Hypoxia Lab
Our Team
Principal Investigator
Erica Heinrich, PhD
Assistant Professor
UCR School of Medicine
Division of Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Erica Heinrich is an assistant professor in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the UC Riverside School of Medicine at UC Riverside. She completed her PhD at the University of California, Irvine with Dr. Timothy Bradley and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego with Dr. Frank Powell and Dr. Tatum Simonson. Her research examines the integrative physiology of hypoxic stress in humans, with a specific focus on the impact of hypoxemia on immune function.
Email: erica.heinrich@medsch.ucr.edu
Office: School of Medicine Research Room 101
Phone: (951) 827-9198
Graduate Students
Karapet Mrktchyan
PhD Candidate
Karapet is a fourth year PhD student. His research examines the physiological and psychological mechanisms underlying the sensation of dyspnea, or shortness of breath.
Office: School of Medicine Research Building Room 130
Email: karapet.mkrtchyan@email.ucr.edu
Abel Vargas
PhD Student
Abel is a second year PhD student. His dissertation research examines the impact of hypoxia and environmental stress on immune function.
Office: School of Medicine Research Building Room 130
Email: abel.vargas@email.ucr.edu
Veronica Penuelas
MS Student
Veronica is interested in determining the role of systemic inflammation on the neural control of breathing. Her Masters thesis examined the impact of COVID-19 on long-term changes in inflammatory status and the chemoreflex control of breathing.
Office: School of Medicine Research Building Room 130
Email: veronica.penuelas@ucr.edu
Sunny Virk
MS Student
Sunny's masters thesis investigates the epigenetic mechanisms by which hypoxia impacts immune function. He is exploring the impact of hypoxia on DNA methylation and histone modifications in vitro and in vivo during high-altitude exposure.
Office: School of Medicine Research Building Room 130
Email: sunny.virk@email.ucr.edu
Undergraduate Students
Borena Lohn
Undergraduate Student
Borena is a UCR Chancellor's Research Fellow. She studies the efficacy of current clinical tools for estimating dyspnea.
Miriam Agaibi
Undergraduate student
Miriam is completing her Honor's Capstone thesis on the impact of social determinants of health on interoceptive awareness and dyspnea severity.
Ledia Nasr
Undergraduate Student
Ledia is interested in how hypoxia modulates calcium handling and how these changes impact immune function.
Natalie Dennis
Undergraduate Student
Natalie is studying the impact of hypoxia on epigenetic gene regulation, with a specific focus on histone modifications.
Taleen Shomar
Undergraduate Student
Taleen is completing her Honor's Capstone thesis on the role of sex hormones on the neural control of breathing and ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia.
Allyson Phan
Undergraduate Student
Allyson is studying adaptations to vascular shear stress in high-altitude adapted populations. She is particularly interested in the genetic and epigenetic regulation of VCAM1 in high-altitude groups with Chronic Mountain Sickness.
Medical Students
Isuru Karunatillaka
Isuru is using large clinical databases to understand the benefits of ECMO treatment in mechanically ventilated patients.
Andrew Dong
Andrew is studying the efficacy of our machine learning tools for estimating dyspnea compared to physician estimates.
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Alumni
Kristina Bergersen, PhD
Krissie investigated the impacts of COVID-19 on immune function and disparities in COVID-19 health outcomes across populations in Inland Southern California in collaboration with Dr. Meera Nair's lab.
Graduate Alumni
Kathy Pham, PhD
Kathy's dissertation research examined the impact of high-altitude exposure on inflammation and immune function.
Shyleen Frost, PhD
Shyleen's dissertation research examined epigenetic mechanisms of high-altitude adaptation.
Medical student alumni:
Lucia Hong
Brian Chan
Anser Qazi
Undergraduate alumni:
Lorenzo Bazzani
- Honor's Capstone Thesis: Isometric Hamstring:quadriceps Strength Ratio, Flexibility, And Gait Pattern As Predictors Of Knee Health
Keval Parikh
- Honor's Capstone Thesis: Inflammatory Gene Expression during Acute High-Altitude Exposure
Nikhil Puvvula
Britney Oeung
Saheli Shah
Marco Cordero