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Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, MD, PhD
PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR
Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Human Genetics and Metabolism at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania. After completing MD/PhD training in Physiology and Biophysics, she pursued clinical training in Pediatrics, Clinical Genetics, and Metabolism. She cares for children with rare diseases, with a special interest in neurometabolic disorders. Her research laboratory focuses both on gene discovery and elucidating the pathologic mechanisms underlying rare diseases to guide therapy development. She also partners with advocacy groups to conduct natural history and biomarker studies to promote clinical trial readiness for these rare conditions.
Meet The Team
Janaki Chezhian, MS
LAB MANAGER
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Janaki wears two hats in the Ahrens-Nicklas Lab at CHOP, she's a Research Tech and Lab Manager. Janaki has a history of working with animal models to understand disease correlation and has a keen interest in studying the genetics of neurometabolic diseases. Janaki is the glue that holds the lab together, making sure everything runs smoothly like clockwork. She's the friendly face and helping hand behind the scenes!
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Prior to CHOP- Janaki graduated this past year with a Master's in Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics from State University of New York, Buffalo. Her previous research, published in Diabetes Care (DOI: 10.2337/db23-0430), focused on dissecting the roles of both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes within a chimeric mouse model for Type-1 diabetes.
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Outside lab, Janaki likes reading, travelling and exploring new cuisines.
Paige McVeigh
ANIMAL SPECIALIST
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Paige has been at CHOP for several years within a few departments. Paige has an extensive knowledge of husbandry and veterinary medicine of various species from mice to non-human primates. She spends most of her time in the facility caring for our mice, overseeing and maintaining the colony.
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In her spare time, Paige enjoys camping and hiking with her little family.
Livia Sertori Finoti, PhD
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE I
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Livia is a Research Associate with research interest focuses on cell and molecular biology, particularly associated induced pluripotent stem cell and CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing applied to rare diseases.
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Livia has major in Dentistry (2009) by the Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Master’s Degree (MSc, 2012) and Doctorate (PhD, 2015) degree in Periodontics with part of the degree held at UPenn Dental as part of the “Sandwich - PDSE Exchange”). Livia started at CHOP as a Post-Doc Fellow in 2016 transitioning to a full-time position as Research Specialist A, a Research Associate at the CHOP Center of Applied Genomics, and transitioned to our lab in 2022
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Outside the lab Livia likes to read books, and hang out with her family, Keith, Atticus and baby Benjamin.
Jeet Singh, PhD
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE I
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Jeet is currently focused on understanding rare genetic diseases in children causing progressive neurodegeneration and intellectual disability. He currently works on Voltage Sensitive Dye Imaging (VSDI) on multiple mouse models in the lab to investigate network dynamic changes.
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Dr. Singh took his postdoctoral training at University of Bergen, Norway (2018-2021), working on role of synaptic and cellular mechanisms within specific microcircuits in the rat retina. Dr Singh finished his PhD from the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany where he studied the role of the extracellular matrix and its receptors in synaptic plasticity and learning. Prior to PhD he worked as Project Assistant at National Brain Research Centre, Delhi, India on Learning and Memory Project (2010-2011).
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Jeet likes spending time with his family, going hiking, and chatting with friends.
POSTDOCTORAL
Tomoki Nomakuchi MD, PhD
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Tomoki is a research and clinical fellow who graduated from the Combined Pediatrics/Medical Genetics Residency Program at CHOP in 2022. His research interests include discovering novel gene-disease relationships, and contribution of rare genetic variants to common conditions such as autism. He utilizes stem cell models as well as datasets from biobanks with genomic data to investigate these questions. Tomoki is also an attending physician at CHOP and spends some of his time taking care of children with rare genetic disorders.
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Tomoki graduated from Hofstra University with a B.S. in Biology and Biochemistry, before completing MD/PhD training at Stony Brook University. He completed his PhD thesis work with Dr. Adrian Krainer at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he investigated the novel use of antisense oligonucleotide technology for treatment of rare genetic disorders.
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Tomoki’s Hobbies include his Cats (Bibi, 7yrs, female, brown tabby, 15lbs and Mugwort, 4yrs, female, tortoiseshell, 8lbs ), Running, and Brazilian jiu jitsu
Megan Gautier, PhD
POSTDOCTORAL
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Megan is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NDD) training program. She is interested in the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, with a particular focus on progressive pediatric disorders. In the Ahrens-Nicklas lab, Megan is assessing the efficacy of novel gene therapies in several mouse models of phenylketonuria (PKU).
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Megan received a B.A. in Biochemistry from New College of Florida. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from the NYU School of Medicine, studying Pathobiology and Neuroscience, respectively. Her thesis research was conducted in the lab of Dr. Stephen Ginsberg at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, studying endosomal defects and cholinergic neuron degeneration in a mouse model of Down syndrome.
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Outside of lab, Megan enjoys exploring the city with her friends and playing video games with her cats. An avid metalhead, she spends far too much time and money going to shows and festivals.
Vi Pham, PhD
POSTDOCTORAL
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In Vi’s postdoc, she is interested in understanding the disease pathology of and developing new gene therapy approaches for PKU. Vi completed her PhD thesis project with the lab focusing on developing ex vivo gene therapy with hematopoietic stem cell transplant fora rare lysosomal storage disorder, Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency (MSD). She has worked closely with patient and family foundations to support this work.
