People

Professor Andre Melendez- Principal Investigator

Director, Center for Cellular Aging

Andres “Andre” Melendez earned his B. Sc. in Marine Science & Biology at the University of Tampa which was followed by an M. Sc. in Biomedical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where he was indoctrinated into the field of free radical biology. He then transitioned to the State University of New York at Albany where he received a Ph. D. in molecular biology and evaluated how reactive oxygen species contribute to inflammatory disease processes. He completed Post-doctoral training at Georgetown University and Albany Medical College where he studied inflammatory processes that accompany oxygen toxicity and post-partum uterine involution, respectively. In 1997 he was one of the first recipients of an NCI Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Diversity. At Albany Medical College he developed a program directed at understanding the free radical signals that control metastatic disease progression, aging and infectious disease processes and funded by both private and federal funding agencies. In 2011, he joined the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering at the University of Albany, State University of New York as empire innovation professor & associate head of the nanobioscience constellation. He continues his work on free radical signaling and in the development of next generation nanoparticle-based therapeutic vehicles for the diagnosis and treatment of degenerative disease. He is an associate editor for the bionanoscience section of Experimental Biology & Medicine and serves on the editorial board of Free Radical Biology & Medicine and The FASEB Journal. Dr. Melendez has received numerous awards and has served on many review and advisory boards for the government, academic institutions, scientific societies and companies.

May Y. Lee – PhD Student

My undergraduate at UAlbany research focused on the effect of a novel tRNA modification by Alkbh8, tRNA methyltransferase enzyme, in aging. As numbers of elderly population are growing dramatically, aging and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular, diabetes and even cancer, will be major public health concerns. Research in aging field will provide major contributions to reduce the burden of age associated illness, and enhance quality of life by maintaining health among older adults population. Thus, I became interested in understanding the intricate web of interdependent genetic, biochemical and physiological factors of aging and age-related diseases. After completing my undergraduate program, I decided to strengthen my research skills by pursuing Master of Science degree, which allow me to continue my research from undergraduate.

Undergraduate (Current)

Habben Desta -- SUNY POLY

Aezat Ullah – Ualbany

Former Graduate Students (Graduated)

Doctoral Thesis Committee

Ana Rodriquez: 1999, “Targeted expression of mitochondrial catalase restricts fibrosarcoma growth in vitro and in vivo.” University of Extremadura, Spain
Current Position: Staff Scientist at King's College London

Aparna Ranganathan: 2002, “ Redox control of Interleukin-1 alpha expression” Albany Medical College
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix, Arizona

Jenny S. Shum: 2002, “Mechanism behind serotonin dependent control of uterine smooth muscle cell collagenase expression” Albany Medical College
Current Position: Associate, Jones Day, Patent Attorney.

Kristin Nelson: 2004, “Transcriptional control mechanisms regulating hydrogen peroxide-dependent matrix metalloproteinase- 1 expression” Albany Medical College.
Current Position: Medical Writer, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky.

Kip Connor: 2005, “Mitochondrial Hydrogen Peroxide control tumor angiogenesis through PTEN oxidation” Albany Medical College
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School.

Sita Subbaram: 2008, “Chromatin remodeling events controlling redox-dependent MMP-1 transcription”, Albany Medical College
Current Position: Instructor, Albany Medical College

Jaya Dasgupta: 2008, “Redox-control of senescence associated MMP-1 expression”, Albany Medical College.
Current Postion: Instructor Biology, Chemistry & Physics Hudson Valley Community College

Amanda Melillo: 2010, “Redox-control of Franscilla tularensis pathogenesis”, Albany Medical College.
Current Position: Program Officer, NIH.

Donald McCarthy: 2014, “Redox-control of the senescence associated secretory phenotype”, SUNY at Albany, CNSE,
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow, UCSF

Anthony Franchini: 2014, “Redox-Regulation FcR-receptor signaling and macrophage function”, Albany Medical College.
Current Postion, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Rochester Medical Center.

Nicole Flaherty: 2016, “Control of F. Tularensis pathogenesis through TRPM2”

A. Chandrasekaran: 2017, “Redox-control of TRPC6 and the senescence associates secretory phenoytpe”

Master Thesis Committees

Raichal Melathe: 1998, “Elucidation of transcript differences in superoxide dismutate 2 overexpressing tumor cells”, Albany Medical College
Current Position: Laboratory Manager Montefiore Medical Center.

Kwi-hye Kim: 2003, “Redox-dependent control of Nitration through an altered antioxidant enzyme status”, Albany Medical College
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company

Supriya Kar: 2010, “In vivo antioxidant deficiency augments age-associated MMP-1 expression” Albany Medical College
Current Position: Pediatrician, Hartford CT

Aldo Gammara: 2006, “Redox-control of TIMP expression”, Albany Medical College
Current Position: General Surgery private practice Staten Island, NY.

Lisa Keenan: 2014, “The role proly hydroxylase in the regulation of MMP expression”, SUNY Albany, CNSE

Ahmad Nazem: 2016, “Characterization of Degradome Sensing Nanoparticles for treatment of degenerative Disease”, SUNY Albany CNSE

N. Nerlakanti: 2016, “Development of Protease Sensing surface plasmon resonance array”, SUNY Albany CNSE

Y Lee: Current, “Epitranscriptomic control of selenocysteine utilization and senescense”

Former Post-Doctoral Associates

Nadine Hempel
Associate Professor, Penn State Medical College, Hershey, PA
Assistant Professor, College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, University at Albany, 2011-15
Postdoctoral fellow, 2007-2011

Toni Bartling
Staff Scientist, GE Health Sciences
Postdoctoral fellow, 2009-2013

Hanqing Ye
Research Associate Hunan University, China
Postdoctoral fellow, 2006-2009

Pauline M. Carrico
Instructor, Biology, University at Albany, 2013-present
Assistant Professor (non-tenure track), 2000-2003, Assistant Professor Empire State College, Saratoga, NY.
Postdoctoral fellow, 1999-2000

Former Undergraduate Students

Name Year of Graduation University
Faith Williams 1998 SUNY Albany
Sian Martin 1998 SUNY Albany
Lisa Schoonmaker 1999 Siena
Kevin Regan 2000 SUNY Albany
Martin King 2001 University of Illinois
Cynthia Bernal 2005 SUNY Albany
Bharat Yarlagadda 2005 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Young In Lee 2005 Yale University
Chidiebere Nwaogu 2006 Albany Medical College
Harlan Rozenberg 2007 SUNY Albany
Bryan Abessi 2008 Lemoyne
James Joseph 2009 SUNY Albany
Jocelyn Laboy 2009 SUNY Albany
Katie Wang 2009 U. of Rochester
Lina Bagepali 2010 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Michael Taylor 2010 Georgetown University
Vivek Bhatty 2010 SUNY Albany
Nilay Patel 2011 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Marcelle Tuttle 2012 Boston University
Eric Kelley 2012 SUNY Albany
Brooke Pati 2012 SUNY Albany
James McNeilan 2012 SUNY Albany-CNSE
Teresa Regis 2013 SUNY Albany
May Lee 2015 SUNY Polytechnic-CNSE
Jeff Richards 2015 SUNY Polytechnic-CNSE
Leo Bezerra 2015 SUNY Polytechnic-CNSE
Tristin Schwartze 2016 SUNY Polytechnic-CNSE
Max Matiaude 2017 SUNYPolytechnic-CNSE
Russel Shapiro 2017 SUNY Polytechnic-CNSE

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