Makki Lab Members

Current Lab Members

Nadja Makki, PhD

Assistant Professor

Department of Physiology & Aging

Genetics Institute

Nadja received her BS in Biology and MS in Molecular Biology from the University of Kiel in Germany. She then joined the lab of Dr. Mario Capecchi at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for her PhD, investigating how Hoxa1 regulates development of the hindbrain, inner ear and heart. After finishing her PhD, she moved to Stanford University and joined the lab of Liqun Luo to study wiring of the noradrenergic neural circuit. After that she joined the lab of Dr. Nadav Ahituv at the University of California, San Francisco where she identified and characterized novel susceptibility loci underlying connective tissue diseases. Nadja started her Assistant Professor position at the University of Florida in fall 2018. Nadja received several awards including a Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship during her postdoc and a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Ph.D. Fellowship during her PhD.

Fahim Tasin

PhD Student

Department of Physiology & Aging

Fahim received his Bachelor's in "Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering" from Khulna University, Bangladesh. He received his MS in "Biotechnology (Thesis)" from the University of Central Florida and was involved in research on the role of the liver in maintaining lipid homeostasis. Fahim joined the Makki lab in February 2025 and is interested in characterizing functional non-coding variants underlying vascular diseases.

Mohan Nakka

Undergraduate Student

Department of Physiology & Aging

Mohan is a second-year pre-med student majoring in Microbiology at the University of Florida. He joined the Makki Lab in the Summer of 2025, drawn by his interest in genetics research and its impact on the development of healthcare and the medical field. His main focus includes identifying non-coding genetic markers associated with AIS and vascular calcification. Mohan is a recipient of the University of Florida’s Scholars Program Research Award.

Past Lab Members

Paola Parrales, MS

Paola received her BS in Chemistry from Florida International University in Miami. Paola joined the Makki Lab in Fall 2024 as a master’s student and worked on identifying genetic variants implicated in the development of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS). Paola graduated with her master’s degree in Spring 2026 and is now working as a ophthalmic assistant at the UF Health Eye Center.

Carlos Cuna, BS

Carlos Cuna joined the Makki Lab in Spring 2024 as an undergraduate pre-med student majoring in Biology. He worked on identification of functional AIS-associated variants as potential biomarkers for AIS. He graduated from UF with his bachelor’s degree in Spring 2026 and is currently working as registered behavioral technician.

Darius Ramkhalawan, PhD

Darius received his BA in English from the University of Florida and his MS in Biology from New York University. Darius joined the Makki lab in Spring 2021. He studied the genetic and developmental mechanisms underlying adolescent idiopathic scoliosis . Darius graduated with his PhD in August 2025 and is now a postdoctoral fellow in Weiming Ouyang’s lab at the FDA.

Gloria Montoya Vazquez

Gloria received her BS in Biochemistry from the University of Florida. She was a technician in the Makki Lab from 2021-2023, where she worked on the role of Sox6 in vertebral column development in scoliosis by using a mouse model. She is now a lab manager in Maurice Swanson’s lab in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at UF.

Kayla Ernst

Kayla was an undergraduate in the Makki lab 2022-2023. She is now a medical student at Florida Atlantic University (FAU).

Jamie Cardascia, DMD

Jaime worked as a lab technician in the lab in 2019. She was then accepted into the prestigious Dental School program at UF and is now a practicing dentist in Ocala.

Byron Espinoz

Byron was an undergraduate in the Makki lab and was then accepted into medical school at Drexel University.