Xinyue earned her M.E. from Tianjin University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, under the supervision of Prof. Peck and Prof. Guelcher. Her research focuses on mineralization defects in bone diseases. Outside the lab, she enjoys photography, playing Mahjong, and relaxing with her cat Rosalind.
Benjamin Joo is an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University majoring in Molecular & Cellular Biology. He is from Fullerton, California, and is currently conducting research under Dr. Sun Peck on multisystemic diseases in patients with psoriasis. Benjamin plans to pursue a career in the medical field. Outside of the lab, he enjoys powerlifting, cooking, piano, and rating new movies.
Jailyn is a Vanderbilt Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) student, currently completing her PhD in Cancer Biology in the Johnson Lab. Jailyn completed her BS in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Chemistry at NC Central University. Jailyn’s current research focuses on the effects of denosumab and its withdrawal on breast cancer bone metastasis. Through this projection, she also studies the bone tumor microenvironment. Outside of the lab, Jailyn enjoys cooking/baking/eating, reading, and spending time with family/friends and her Bernedoodle.
I graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. I am currently the Research Assistant in the Peck lab with an intent to pursue medical school. In my free time, I like to shop and try new boba places with my sister, spend time with friends and my dog Jack, and crochet on occasion!
Dr. Ward is a Professor and the Vice-Chair of Basic Research in the Department of Dermatology. She joined the department in January 2022 after working at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for more than 18 years. Dr. Ward completed her undergraduate, graduate and fellowship training in Canada before moving to Cleveland in 2003. Her active research program is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory skin diseases, like psoriasis and psoriasis-related comorbidities. Her lab specializes in generating and studying unique mouse models of inflammatory skin disease. Her group has published several seminal findings including being the first to show that chronic skin-initiated inflammation can drive the development of cardiovascular disease and that suppressing it reverses disease; and that cutaneous sensory nerve interactions with dendritic cells are critical for eliciting and sustaining psoriasis pathogenesis, thus explaining the cellular mechanisms underlying psoriasis disease remission following skin denervation. Her paradigm shifting work in psoriasis resulted in her being awarded the Eugene M. Farber Lecture at the 2016 Society for Investigative Dermatology meeting. She was the first non-MD, first woman and youngest person to be awarded this honor. In 2019, the American Skin Association acknowledged her scientific contributions with the Research Achievement Award in Psoriasis and in 2022 the National Psoriasis Foundation honored her at their Women Who Lead Commit to Cure Gala. Dr. Ward trains, teaches, and mentors undergraduate, graduate and medical students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty. At any given time, Dr. Ward’s lab is usually found to be surprisingly small. However, it is also often referred to as “small but mighty”.
Current research in the Nicole Ward lab is focused on identifying the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inflammatory skin disease and its associated co-morbidities, including arthritis, CVD, IBD, and depression. We study skin and blood from mouse models and psoriasis patients using a Systems Biology approach with CyTOF, multi-colour FACs, RNASeq, ScSeq, and Spatial Seq in order to better understand how chronic inflammatory diseases are related.
https://www.vumc.org/wardlab/publication/publications
Dr. Ward's research interests include psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), lupus, hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), other inflammatory skin diseases, multi-‘omics, microbiome, and skin disease co-morbidities.
University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada BSc 05/1995 - Biology, Psychology
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada M.Sc. 09/1996 - Neurosciences
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Ph.D. 09/1999 - Anatomy & Neurobiology
Sunnybrook Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Post-doc 10/2003 - Angiogenesis and Molecular genetics
Emily (She/Her/Hers) is a biomedical engineering graduate student in the Jeffry Nyman laboratory. She completed her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2022. Emily is interested in elucidating the effects of collagen glycation on bone quality and fracture resistance.
David is a research assistant in the Peck Lab. He graduated from Austin Peay State University with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Health. His long-term plans are to attend medical laboratory science school and become an MLS. David spends his time outside of the lab with his golden retriever Luka, trying new restaurants, and spending time with friends and family.
Jake is a Research Assistant II, Clinical Pharmacology in the Rendina-Ruedy lab. He earned a master’s degree in Biotechnology from Brown University (Providence, RI) and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Wheaton College (Norton, MA). His background is in regenerative medicine utilizing chondrogenic precursor cells and mesenchymal stem cells for disease therapy. His graduate work focused on repairing meniscus tears and defects in the knee while also studying the progression of osteoarthritis. In his free time, he enjoys paddleboarding, baseball, playing guitar and 3D printing.
Erykah is a Cancer Biology graduate student in the Rhoades lab. She came to Vanderbilt in 2022 after completing a Bachelor's in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Hampton University (2020) and IRTA Fellowship in Vaccine Immunology Program (2022). During her time at the NIH, she focused on the development of naïve B cells to make antibodies that can fight HIV mutation in anticipation for boosting and maturation using HIV trimers, leading to the development of potential vaccines.