Principal Investigator
Brian Black, PhD
Professor and Director, UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute
Research Interests: Gene regulatory networks, cardiovascular development, heart regeneration, neurodegeneration
Hobbies: Running, hiking, brewing
Senior Scientists
Tanvi Sinha, PhD
Senior Scientist
Research Interests: Dr. Tanvi Sinha’s long-term research goals revolve around understanding the genetic control of embryogenesis. As a scientist at UCSF, she currently studies transcriptional control of gene regulatory networks in different developmental paradigms using mouse and zebrafish embryos. During her post-doctoral work at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF, Dr. Sinha examined gene regulation of cardiac and hematovascular development. She obtained her PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham examining the role of non-canonical Wnt signaling in cardiovascular development. Prior to that, Tanvi got her undergraduate and master’s degrees in India where she developed an interest in developmental genetics.
Hobbies: Discovering hole-in-the-wall restaurants, reading, visiting museums, and spending time with friends and family.
Postdoctoral Scholars
Pauline Colombier, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Research Interests: My main research focus hinges on understanding transcriptional circuits orchestrating the formation of complex structures including the face and the heart. During my graduate studies, I worked on human axial skeleton development and regeneration using stem cell- based approaches.
Hobbies: Hiking and running with my dog, skiing, laughing and enjoying a good glass of wine.
Seongwon Kim, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Research Interests: Gene regulation and human genetic variations that affect gene regulation
Hobbies: Climbing and baking
Graduate Students
Eric Tang
Graduate Student
Research Interests: Cardiovascular Regeneration, Scar Tissue Clearing, Epigenetic Regulation of Gene Expression
Hobbies: Leading science outreach in K-12 schools, Cooking and Baking, Exploring the outdoors, Traveling
Lab Staff
Onyekachim Okpo
Lab Manager
Hobbies: Reading, hiking, listening to music