People

Principal Investigator

Yang Chai, DDS, PhD

University Professor
George and MaryLou Boone Chair in Craniofacial Biology
Director, Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology
Associate Dean of Research
Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC

University Professor of Biomedical Sciences,
Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery,
and Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of USC

ychai@usc.edu

Current Lab Members

Jesse Anderson-Ramirez, BS
Laboratory Technician II
jesseand@usc.edu

Sa Cha, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
chasa@usc.edu

Peng Chen, DDS
Visiting Scholar
pc_856@usc.edu

Tingwei Guo, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar -
Research Associate
tg_283@usc.edu

Linda Hattemer, BA
Executive Assistant to Dr. Chai
lhatteme@usc.edu

Thach-Vu Ho, MS, EdS
Instructional Laboratory Manager
thachvuh@usc.edu

Ishmael Howard, B.S.
Research Lab Technician II
ishmaelh@usc.edu

Eva Janečková, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar -
Research Associate
janeckov@usc.edu

Mengmeng Liu, DDS, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
ml_807@usc.edu

Lin Meng, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
lmeng500@usc.edu

VyVy Nguyen, MPH
Project Administrator
vyvyn@usc.edu

Fei Pei, DDS, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
fp_191@usc.edu

Shaifur Rahman, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
shaifurr@usc.edu

Jotham Sadan, BS
Research Lab Technician II
jothamsa@usc.edu

Janet Sanchez, BA
Research Lab Technician III/Supervisor
janetsan@usc.edu

Takahiko Yamada, DDS, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
takahiko@usc.edu

Mingyi Zhang, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate
mzhang58@usc.edu

Heliya Ziaei, DDS

Research Assistant
hziaei@usc.edu

Affiliates
Students

Natalie Black
DDS Student
natalinb@usc.edu

Connor Buchanan
Undergraduate Student
cmbuchan@usc.edu

Aileen Ghobadi
DDS Student
ghobadi@usc.edu

Samuel Sheridan
DDS Student
samuelcs@usc.edu

Eloise Stanton
MD Student
eloisest@usc.edu

Yuchen Yang

DDS Student/Volunteer
yangyuch@usc.edu

Banghong Zheng

DDS Student/Volunteer
banghong@usc.edu