The Kopinke lab
CURRENT TEAM
Ambili A.
Lab Manager
Ambili received her Master of Science in Biotechnology from St Berchman's College, Kerala, India and her Bachelor of Science with a focus on Biotechnology, Zoology and Chemistry from Sanathana Dharma College, India. Ambili joined the laboratory in spring of 2019.
Kiara Fierman
Research Technician
Kiara joined the lab as an Undergraduate researcher in 2022. She transitioned to a full-time technician after graduating from UF in Spring 2023. Kiara got accepted into our PhD program, which she will start in Fall 2023.
DR. DANIEL KOPINKE
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS; MYOLOGY INSTITUTE
Daniel received his BS in Biology and MS in Cell Biology from the University of Kiel in Germany. His master thesis on pharyngeal arch development in zebrafish was a collaborative effort between the labs of Dr. Thomas CG Bosch at the University of Kiel and Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. For his Ph.D. studies, Daniel worked with Dr. L. Charles Murtaugh at the University of Utah investigating whether the pancreas contains an adult stem cell population capable of replacing beta-cells selectively lost in type I diabetes. After finishing his PhD in 2011, he moved to the University of California, San Francisco where he joined the lab of Dr. Jeremy Reiter working on primary cilia, Hedgehog signaling and muscle regeneration. Daniel started his Assistant Professor position at the University of Florida in fall 2018. Daniel received several awards including a Muscular Dystrophy Association Development Grant during his postdoc and a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Ph.D. Fellowship during his PhD.
ALESSANDRA NORRIS
Graduate Student
PHARMACOLOGY AND THERAPEUTICS CONCENTRATION
Alessandra (Ale) received her Undergraduate degree from the Universidad de Belgrano (UB), Buenos Aires, Argentina. For her Undergraduate Thesis, Ale worked on the exosomal response to genomic damage induced by UV-C radiation in mesenchymal stem cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. She joined the Kopinke lab in fall 2018. You can contact her at alessandranorris[@]ufl[dot]edu.
UNDERGRADUATES
Rhea Pitale
Rhea started in the lab in Fall 2022. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine.
Jillian Campbell
Jillian started in the lab in Spring 2023. She is pre-professional biology major on a pre-med track and has plans to obtain a dual degree in public health.
Muhammad (Sherry) Shahraj
Sherry started in the lab in Fall 2022. He is a biology major.
ALUMNI
Connor Johnson
Connor received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Florida, before joining the laboratory in the spring of 2020 as a research technician. He got accepted in the MD program at UF in Fall 2022.
Lylybell Zhou
Lylybell was an undergraduate researcher in the lab from 2020-2022. During that time, she got accepted into the prestigious University Scholars Program. After graduating from UF in Spring 2022, she started as clinical coordinator in the lab of Dr. Javid Moslehi at UCSF.