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Prior to Penn, Vi graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A. in Neuroscience and minors in Art and Linguistics (so liberal arts of her).
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Outside of the lab, Vi loves all things food and hanging out with her friends.
Maggie Cassidy
PhD CANDIDATE G&E
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Maggie is a PhD Student in the Cell and Molecular Biology PhD Program (G&E) at the UPenn Perelman School of Medicine. She is co-mentored between the Ahrens-Nicklas and Cristancho Labs at CHOP. She is broadly interested in the effect of metabolic dysfunction on epigenetics, in the context of both injury (prenatal hypoxia) and inborn errors of metabolism (including Multiple Sulfatase Disorder, or MSD
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Maggie graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2020 with a B.A. in Neuroscience and went on to work as a postbaccalaureate fellow at the National Institutes of Health.
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In her free time, Maggie enjoys trivia night, walking along the Schuylkill, and searching for the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia.
Devin Burris
PhD CANDIDATE GTV
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Devin is a PhD Candidate in Gene Therapy and Vaccines. Her project focuses on multiomic analysis and therapeutics for CLN3 disease, the most common form of pediatric dementia. Devin is also interested in policy and advocacy around gene therapies. She is also the Research Council Chair for UPenn Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.
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Devin recieved her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Central Florida. She focused on Research in Dr. Charissa de Bekkers Lab on the ‘Zombie Ant’ Fungus Ophiocordyceps and also worked in the summers at WASHU with Dr. Harrison Gabel on Neurodevelopmental disease Tatton-Brown-Rahman Syndrome (DNMT3A).
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Devin enjoys sketching and painting, exploring new music, and weightlifting in her spare time.
Amanda Kuhs
CONSULTANT
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As our previous lab manager and organizational powerhouse, Amanda consults for the lab, managing orders, budgets, and keeping the wheels of the lab greased virtually. She previously performed animal husbandry for the lab, working on multiple projects.
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Amanda enjoys spending time with her kids at her sunny home in California.
Stephanie Blackwood
PhD CANDIDATE GTV
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Stephanie is a PhD student in Gene Therapy and Vaccines under the Cell and Molecular Biology Program at the UPenn Perelman School of Medicine. She is interested in studying Medium-Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD), a rare inherited metabolic disorder. Her current research focuses on understanding its pathology and developing an MCADD in vivo gene editing therapy.
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Stephanie graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S in Biological Sciences and Psychology and a minor in biomedical engineering. She completed an honors thesis project studying the gene regulatory networks involved in starfish larval development. She then spent two years at the Broad Institute as a research associate, using zebrafish as a model to investigate novel methods of treating infectious disease.
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Stephanie’s hobbies include reading books, spending time with her cats, eating sweet treats, and trying new restaurants with her friends.
Julia Hacker
PhD STUDENT GTV
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Julia is a PhD student in Gene Therapy & Vaccines. She is co-mentored by the Ahrens-Nicklas and Musunuru labs at CHOP and Penn. Julia is interested in learning more about underlying disease pathophysiology and developing novel gene therapeutics for rare pediatric metabolic disorders.
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Born and raised in/around Philly, Julia shipped up to Boston to earn a combined B.S./M.S. in Human Physiology from Boston University, where she studied Neuroanatomy under Dr. Basilis Zikopoulos. Julia then moved back to Philly as a Research Specialist at CHOP under Dr. Adeline Vanderver, primarily working on an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapy in mouse models for H-ABC, a rare leukodystrophy. Involvement in this project and close interaction with patient families inspired Julia to pursue further studies in a PhD program at Penn.
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Outside of the lab, Julia can be found trying different cuisines with her husband, planning her next trip, playing violin/saxophone, obsessing over a video game, or learning to crochet!
Sangeetha Bhuyan
Research Technician II
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Sangeetha Bhuyan is a Research Technician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, working within the Ahrens-Nicklas Lab. A December 2025 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Biology, she has been a dedicated member of the lab since 2022, transitioning into her full-time role in February 2026. Her current research focuses on characterizing EEG phenotypes in CLN3 disease and PKU mouse models to guide therapy development for these rare diseases.
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Outside of school and the lab, Sangeetha is on Penn's premier female South Asian fusion dance team, PENNaach. She also enjoys volunteering with the Netter Center Educational Pipeline program, singing, and spending time with her family and friends.
Lab Alumni
Aaron Hall – Technician
Owen Kane - Technician
Jing Xu, Ph.D.- Postdoctoral Fellow
Amanda Kuhs - Lab Manager
Youseff Jakher, M.S.- CRISSP Scholar / Master’s student
Sophie Siemsgluess - CRISSP Scholar
Richard Chung - Undergraduate student
Emily Tsai - CRISSP Scholar
Supta Das - CRISSP Scholar
Nate Philip - Summer undergraduate student
Saul Cortez-Alvarado, MS. - Master’s student
Laura Ohl, Ph.D. - Ph.D. student / Post Doctoral Researcher
Divya Nair, M.D. MPH - Postdoctoral Researcher
Tegan Thurston - PREP Scholar / Post-Bacc
Grace Fagan - 2024 CRISSP Scholar
Brianna Disanza, Ph.D. - NGG Ph.D. Graduate Student
Core He - Undergraduate Student
Sabrina Santos - PREP Scholar /Post-bacc