Sumanas Lab

Associate Professor
saulius.sumanas@cchmc.org

Saulius Sumanas received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Sumanas’ lab utilizes zebrafish as a model to study molecular mechanisms of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis.

Visiting Scientist
kristina.baltrunaite@cchmc.org

Kristina received her BS degree in biology with a major in molecular biology from Vilnius University, Lithuania in 2013. She received her MS degree in molecular biology from Vilnius University in 2015. Kristina came from Lithuania and has been a member of the Sumanas Lab since February 2015.

Her research project focuses on understanding the role of Etsrp/Etv2 transcription factor in tumor angiogenesis using zebrafish as a model organism. She is also involved in studying the role of Ets1 during angiogenesis in zebrafish. Outside of the lab, Kristina enjoys camping, CrossFit, reading books and many other activities.

Graduate Student
satish.casiechetty@cchmc.org

A native of Sri Lanka, Satish received his BSc in biomedical science from Monash University in 2013. He joined the Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program in Fall 2014 and has been with the Sumanas Lab since Spring 2015.

Satish’s current project focuses on studying the molecular mechanisms which govern sprouting angiogensis in zebrafish. To this end, he is working on developing a conditional knockout of the gene etv2 using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique. Outside the lab, Satish is an avid violinist and is also a keen squash and table tennis player.

Clinical Fellow
jennifer.davis3@cchmc.org

Jennifer graduated magna cum laude from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and obtained her medical degree from Kansas City University of Medicine & Biosciences in Kansas City, Missouri. She is currently a third year clinical fellow in the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She pursues her research interest, lymphatics, by studying animal models of lymphangiogenesis and vascular tumors. Her goal is to identify genetic targets for drug therapy that will treat rare vascular tumors and metastatic disease for which currently there is no cure. She joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnnati College of Medicine in July 2013. For fun, she might be sailing a boat, exploring a foreign city, trekking a mountain, or checking out the local fare in a newly discovered eatery.

Laboratory Aide
jacob.ryan.enriquez@cchmc.org

Jacob joined the lab in January 2015. He is a Xavier University undergraduate student majoring in biology with minors in chemistry and philosophy. Originally from California, he seeks to attend graduate school to study molecular biology. In his free time, Jacob loves to play water polo and swim.

Graduate Student
andrew.koenig@cchmc.org

Andrew’s projects involve studying the development mechanisms of organ specific vasculature as well as identifying novel hematopoietic precursor cells. He received his BS in cell and molecular biology from Southeast Missouri State University in 2012 and has been a member of the Sumanas Lab since 2013.

Research Assistant II
allison.lubert@cchmc.org

Allison joined the Sumanas Lab in August 2012. She is a graduate of Xavier University with a Bachelor of Science degree in natural sciences, concentration in biology. Allison is a native of Knoxville, TN and enjoys sporting events as well as running in her free time.

Research Associate
jennifer.schumacher@cchmc.org

Jen received her BS in biology from the University of Scranton in 2000, and her PhD in cell and molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007. Her research interests include endocardial development and discovering the roles of novel genes in vascular development.

Postdoctoral Fellow
quynh.ton@cchmc.org

Quynh earned her PhD in cell and molecular biology with a focus on mechanisms in zebrafish fin regeneration underlying skeletal/joint development. Quynh came to the Sumanas Lab for her postdoctoral training under F32 NIH fellowship to study intracranial aneurysms. She hopes to expand her translational study to other cardiac-related abnormalities, such as aneurysms of the arterial tree, including aortic aneurysm. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading suspense/thriller books and watching movies.