Erik Ullian, PhD

Professor in Residence

Miguel Rivera

Staff Research Associate

Christine Man Ting Lin

Staff Research Associate

Vinod Reddy Lekkala, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Vinod Reddy Lekkala is a postdoctoral researcher in the Ullian Lab in the UCSF Department of Ophthalmology. He develops patient-derived iPSC retinal organoids for disease modeling and therapeutic evaluation and applies CRISPR-based genome engineering to enhance organoid maturation and assess gene-correction strategies for rare retinal mutations. He is also building next-generation retinal organoid platforms by incorporating vascular and immune compartments to increase cellular complexity, and he leverages advanced technology tools to make organoid research more rigorous, scalable, and translational.

Kriti Chaplot, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

Kriti grew up in Mumbai, India, where she also obtained her B.Sc. in Microbiology at Ramnarain Ruia college. She received her M.Sc. Biotechnology degree from M.S. University of Baroda in India where she became interested in protein aggregation after studying yeast prion-like proteins for her master's dissertation. During her PhD at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune, Kriti worked on the mechanisms of cellular and conformational regulation of protein aggregation using a Drosophila model of ALS. After completing her PhD, she explored the biochemical relationship of a protein chaperone, proSAAS, with its target protein aggregates in mammalian cells during her postdoctoral studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore. She joined the Ullian lab to study unique causative mutations associated with Parkinson's disease using iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons and glial cells.

In her spare time, Kriti enjoys walking and exploring cafes and pizza joints in the city.

Julia Wessman, M.A.

CIRM Intern

Julia grew up in New Orleans and obtained her Bachelor's degree at Brown University.  After pursuing a Master's degree from Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris, France, she returned to the U.S. and made her way to San Francisco.  Julia joined the Ullian lab in August of 2022 as a CIRM intern, and is currently a staff researcher studying Parkinson's disease with iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons and astrocytes.  Outside the lab, she enjoys live music, arts and crafts, and exploring the bay area with her dog.   

Nir Salinas, PhD

Research Specialist