Perl Lab

Meet the Lab

Anne-Karina Perl, MS, PhD 

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

During her postdoctoral training in Dr Whitsett’s lab, Dr. Perl pioneered the field of conditional mice in the lung and became a faculty member at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 2002. Early work from Dr. Perl focused on epithelial lung progenitor cells and their role in development and repair. Over the last decade she has used several transgenic mouse models and pharmacological approached to assess the role of interstitial alveolar fibroblasts in alveolarization and alveolar regeneration. Her current focus is on the role of alveolar fibroblasts in lung development injury and repair using multiple transgenic mouse and injury models.
Anne.perl@cchmc.org

Shawn Ahlfeld, MD

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Ahlfeld received his MD from Indiana University School of Medicine in 2005 and did his residency in pediatrics at the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University School of Medicine. As a neonatal fellow and junior faculty, Dr. Ahlfeld has evaluated the role of matricellular proteins in saccular and early alveolar lung development. In 2015 he moved his laboratory to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and has been since working very closely with Dr. Perl to investigate lung fibroblasts in perinatal lung development. Dr Ahlfeld investigates the effects of neonatal lung injury on alveolar repair and development. 
Shawn.ahlfeld@cchmc.org

Jason Gokey, PhD

Research Fellow

Jason.gokey@cchmc.org

Jenna Green, BS

Research Assistant IV

Jenna received her BS in biology from Wright State University in 2007. Jenna has been working in the lab of Dr. Perl since spring 2009. Her primary responsibilities are lab management and maintenance of mouse colonies. Jenna is managing the lab, maintaining mouse colonies and performs all animal surgeries. She also has extensive training in molecular biology and performs all routine molecular assays, immunohistochemistry and takes all the beautiful confocal images of our publications.
Jenna.green@cchmc.org

Matt Riccetti

PhD Student

Matt.riccetti@cchmc.org

Marion Waltamath, PhD

Research Fellow

Marion.waltamath@cchmc.org

Mereena Ushakumary, PhD

Research Fellow

Mereena.ushakumary@cchmc.org