Current Members
Jinmei Li
Research Specialist
jinmeili [AT] wustl [DOT] edu
Jinmei joined the Muegge Lab as a Research Specialist in March 2024. She has extensive experience in genetic engineering and CRISPR screens. She is developing methods to engineer primary intestinal stem cells to understand the factors that control regional and cellular specification in the gut.
Jinmei was born in Wuhan, China. She received her Master of Science degree from the University of Virginia and has more than twenty years of experience in biomedical research including pharmaceutical, microbiology, and cell biology fields.
Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing volleyball, traveling, reading, and music.
Alex Zhuravel
Research Technician II
zhuravel [at] wustl [dot] edu
Alex joined the Muegge Lab as a Research Technician II in 2023. In the lab, Alex leads all aspects of intestinal cell culture including spheroid, organoid, and Air Liquid Interface models. He uses high throughput bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing to discover novel regulators of intestinal development. He was born and raised in St. Louis and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Biology at Maryville University.
Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time outside hiking, swimming, and biking. He loves listening to, producing, and DJ’ing music.
Bhavana Kalidindi, M.S.
Research Technician II
bhavana [at] wustl [dot] edu
Bhavana joined the Muegge lab in January 2024. Her research centers on understanding the transcription factors that control the diverse gut endocrine system. She employs intestinal cell culture techniques, including spheroid and Air-Liquid interface (ALI) models, and genetic engineering tools.
Bhavana earned her Master’s in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, studying how gene acetylation impacts gut cell function. Outside of the lab, she enjoys going on walks, indulging in movies, and cooking.
Brian Peng, MD
Fellow
bnpeng [at] wustl [dot] edu
Brian is a Fellow in the Division of Endocrinology. Brian completed his undergraduate studies at Cal Tech where he studied Developmental Biology in Zebrafish models. After completing medical school and internal medicine residency, Brian moved to St. Louis in 2023. His research will focus on understanding how transcription factors expressed in intestinal progenitor cells control the development of the gut endocrine system.
Yuqi Zhang, MS
Research Technician II
yuqi.zhang [at] wustl [dot] edu
Yuqi joined the Muegge lab in November 2022 as a student in the Master of Science in Biostatistics and Data Science program. Yuqi is interested in understanding how adult intestinal stem cells give rise to regionally specific cell programs along the length of the gut. She is using bulk and single cell RNA-seq data from different regions of the intestine to define the transcriptional regulators of these phenotypes. After completing her Master’s degree, Yuqi joined the lab full-time as a Research Technician. She is working jointly with the Remedi lab in the Division of Endocrinology to study intestinal and pancreatic endocrine cells, and is applying to graduate programs in Computation Biology.
Principal Investigator
Brian David Muegge, MD, PhD (he/him/his)
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology
mueggeb [at] wustl [dot] edu
Brian Muegge is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology and the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his bachelors degree in Chemistry at Princeton University. He completed his MD and PhD at Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied the Gut Microbiome. His current research interests focus on understanding how diverse intestinal cell types arise from common stem cell origins, defining the molecular logic of intestinal endocrine cell development, and discovering new ways to use inter-organ crosstalk from the gut to treat metabolic and intestinal diseases. He is a Physician Scientist and treats patients at the St. Louis VA Medical Center.
Outside of the lab, Brian’s enjoys spending time with his wife and three sons. He is a Cub Scout leader and loves hiking and camping. Brian enjoys baking bread and is slowly learning to bake German desserts.
Lab alumni
Bart Olszowy, M.S.
Ph.D. Student
Bart is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Computational and Systems Biology Program. He rotated in the Muegge lab in 2023. During his rotation, Bart developed methods to quantify and remove UMI duplication in our bulk RNA-seq projects. He also generated and analyzed RNA-seq data from intestinal stem cells to identify candidate transcriptional regulators of regional identity. Bart completed his undergraduate studies at the College of New Jersey, and completed a Masters degree in Bioinformatics at Rowan University. In his free time, Bart is an avid cyclist and enjoys watching Bundesliga.
Alara Sutcu
Research Technician II, 2021-2022
Alara was the first Research Technician in the Muegge Lab. She helped to develop a high throughput protocol for 3′ RNA-sequencing. She also performed intestinal stem cell culture, cloning, and bioinformatic analysis of RNA-seq datasets. Alara is currently pursuing a PhD in Nutrition and Metabolic Biology at Columbia University.
Anna Bass
Research Technician II, 2022-2023
During her tenure, Anna led intestinal stem cell culture including spheroid, organoid, and Air Liquid Interface techniques. Her research project sought to understand epigenetic regulation of intestinal stem cell identity. She validated multiple antibodies and defined the post translational histone modifications of stem cells from several parts of the gut. Anna grew up in the St. Louis region and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. She is pursuing a career in the biotechnology sector.
Vincent Gillespie
Post-Baccalaureate Scholar, 2021-2022
gillespie.v [at] wustl [dot] edu
Vincent was mentored by Brian Muegge and Robi Mitra from 2021-2022 while participating in the Opportunities in Genomics Research program. In the lab, Vincent developed protocols to measure chromatin accessibility (ATAC-seq) and epigenetic regulation by post translational histone modifications (Cut&Run). He applied these techniques to comprehensively define the chromatin landscape of adult intestinal stem cells. Vincent is currently a PhD student in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics program at Washington University.
Wes Agee
Post-Baccalaureate Scholar, 2020-2021
wagee [at] wustl [dot] edu
Wes was co-mentored by Brian Muegge and Robi Mitra when he was a student in the Opportunities in Genomics Research program in 2020-2021. Wes identified multiple candidate regulators of intestinal stem cell maintenance and generated libraries of guide RNA’s to knock down these genes by CRISPR inhibition. Wes is currently a PhD student in the Molecular Cell Biology program at Washington University.
Ryan Mauney
Undergraduate Researcher
Ryan joined the Muegge Lab in the summer of 2023. He is an undergraduate student at Middlebury College pursuing a degree in Biology. He used high throughput RNA-sequencing to study transcriptional networks that control intestinal development.
Outside of the lab, Ryan has been a competitive swimmer for the past 12 years. He loves to barbeque, and is an avid Pokemon card collector.