Meet the Team
Principal Investigator
Dr. Farnaz Shamsi, PhD
Farnaz received her Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany. She then joined Dr. Yu-Hua Tseng’s laboratory at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2021, Farnaz joined the Department of Molecular Pathobiology at New York University as an Assistant Professor.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Tamires Duarte Afonso Serdan, PhD
Tamires obtained her Ph.D. degree in Health Science from the Cruzeiro do Sul University in Sao Paulo, Brazil. During her Ph.D. she also worked as a guest Ph.D. student in the Molecular Biosciences Department of Stockholm University, Sweden. She is the recipient of the prestigious FAPESP scholarship from the State of São Paulo in Brazil. Tamires joined the lab in October 2021.
Assistant Research Scientist
Heidi Cervantes, MSc
Heidi obtained her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Forensic Science from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. During her undergraduate studies, she worked for the Purdue Center for Cancer Research as a Research Technician where she worked on developing and performing multidisciplinary therapeutic cancer studies. She recently completed her M.Sc. degree in Molecular Biology at New York University in 2025. Heidi joined the lab in November 2021.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Ivor Joseph, PhD
Ivor is a Brooklyn native who began his academic journey at CUNY University of New York. He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees, focusing his research on various biological interests. During his PhD at Rutgers University, he investigated the functions of RAB11A and RAB11B in mitotic spindle control within intestinal epithelial progenitor cells. Ivor joined the lab in June 2024.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Lina Siukstiate, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Liyi Wang, PhD
Liyi obtained her Ph.D. degree in College of Animal Sciences from the Zhejiang University in China. During her Ph.D. studies, she focused on lipid deposition and metabolism in adipose tissue and skeletal muscles by using multi-omics analysis. Liyi joined the lab in September 2024.
Lina earned her MSc in Biology-Biotechnology from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, where she specialized in enzymatic glycosylation and synthetic biology. She then completed her Ph.D. as a Marie Curie fellow at the University of Freiburg in Germany, focusing on synthetic glycobiology and targeted drug delivery. Following her Ph.D., she conducted postdoctoral research at Heidelberg University in Germany, investigating glycosylation disorders and lipid transport. Lina joined the Shamsi lab in November 2024.
NYU Dental Student
Christine Park, BSc
Christine graduated from the University of Michigan’s Honors College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Health, and Society, where she developed a strong interest in the intersection of biomedical science and clinical care. She is currently a third-year dental student at the NYU College of Dentistry and plans to pursue a future specialization in Endodontics. Christine joined Dr. Shamsi’s lab during her second year of dental school in 2024, where she has been expanding her research experience and contributing to ongoing projects within the lab.
Lab Alumni:
Wafa Nomani, Undergraduate Student, NYU College of Arts and Science
Elizabeth Thato West, Undergraduate Student, University of Bath, UK
Felippe Mousovich Neto, Postdoctoral Fellow, Weill Cornell Medicine
Qiyu Tian, Assistant Professor, China Agricultural University
Benji Frank, Medical Student, Touro Medical School
Daniel Hope, Undergraduate Student, University of Bath, UK