People

Dr. Scheller has a research background that spans the fields of bone biology, neurobiology, and integrated physiology. She completed DDS/PhD and post-doctoral training at the University of Michigan prior to founding the NSBL at Washington University. Dr. Scheller has a directed interest in leveraging high-resolution imaging and other innovative techniques to study neural regulation of the skeletal microenvironment.

Dr. Hassan is currently a Rita Levi-Montalcini Postdoctoral Fellow. He received his clinical orthodontic training at Alexandria University in Egypt and was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to conduct his Ph.D. research at the University of California, San Francisco (USCF). In the Scheller Lab, he is interested in defining mechanisms within the craniofacial skeleton to augment the cellular reprogramming and recruitment events that occur during multi-interface tissue regeneration.

Dr. Usala is a clinical fellow in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipid Research at Washington University. She completed her MS/MD training and internal medicine residency training at Georgetown University. She is currently studying outcomes and biomarkers for bone disease and peripheral neuropathy in diabetes through imaging, biochemical, and clinical datasets from humans and rodents.

Dr. Brazill is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory. During her PhD at the University of Miami, she established a Drosophila larval model for studying neuronal mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy revealing that larvae exhibit sensory dysfunction that recapitulates aspects of the symptoms experienced by patients. Dr. Brazill is currently studying the impact of genetic ablation of SARM1 on progression of both diabetic neuropathy and skeletal disease.

Alec is a graduate student in bioengineering. During his PhD project, Alec will pursue his interests in medical devices and bioelectrical phenomena to study the acute and chronic effects of bioelectric nerve stimulation on skeletal cells and tissues.

Xiao joined the lab in 2020 as a graduate student in bioengineering. During his project, Xiao will investigate the neural regulation of bone marrow adipocytes and consider their contributions to the skeletal microenvironment.

Lila is a graduate student in the biomedical engineering PhD program. She is currently studying neurometabolic effects in diabetic mouse models with a conditional knockout of Sarm1 from central and peripheral neurons. These mouse models will be studied under various conditions to isolate the role of neural Sarm1 signaling in the onset of of the metabolic and skeletal complications of diabetes.

Anushka is a graduate student in the biomedical engineering program. She is currently studying the differential healing of neural crest derived bone relative to mesoderm derived bone. She is interested in elucidating the underlying mechanisms by which this differential healing occurs, specifically the role of p75-NTR+ cells and macrophages.

Samia, BS, joined BMD as a Research Technician in the Scheller Lab. Samia is currently working to identify genes associated with loading in mice. She wants to use spatial transcriptomics to help identify genes and pathways associated with specific regions of the bone. Her research focuses on understanding how spatial transcriptomics technology is helping researchers discover more about bone regions and associated genes. 

Kyle is an undergraduate student at Washington University majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Biomedical Physics. He is currently investigating how environmental factors effect craniofacial skeletal morphology.

Clara is an undergraduate student at Washington University double majoring in Biology and Communication Design. She is currently investigating leptin-induced depletion pathways of BMAT utilizing mouse models and imaging data.

Isabella is currently an undergraduate student at WashU. She is a Biology major, Healthcare Management minor, and on the pre-dental track. Her involvement in the Scheller lab includes working with Dr. Hassan and Anushka Gerald in their research on craniofacial bone regeneration. She is interested in anything related to dentistry and is excited to support the endeavors to ultimately develop therapies for bone healing and regeneration.

Naina is an undergraduate student at WashU. She is currently majoring in Anthropology: Global Health and Environment and Biology. She is currently analyzing histology slides and focusing on differences in tissues between Sarm1-cKO HFD mice and control HFD mice.