Group Members

Chantrice joined the Kugathasan lab in August of 2015. She is a graduate of Savannah State University and has a Masters Degree in Public Health from Mercer University. Chantrice is one of our Clincial Research Coordinators and she manages various research trials within the group. When she is not in the office, you may find her volunteering or planning her next global excursion.

Bernadette joined the Kugathasan lab in December of 2012. She is a graduate of Georgia State University with a MS in nutrition. She is the clinical nutritionist in the IBD clinic and also helps to consent and collect patient samples for research. When she is not in clinic, you might find her driving her two dogs around in her dog taxi or hiking with her husband and two dogs. She also loves cooking and trying out new recipes.

Nia joined the Kugathasan lab in November of 2019. She is a graduate of Spelman College and has a Master’s Degree in Medical Physiology from Case Western Reserve University. Nia is a Clinical Research Coordinator and she oversees different research trials; as well as collects patients’ samples. When she is not working, she is typically hiking, listening to music, or reading a good book.

Anne joined the Kugathasan lab in April of 2016. She is a graduate of Appalachian State University. Anne oversees the day to day operations of the Kugathasan lab. In her spare time you can find her enjoying all the outdoors has to offer, along with her three dogs.

Suresh joined the Kugathasan lab in September 2015. He recieved his PhD in Bioinformatics from Bharathidasan University inTamilnadu, India. Currently, he is involved in data mining projects from Genotyping, Exome sequencing, Whole genome sequencing, Transcriptomic (RNASeq), Microbiome and DNAmethylation. His hobbies are cooking traditional south Indian food, travelling, playing board games and driving.

Dr. Matthews joined the Kugathasan IBD Dream Team in 2019. He graduated from Georgia State University in 2010 with a doctorate degree in Genetics and Biochemistry, with a focus on molecular virology. He has advanced postdoctoral training in mucosal biology of the intestine and microbiome, is an expert in molecular cell biology and microscopic imaging, and focuses on unraveling the molecular basis of inflammatory bowel disease. He oversees research projects that include the use of intestinal epithelial organoids, single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics.

Sushma joined the Kugathasan lab in January 2020. She has a master's in systems medicine from Georgetown University. Her goal is to reveal the gene expression patterns and cell type/tissue organization in IBD. In her free time she loves to take care of her plants, playing games, and enjoy reading detective stories.

David joined the Kugathasan lab in June 2019. He graduated from Emory University with a Chemistry BS in 2017. David is the database manager for over 5 clinical research studies, assisting researchers and research coordinators across the US and abroad with data requests, data analysis and visualization, and data entry and cleaning help. When he is not looking at spreadsheets, he likes to play soccer, take a dip in the pool, eat spicy food, and hang out with friends.

Alumni of Emory University, B.S. in Anthropology & Biology, and Oxford College. Currently engaged in clinical pediatric research focused on unraveling epigenetic interplays involved with Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Emory University. Duties involve serving as a Clinical Research Coordinator, CRC, and lab technician for biological specimens assaying, processing, and maintaining the biobank repository of Kugathasan Lab. Also a candidate for MPH in Global Environmental Health at Rollins School of Public Health. Research involves a better understanding of epigenetic modulation of non-coding RNAs in IBD.

Duke joined the Kugathasan lab in July of 2020. He completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at Emory University School of Medicine (SOM) and obtained his PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Tim Denning in mucosal immunology investigating the regulation of intestinal CD4+ T cells by antigen-presenting cells and working with animal models of IBD. He completed his Pediatric Residency at the University of California San Francisco and returned back to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta/Emory SOM to complete his Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition Fellowship on the Accelerated Research Pathway. His clinical interest is in Pediatric and VEO IBD, and his research interests are in understanding the immune mechanisms by which pediatric patients with IBD stop responding to treatment with the ultimate goal of developing novel cellular and molecular therapies. When Duke is not in the hospital or lab, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his family, reading research articles, and catching up on sleep.

Murugadas joined the Kugathasan lab in March of 2020. He received his PhD in Environmental Biotechnology from Bharathidasan University in Tamil Nadu, India. His current research interests are primarily focused on the generation of Patient-Derived Organoids (PDOs) as a novel platform to dissect Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In his free time, Murugadas enjoys playing cricket and badminton, reading novels, and watching movies.