Research Staff

Robert Hanczko, MS, MEd, PhD

Research Scientist, is a graduate of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. He joined Dr. Andras Perl's Laboratory in 2007. He is a Sub-Investigator in the Prospective Study of Rapamycin for the Treatment of SLE (Rapamune) and in the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) With N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Dr. Hanczko is involved also in the study of Transaldolase Deficiency.

Adam Bartos, PhD

Adam Bartos, is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Andras Perl's laboratory. He obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry as a member of the Research Group of Peptide Chemistry, at the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary. His research interests were pegylated drugs, water soluble drug carriers, and flow cytometry. Currently, he is involved in studying the Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in a mouse model, and he is a sub-investigator in the Prospective Study of Rapamycin for the Treatment of SLE (Rapamune) and in the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) With N-acetylcysteine (NAC).

Aparna Godavarthy, PhD

Aparna Godavarthy is a graduate of Osmania University, Hyderabad, INDIA. She is currently working as a post doctoral fellow in Dr. Andras Perl’s Laboratory. Her area of research is on role of HRES (Human Retroviral Endogenous Sequences) in regulation and expression of Rab4a (mediator of protein transport and membrane fusion). And find out the role of genetic variants in HRES in Lupus patients involving HRES/Rab4a expression. Her experiments include Gel Shift assays, Southwestern Blotting and ChIP Assays.

Tiffany Caza

5th year MD/PhD student working on dissertation research. She is studying the role of HRES-1/Rab4 in altered activation and receptor recycling of T cells from human lupus patients and in murine models of SLE.

Edward Doherty

2nd year PhD student in the Microbiology and Immunology Department at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Edward obtained his Bachelor of Science from the University of New England in Biddeford, ME. Edward’s work in the laboratory focuses on the effects of HRES-1/RAB4 expression on NOSIP localization, and Nitric Oxide production within cells.

Zach Oaks

2nd year MD/PhD student, graduated with a BS in Biochemistry from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He is interested in understanding the mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Irene Ramos, MS

MS from the University of Puerto Rico. She coordinates the clinical trials for the Division of Rheumatology. The main studies she is involved with are the NAC and Rapamune trials which have been initiated by Dr. Andras Perl. These studies enroll patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and healthy control individuals. Their aim is to discover better treatments for the disease.

Zhiwei (Tony) Lai, MD

Research Scientist and Flow Cytometry Specialist. He joined Dr. Andras Perl's Laboratory in 2009. He is involved in the Prospective Study of Rapamycin for the Treatment of SLE (Rapamune) and in the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) With N-acetylcysteine (NAC). He is responsible for Flow cytometric analysis for research studies conducted in Dr. Perl's lab.