin is a 2006 graduate of Wheaton College in Norton Massachusetts, having received a BA in 2006. Caitlin has six years of zebrafish experience, and for numerous years has been a course coordinator at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole Massachusetts for the "Neural Development and Genetics of Zebrafish Course".  Caitlin is also a member of the Zebrafish Husbandry Association.

Jeff graduated from the University of Maine, Orono in 2005 with a B.S. in Aquaculture. Prior to joining the Yelick zebrafish research group in April 2009, he worked as a zebrafish research technician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA since February 2006. Jeff also has experience working in other aquaculture facilities raising atlantic salmon, atlantic cod, rainbow smelt, clams, and oysters. Jeff is currently the treasurer of the Zebrafish Husbandry Association.

Alex Baumbach
Research Technician

Originally from Princeton, NJ, Alex is a recent graduate of Union College where he received a BS in Biology and a minor in Bioengineering in June of 2007.  Alex joined the Yelick Lab zebra fish research group in February of 2008 having worked for a summer in a small biomedical device company, and having previously completed a year-long research project on the flow dynamics of artificial heart valves.

Michelle H. Connolly, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

 
Michelle graduated from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in May 2008 with a PhD in biology under the supervision of Dr. Brian Hall. As part of her graduate work, Michelle examined the plasticity of the zebrafish axial skeleton following embryonic heat shock.  Michelle joined the Yelick zebrafish research group in September 2008, where she continues to study skeletal development and variation among craniofacial mutants. 

Daniel Fraher
Research Technician

Daniel graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 2005 with a BS in Biology.  Prior to joining the Yelick Lab zebrafish research group, he worked for two years in a microbiology quality control laboratory in Canton, MA.

Dr. German Gallucci
Visiting Scientist, Tufts University

University of Geneva
School of Dental Medicine
Department of Prosthodontics
19 rue Barthèlemy-menn
CH-1205 Geneva
Tel: + 41 79 205 71 39
Fax: + 41 22 372 94 97
e-mail: german.gallucci@medecine.unige.ch, gallucci@hsdm.harvard.edu

Dr. Gallucci, a visiting scientist in the Yelick Laboratory at Tufts University, obtained his Doctorate in Dental Medicine at the department of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Medicine at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.  Dr. Gallucci also currently holds a position of visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials Sciences at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.  Dr. Gallucci actively participates in clinical research related to Esthetics and Immediate Loading in implant therapies.  His work has been published in International peer reviewed journals.  Dr. Gallucci is an invited lecturer in scientific meetings across Europe, USA, Asia, and South America, and received the best clinical case award at the 2002 ITI World Symposium in San Diego, CA, USA.  Dr. Gallucci is a Fellow of the International Team for Implantology (ITI), Switzerland, an active member of the Academy of Osseointegration (AO) USA, and the European Academy of Osseointegration (EAO).

Yan Lin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Ph.D., Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; M.S., Organic Chemistry, Institute of Photographic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China; B.E., Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China

Stem cell-based dental tissue engineering provides the opportunity to consider biologically based reparative and/or replacement tooth therapies, with the potential to regenerate dental tissues exhibiting physical and aesthetic properties that are equal to, or better than, existing counterparts.  Tissue engineering/regeneration is a highly coordinated process, which allows for the manipulation of scaffold chemistry and design to induce regulatory signaling cascades in progenitor cell interactions.  Currently, The goal of my current research is to identify scaffold materials and designs for optimized dental tissue regeneration and function. 

Yujin Lee
CMDB Student

Yujin is a second year graduate student at the Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences (CMDB program).  She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a BS in Biochemistry.  She has worked in a number of biological science research labs (cognitive neuroscience, neuropharmacology and stem cell) prior to entering Tufts University and joining the Yelick lab.  She is now working on becoming an expert in zebrafish genetics and development.  Originally from Plano, Texas, Yujin also considers Austin, Texas and Seoul, Korea her hometown

Robert Literman
Research Technician

Originally from Buffalo New York, Robert is a 2007 graduate of SUNY Geneseo where he received his Bachelors Degree in Biochemistry. After studying the genetics and temperature-dependent sex determination of the tuatara (/Sphenodon punctatus)/ in New Zealand, Robert joined Dr. Yelick's lab in April 2008 as a member of the tissue engineering group.

Ivy Pruitt
Research Technician

A native of Tacoma, WA, Ivy graduated from Holy Cross in 2005 with a BA in history and concentrations in both pre-dental and gerontology studies.  Prior to the Yelick lab, she worked for two years as a lab technician in inflammation research at Massachusetts General.  She is a proud member of, and technician for, the Yelick Lab tissue engineering group.

E.Quigley Raleigh
Program Manager

Quigley is a graduate of Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts and the New England School of Acupuncture in Watertown, Massachusetts.  In addition to her numerous, ongoing years of experience in the Acupuncture field, Quigley has a background in financial services marketing and dental continuing education.  As Program Manager for the Yelick Laboratory, she is responsible for grant submissions and post-award financial management, ensuring research and regulatory compliance, and providing managerial oversight for the Yelick Lab budgets, operations, core facility development, and staff. 

Inquiries regarding open positions for post doctoral fellows and research technicians may be forwarded to Quigley at quigley.raleigh@tufts.edu.

Samantha Traphagen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
B.S.E., Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, IA

Doctoral Thesis Project: Development of Physicochemical Co-culture Models for Engineering Prevascularized Bone
Tissue engineering aims to recapitulate development and regeneration to further elucidate these processes and to apply this understanding to therapeutic interventions resulting in synthesis, regeneration, or repair of tissue. Dentition, the process of generating a set of teeth, involves the interactions of epithelial and mesenchymal tissues. Current research interests include reverse engineering pre-existing tissue within in the jaw and tooth sac to describe morphogenesis, means of differentiation, and ECM composition, as well as the isolation and culture of embryonic rest cells from the periodontal ligament.

Dr. Amanda Yen, D.D.S., D.M.Sc.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Amanda received her Doctor of Medical Science degree and Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology certificate from Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston MA in 1996.  She pursued research on chemokine signaling while in the laboratory of Dr. Barrett Rollings in 1992-1996, at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA.  Prior to joining the dental tissue engineering group in the Yelick Lab, Amanda was engaged in tooth development and stem cells research in the laboratory of Professor Paul Sharpe’s lab/ Odontis Ltd, in King’s College London U.K., from 2004 to 2008.

Weibo Zhang, D.D.S., M.D.S.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

M.D.S., Wuhan University School of Stomatology, P.R. China;
D.D.S., Wuhan University School of Stomatology, P.R. China.

Research Experience:
2003-Present.  Doctoral thesis research was performed in the Department of Periodontology & Biomaterials, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Project: Stem cells derived from dental pulp and their application potential on tissue regeneration. (Thesis finished, waiting for the defense.)
2001-2005.  Doctoral thesis research was performed in the Department of Oral medicine, Wuhan University School of Stomatology, PR. China. Co-operation with Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands.
Projects: Differentiation ability of dental pulp stem cells in vitro.
1998-2001. Masters thesis research was performed in the Department of Oral medicine, Wuhan University School of Stomatology, PR. China.
1999-2002. Projects: Passive and Active immunization against Dental Caries.

Current Research.  The multi-lineage differentiation potential of dental pulp stem cells has been proved. Furthermore, their source, dental pulp, can be easily obtained without compromising the health of an individual.  These characteristics make the development of clinically relevant applications for these cells a very promising area of research.  Current research will focus on the differentiation potential of postnatal dental pulp and enamel organ stem cells, and their applications for dental tissue regeneration.