meet the team

Get to know a little about the people behind the research.

Group photo with collaborators on July 28, 2024

Current team

Christopher COntag
Principal Investigator

A pioneer in molecular imaging, Dr. Contag also serves as the Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research at MSU will change the way the world thinks about biomedicine through developing new technologies and approaches for precision health and medicine to change how healthcare can be delivered to patients. Dr. Contag graduated from the University of Minnesota with both an undergraduate degree in biology and a Ph.D. in microbiology.

Ashley Makela
post doc

Ashley just joined the Institute for Quantitative Health Sciences and Engineering at Michigan State as a Postdoctoral Researcher. She completed her PhD in Medical Biophysics with a specialty in Molecular Imaging at Western University in London, Canada. At Michigan State she plans to use the new magnetic particle imaging system and work with magnetotactic bacteria. The goal is to combine the two areas of study for imaging and eventually, non invasive cellular control. Outside of the lab, Ashley has two beautiful dogs and likes to travel when she can.

Roksana riddle
grad student

Roksana is a PhD student in the Contag Lab, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Biochemistry and Biotechnology from here at Michigan State University. She specializes in engineering minimal genome bacteria as an endosymbiont chassis; they hope to use this technology in treating liver cirrhosis. When they aren't in the lab she enjoys foraging, brewing, and Dungeons and Dragons.

Ahmed Zarea
grad student

Ahmed joined Michigan State University as a Ph.D. graduate student in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2022. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Biochemistry from Mansoura University in Egypt. Before starting graduate school, Ahmed worked as a research assistant at Michigan State University since 2018. His research focuses on engineering bacteria to serve as endosymbionts capable of delivering proteins and transcription factors to eukaryotic cells for therapeutic applications. Outside the lab, Ahmed enjoys soccer, snorkeling, hiking, and video games.

yuki Kawai-harada
Research assistant/lab manager

Yuki is a research staff and Lab manager in the Contag lab. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from National Institute of Technology, Ibaraki College and holds a master’s degree in Molecular Microbiology from Ibaraki University. He is an expert on amplification-based nucleic acid detection for molecular diagnostics with years of experience both in industry and academic institutions in Japan and USA. His current project focuses on the development of a screening platform that uses extracellular vesicles. He enjoys indoor/outdoor bouldering and cooking when not in the lab.

xuan xie
grad student

Xuan is a PhD candidate in Cell and Molecular Biology Program at MSU. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology from Sun Yat-sen University and an M.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from University of Southern California. In the lab, Xuan focuses on investigating the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 infection induces and exacerbates clotting disorders in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Outside of her research, Xuan enjoys reading, birdwatching and solving jigsaw puzzles.

Satyajit Hari Kulkarni
grad student

Satya is a DVM-PhD student in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State. Originally from India, he earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry with honors from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). In the lab, Satya engineers bacteria to function as quasiorganelles towards an in vivo tissue engineering platform. Outside of research, he enjoys basketball, running, watching movies, and baking sourdough bread.

Shakhlo Aminova
grad student

Shakhlo Aminova is a graduate student in the Contag and Aguirre Labs within the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the role of extracellular vesicles in heart development, utilizing the heart organoid model pioneered in the Aguirre Lab. Previously, she worked in the Harada Lab, where she helped develop targeted extracellular vesicles for therapeutic applications. Outside the lab, Shakhlo enjoys traveling and hiking with her new puppy.

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