Joyce Bischoff received an A.B. in chemistry from Duke University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Washington University School of Medicine. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. She joined the Surgical Research Laboratories, now called the Vascular Biology Program, at Children's Hospital in 1990. She was promoted to Professor in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in 2010.
Instructor
Sana Nasim received her BS in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Applied Mathematics from New Jersey Institute of Technology and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Florida International University in 2020. She joined Dr. Bischoff’s laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow where she focuses on capillary malformations caused by the GNAQ R183Q mutation in endothelial cells and how this impacts endothelial barrier formation, response to flow, and interaction with surrounding mural cells and immune cells. Sana was promoted to Instructor at HMS in January 2025.
Research Fellow
Dr. Annegret Holm graduated from Medical School at the University of Heidelberg where she conducted her basic science thesis work in Dr. Hellmut Augustin’s lab at the German Cancer Research Center focusing on microvascular mural cell biology and Ang/Tie signaling in tumor angiogenesis. She worked as a clinical fellow in the Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University Hospital Freiburg, Germany with a special interest in caring for patients with vascular anomalies. She was recently appointed a committee member of VASCERN – the European Reference Network for vascular anomalies.
Her research in the Dr. Joyce Bischoff lab combines her basic science and clinical interest in vascular anomalies and focuses on drug discovery/repurposing for these patients. Specifically, she works on understanding the molecular mechanisms driving vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in infantile hemangioma involving the transcription factor SOX18 and downstream signaling pathways.
Outside of work, she enjoys outdoor activities (running, hiking, skiing) and is an enthusiastic clarinet player.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Mehrnaz Mehrabipour received her BSc and MSc degrees from Shahid Bahonar University in Kerman Iran in Cellular and Molecular Biology. She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2025 from Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf Germany, supported by a PhD Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Her thesis focused on the SH3 protein domains, biophysical and biochemical analysis of protein–protein and protein–lipid interactions within signaling pathways, and the identification of SIRT4 and c-RAF kinase regulatory functions in MAPK and related signaling cascades. In Joyce Bischoff’s lab, Mehrnaz is focused on the endothelial SOX18-mevalonate pathway axis in vascular anomalies. Her overall goal is to elucidate mechanisms driving aberrant vasculogenesis and strategies for precise molecular targeting to prevent vascular tumors and vascular malformations
Research Technologist I
Jill obtained her Master of Science in Plant Molecular Biology from University of Michigan and her Master of Arts in Professional Writing with a concentration in Biomedical Sciences from Western Michigan University in 1998. In 2001, Jill joined the Bischoff Lab as a Research Technician with graduation to Research Technologist I.
Undergraduate Student
Maya is a junior at Harvard College, pursuing a Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology Concentration. She joined the Bischoff Lab in September of 2023 to conduct independent research on vascular tumors and vascular malformations. She is investigating the expression and localization of two transcription factors – SREBP2 and SOX18 – to assess the mevalonate pathway in endothelial cells in these vascular lesions. Maya has several teaching and research activities, including as STAT 100 Teaching Fellow at Harvard College (Fall 2023) and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Volunteer at the Massachusetts General Hospital.