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Hanadie Yousef is a trained stem cell biologist and neurobiologist with a focus on the mechanisms of aging, with pending and issued patents, several publications, a BS from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), a PhD from UC Berkeley, a 4-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford School of Medicine, experience leading research teams, and has worked in R&D at Regeneron and Genentech. Yousef began doing biomedical research at the age of 16, when she interned locally at a pharmaceutical company in New York where she grew up, Regeneron, to conduct research on gene therapy and cancer. It was at this time that Yousef fell in love with drug discovery and development and knew she wanted to dedicate the rest of her life to this pursuit. She skipped a grade and attended CMU to study chemistry and continue her passion in scientific research. She returned to Regeneron to continue her research during winter and summer internships for 5 years (2003-2008). During her undergraduate studies at CMU, Yousef did a research honors thesis in the Kaminski lab at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she elucidated molecular mechanisms driving idiopathic pulmonary lung fibrosis. In graduate school in the Schaffer and Conboy labs at UC Berkeley (2008-2013), Dr. Yousef studied the role of adult stem cells in the biology of aging and developed methods for tissue rejuvenation in brain and muscle. She published 4 first-author papers, a research perspective,and has an issued patent and a patent application based on her discoveries.
 
 

CHARU SHUKLA, PHD
scientist

Charu is a trained neurobiologist with over 9 years of preclinical research experience in the field of neurobiology, oncology, and metabolism. With her strong background in molecular biology, physiology and behavior, along with extensive experience in running animal studies for a variety of disease models, her vast experience makes her uniquely qualified to adapt to any research program, and running complex pharmacological studies particularly in an in vivo setting. 

Charu has an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology, and masters in Genetics. She moved halfway across the globe from India to pursue her research career starting off with an MS from University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a PhD in neuroscience from Kent State University, Ohio. She then went on to do a productive 2 year postdoc at Harvard medical school where she worked on neural mechanisms of sleep-wake regulation, perfecting extremely precise surgical models in rats and mice. She further dived into preclinical research in the industry in 2016 at an early stage pharmaceutical company in San Diego where she spearheaded efforts for establishing novel rodent models for oncology research and drug testing, with great success. She is driven by her passion for drug discovery and continues to cultivate her quest to address unmet research questions. In addition to her strong publication record; with proven mastery in very difficult surgical rodent procedures such as brain surgeries, microinjections and microdialysis, Charu has consistently participated and contributed in high impact projects. 

2019 brings her to the Bay Area where she is now excited to be a part of the Juvena team bringing her unique skillset and expertise to lead Juvena’s efforts in validating some of the lead candidates in vivo.  

She not only enjoys scientific writing and editing, but also has a passion for creative writing. She hopes to publish her short poems in a book of her own some day. In her spare time, she also loves to travel and explore new places and cultures, across the globe. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHARU


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