Richard S. Beard Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor/Principal InvestigatorBefore I began my academic career trajectory, I was exposed to clinical medicine while serving as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman. Throughout my undergraduate education, I worked as a Registered Medical Assistant and a Study Coordinator for NHLBI-funded clinical trial AIM-HIGH. During this time, I formed an appreciation for the complexity of vascular disease. In fact, acknowledgment of the vast disconnect between the pathophysiological basis of vascular disease and current therapeutic options is what led me to pursue a Ph.D. in Dr. Shawn Bearden’s Lab at Idaho State University. My dissertation was centered on investigating how elevated levels of plasma homocysteine initiate and propagate small blood vessel disease. Following graduate school, I completed a four-year postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Sarah Yuan’s Lab where my efforts broadened to investigating commonalities in how microvessels respond to a host of inflammatory mediators. I am now an Assistant Research Professor at Boise State University where my lab continues to research microvascular pathologies during aberrant inflammatory challenges.
Brian Hoettels, B.S.
Graduate Research Assistant/In vitro Project ManagerBrian coordinates all of the lab’s projects utilizing in vitro models. He is currently the lead on a project titled: “The Extracellular Matrix Proteoglycan Decorin is Upregulated by Endothelial Cells During Inflammation and Contributes to Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction.”
Travis Wertz, B.S.
Graduate Research Assistant/In vivo Project ManagerTravis coordinates all of the lab’s projects utilizing in vivo models. He is currently lead on a project titled: “Oncostatin M Induces Barrier Dysfunction in Brain Microvascular Endothelium via Snail-Dependent Repression of TAMPs.”
Desiree Self, B.S.
Graduate Research AssistantDesiree is interested in leukocyte-endothelial interactions during neuroinflammation and coordinates all of the lab’s flow cytometry experiments.
Kristina Chapman, B.S.
Molecular Biology TechnicianKristina coordinates all of the lab’s molecular cloning and protein biochemistry projects.
Marianne Meindertsma, B.S.
Administrative Project ManagerMarianne has a Bachelors Degree in Organizational Leadership with a focus in Project Management and is currently pursuing her Masters in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning at Boise State University. She volunteers in the lab assisting Dr. Beard with the coordination of various projects, scheduling, training, and collaborations.
Jessica McAllister
Undergraduate Research AssistantJessica is an undergraduate researcher looking at the relationships between blood-brain barrier dysfunction and white-matter demyelination.