Kristopher Abney – Graduate Student

Kris is a native of Hendersonville, TN. He attended the University of Tennessee-Knoxville receiving a bachelor of science in Biochemistry Cellular & Molecular Biology. As a UT undergraduate, Kris’s research projects involved raising capsaicin levels in hot pepper plants by modulating phenylpropanoid and branched chain fatty acid pathways and decreasing senescence with application of 1-methylcyclopropene. He also explored the role of different wavelengths of light on phytonutrient production. Kris joined Dr Vanacore’s lab after completing his first year as a graduate student in the school of graduate studies and research at Meharry College of Medicine.

Carolina Añazco, PhD – Postdoctoral Fellow

Carolina was born in Puerto Montt, Chile. Carolina holds a professional degree in biochemistry and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Universidad Austral de Chile where she investigated the role of V2 vasopressin receptor in nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. Carolina is a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship award from the Chilean national commission for scientific and technological research (CONICYT) to study the cellular volume regulation by heterotrimeric G proteins coupled to TASK-2 potassium channels in renal proximal tubule cells at the Center for Scientific Studies (CECs), Valdivia, Chile.  Carolina joined Dr Vanacore’s group as a postodoctoral fellow to investigate the role of extracellular matrix proteins in glomerulosclerosis. In particular, her research focuses in the role of lysyl oxidases isoenzymes in the formation of covalent crosslinks in collagen IV, the main component of the glomerular basement membranes in kidney.

Mohamed Rafi, MS – Research Assistant II

Rafi is a native of India where he received a masters degree in chemistry form the University of Madras. Rafi has been working under Dr. Vanacore’s supervision since 2011. In addition to culturing many cell lines he also execute many routine protein/peptide purifications. Rafi is also responsible for placing lab orders and maintaining supplies.

Lorenzo Vega-Montoto, PhD – Research Instructor

Lorenzo Vega-Montoto is currently a Research Instructor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a member of the division of Nephrology as part of Dr. Vanacore’s Research Lab since January 2012. He performed his undergraduate studies in University of Havana, Cuba where he got a B. Sc. with Honors in Chemistry. Shortly after that, he received an scholarship from Dalhousie University (N.S., Canada) to do his M.Sc. and Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Peter D. Wentzell on the field of chemometrics. He pursued an NIH funded post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Cifford Spiegelman at Texas A&M University where his expertise in Analytical Chemistry, chemometrics, bioinformatics and proteomics were used and refined in a multi-institutions endeavor to improve the repeatability and reproducibility of proteomics experiments. Dr. Daniel Liebler recruited him to Vanderbilt after the project was over, and he worked until 2012 with his group developing models to automatically detect proteomics instrument malfunctions and improve proteomics outcomes. His main goal in Dr Vanacore’s Lab is to develop, optimize and apply LC-MS/MS and bioinformatic methods for finding, identifying and characterizing the different types of cross-links in collagen IV networks. He is also responsible for developing proteomics and bioinformatics methods to study diabetic nephropathy, a project that is done in collaboration with Dr. Billy Hudson. To answer these questions, Lorenzo uses analytical and biochemical techniques including liquid chromatography (classical, HPLC and UPLC), mass spectrometry (MS), affinity chromatography in combination with bioinformatics approaches such as MS/MS data analysis for shotgun proteomics (SEQUEST, Mascot, X!Tandem, Myrimatch, IDPicker, Peptide and Protein Prophet, etc.), analysis of  multiple reaction monitoring techniques (MRM), quantitation based on labeled and label-free proteomics experiments (SKYLINE).