DIVIETI PAJEVIC LAB

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Principal investigator

Paola Divieti Pajevic, MD, PhD

Dr. Paola Divieti Pajevic is an Associate Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at Boston University, Goldman School of Dental Medicine. She is also the Director of the Bone Cell Core at Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the Endocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, USA. Dr. Divieti Pajevic graduated Summa cum Laude in Medicine in 1990 from the University of Milan, Italy and obtained her PhD in Pathophysiology in 1995 from the University of Florence, Italy. She is the Principal Investigator of several NIH grants aimed to understand the role of the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) receptor, Gs-alpha and mechanical forces in osteocytes both in vivo and in vitro. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards; among them the John Haddad Young Investigator award, the A. Jee Memorial Young Investigator Award the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award, a recognition given by Harvard Medical School to women faculty during child-bearing years.

Graduate students

Abdulrahman Idrees, DMD

Coming soon

Sara Tavakoli

Sara Tavakoli is a second-year DMD student at Boston University School of Dental Medicine. She completed her B.S at the University of Connecticut in Molecular & Cellular Biology (2020). During this time she finished and published her research from high school in medicinal chemistry. After, she joined a lab that specialized in bone loss and published a first-author paper before graduation. During her gap year, she worked as a research assistant at MGH/ Harvard Stem Cell Institute in the regenerative medicine department with Dr. Jenna Galloway. She worked on a project identifying novel tendon-promoting drugs for regenerative therapies to halt osteoarthritis. Currently, Sara is an Academic Dental Career fellow. For her project, she is investigating the inflammation response in Gsα knockout mice. In her free time, she likes to run and Blue Bike around Boston.

Noah Warshawsky

Noah Warshawsky is a second year Dental Student at Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. He holds an MS from Boston University School of Medicine (2018), during which he organized the first clinical trials for one of the largest clear aligner providers to date. Prior to joining our lab, Noah held a position in the Van Dyke lab at The Forsyth Institute. Noah has been involved in clinical and basic science research for almost a decade, and has a keen interest in craniofacial development, inflammation, and the regional acceleratory phenomenon. Noah currently investigates the mechanisms driving bone and hemopoietic abnormalities in osteocytic Gsα knockout mice.

lab manager

Christodoulos (Chris) Constantinou

Chris Constantinou graduated from Boston University Summa cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in Biology. His future plans include attending medical school. Outside of lab, he enjoys spending time at the beach, playing the cello, and working out.

Undergrad students

Paola De Jong

Coming soon

origin of our lab members

Previous members

Faculty

2018-2020 Jessica Alm, PhD
2009-2017 Keertik Fulzele, PhD

Fellows

2014-2017 Chao Shi, MD, PhD (Xi’an Jiaotong University, China)
2011-2012 Yili Qu, PhD
2011-2012 Yi Man, MD, visiting fellow
2011-2014 Vaibhav Saini, PhD
2004-2008 Santanu Banarjee, PhD, Research Associate University of Minnesota
2004-2006 Hafez Selim, MD PhD, Principal Scientist, Osteotech CT

Graduate students

2014-2022 Yuhei Uda, PhD (Google Scholar, LinkedIn)
2021 Giulia Montagna, PhD
2021-2022 Ameena Haroon, DMD
2021 Kayvon (Kevin) Baradar
2020-2021 Tim Huang, MS
2020 Prachaya Charoenkitkarn, DMD
2017-2020 Roberto Santos, MS
2015-2019 Ningyuan Sun, DMD, PhD
2018 Manavi Nagai, DMD
2015-2018 Ehab Azab, DMD, DSc
2017 Ai Takemura, PhD (Kyoto University, Japan)
2016 Dennis Gan, (Apex GSDM)
2015-2016 Majed Alshehri, DMD
2009-2015 Jordan Spatz, PhD

Undergrad students

2021-2022 Emma Szewczyk
2020-2021 Ji Won (Jenna) Kim (UROP student)
2020-2021 Carly Newell (UROP student)
2021 Arezu Monshizadeh
2017-2019 Alejandro Kochen (UROP student)
2019 Maria Karanasos (UROP student)
2017-2019 Veronica Lu (UROP student)
2016-2018 Neha Ramchandani
2016-2018 Christopher Petty (UROP student)
2017-2018 Raghad Shuwaikan (UROP student)
2015-2016 Emily Evnas (BU, Sargent School)
2015 Christina Asare (BU, CAS) (UROP student)
2015 Kevin Cordero (BU, CAS) (UROP student)

Research tech

2017-2019 Wanlin Zhang
2012-2016 Chris Dedic
2014-2016 Forest Lai
2013-2015 Jenna L Garr
2012-2014 Xialong “Shawn” Liu
2012-2013 Padrig Tuck
2011-2012 Dean Marengi
2008-2012 Kevin J Barry
2008-2009 Irena Tulum, MD
2005-2008 Frankie W Powell Jr, MD
2003-2005 Gihan Sulliman
2000-2003 Andrew I Geller, MD

Summer students

2021 Yoshika Saito (Kyoto University, Japan)
2019 Nil Kiriscioglu (Bilkent University, Turkey)
2019 Kat Mashikian (NYU)
2019 Richard Ma (Boston College)
2017 Tokio Kobayashi (UMass Amherst)
2015 Gabriela Riveira (Arlington High School, AHS)
2015 Megan Lo (AHS)
2014 Margaret Kobelski (AHS)
2014, 2015 Chris Coleman (AHS)
2014 Connor Duke (AHS)
2014, 2016 Rahul Sompuram (AHS)
2014 Will Doyle (AHS)
2013 Cristina "Kiki" Tapiero (AHS)
Kathy Minmo, MD
Karla Genley (Brown University)
Elias Menninger (George Washington University)
Rachel Carolina Monasterio Velasquez, MD (Venezuela)
Alison Mahan

RISE students

2017 Victor Kang (Seoul International High School, Korea)
2016 Rachel Zhou (Monta Vista High School)