Meet the team.
Dr. Yanan Chen
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Yanan Chen, MD., PhD.
Dr. Yanan Chen received her MD from China Medical University in 2005, her MS in Cell Biology at China Medical University in 2008, and her PhD from Dr. James Lechleiter’s lab at UT Health Center at San Antonio in 2015. After her postdoctoral training with Dr. Brian Popko at Northwestern University, she started her own lab at Loyola University Chicago in 2022.

Dr. Chen is passionate about the downstream effectors of oligodendrocyte protection and their roles in neurological diseases, with the goal to advance the understanding of the significance of oligodendrocytes in the pathogenesis of various neurological diseases, as well as exploring the potential of oligodendrocyte protection as a therapeutic approach.
Postdocs
Dr. Leandro Allende
Phd
Dr. Viral Mistry
PHD
Graduate students
Daria Rouhbakhsh
Vanshika Chauhan
​Daria Rouhbakhsh is pursuing a master’s degree in Biology with a research focus in neuroscience. She earned her B.S. in Molecular Cell Biology and Physiology from California State University, Long Beach, where she conducted research in a neuroendocrinology lab. 
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Currently, her research focuses on oligodendrocyte biology and the mechanisms underlying demyelination in MS, with particular interest in understanding the protective role that crystallin alpha B may play in oligodendrocytes during inflammatory demyelination.
Vanshika Chauhan is pursuing a master's degree in Biology this fall. She earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Denver, where she gained research experience in both a neuroscience lab and a microbiology lab. Most recently, she spent two years as a research associate in a hematology lab at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where her work centered on investigating the role of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as an immunosuppressive agent in preventing graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) following bone marrow transplants and CAR-T cell infusions.
​Research Assistants
Taha Gabr
Erica Garcia
Undergraduate students
Alvin Chapagai
Senior
Asha Joshi
Senior
Tyler Raikar
Senior
Olivia Rutkowski
Junior
Mila Patel
Junior
Hailey He
Sophomore
Zaid Hussein
Sophomore
Tuba Kurkluoglu
Sophomore
Alumni
Kody Bruce
​Mollie Lythgoe
Grace Newell
Jason Chan-Zervas
​Emilia Pasek
​Ian Steckler
​Samantha Wills
Metin Asku
​Brendan Crawford
Godwin Joy
Kevin Kaschke
​Gwen Schulz
Peyton Fay


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