Our Team
We are a team of highly motivated and creative researchers who collaboratively work together to fulfill our mission of uncovering lung biomechanics in health and disease.
Principal Investigator
Jessica Oakes
Associate Professor
Jessica has spent her career studying the lungs from an engineer's perspective. Starting from investigating the fluid dynamics of the deep lung to studying the relationship between structure and function, she has led research projects spanning from disease treatment in asthmatics to uncovering the biological underpinnings of wildland fire smoke exposure. In addition, Jessica is deeply committed to fostering an inclusive lab environment and promoting the successes of her trainees.
Current Graduate Students
Jackie Matz
Graduate Student
Jackie is a senior graduate student and is co-advised by Chiara Bellini. Her research is focused on characterizing the soft tissue biomechanics of murine aorta and lungs following chronic exposure to airborne pollutants.
Charbel Yazbeck
Graduate Student
Charbel joined the lab in 2023. He is interested in the impact of airborne exposures on cellular function and linking these findings to whole-lung level biomechanical changes.
Narges Mirdamadi
Graduate Student
Narges joined the lab in 2023 and is facinated with computational fluid dynamics. She is working on predicting aerosol surfactant deposition in neonatal airways.
Sadia Amin Kabbo
Graduate Student
Sadia is rotating in the lab starting in 2023. She is interested in respiratory mechanics following chronic exposure to airborne pollutants.
Former Lab Members
Matthew Eden
Current Position: Post-doctoral Scholar at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor
During his PhD studies, Matt characterized smoke and aerosols and modeling their transport and deposition within the lung and cir
Aravind Harilal Meenambika
Current Position: Post-doctoral Scholar at UCSD
The primary focus of Aravind's PhD studies was to characterize flow strucutres in the ocean, under the mentorship of Michael Allshouse. With the Oakes lab, Aravind simulated transport and deposition in the airways of asthmatic subjects.
Tianyi Li
Current Position: Marine CFD Scientist at Shipline Inc.
As a post-doc scholar in the Oakes lab, Tianyi worked on developing a whole lung dosimetry modeling software to predict regional deposited dose in babies born prematurely.
Kamran Poorbahrami
Current Position: Clinical R&D Engineer at Morair Medtech
During his PhD studies, Kamran developed multi-scale CFD models to investigate aerosol dosimetry in asthmatic subjects.