Translational Glycomics Center located at Versiti’s Blood Research Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Karin Hoffmeister, MD
Principal investigator
deputy director, verSiti blood research institute
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Karin was trained in Germany as a cardiologist. She joined the Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital faculty in 2001. She became the Director of the Translational Glycomics Center at the Versiti Blood Research Institute in 2017. The goal of the Center is to determine how glycans and glyco-genetics regulate hematopoiesis during development, under steady state and in disease.
The combination of her skills as a clinician-scientist keeps the Center focused on translational aspects of research and is a prerequisite to the often needed “out of the box” thinking when approaching relatively unknown areas of investigation, such as glycans and regulation of glycol-genetics.
Renee Hill, MBA
Program Manager
Renee received her bachelor of art degree in International Studies and Spanish from UW Madison in 2006 and her MBA from UW Milwaukee in 2020. She joined the team in October 2021 and brings extensive experience in program management and grant administration. She coordinates and manages all administrative and programmatic aspects related to the Translational Glycomics Center. In addition to her work with us, Renee teaches yoga at a local studio. In her free time she enjoys kayaking, yoga, gardening, and spending time with her nieces.
Agata Steenackers, PhD
LABORATORY PROGRAM MANAGER
Agata’s research focuses on understanding how certain diseases, like cancer, are associated with dramatic changes in glycan patterns. Additionally, she studied the impact of O-GlcNAc on metabolic syndrome development and determining the full-length structures of the key enzymes responsible for O-GlcNAc modifications using cryo-EM. In her free time, Agata enjoys travelling, hiking, climbing, baking and having fun with her family and friends!
George Steinhardt, PhD
computational biologist
George received his BS from DePaul University and Master’s from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He then went on to graduate school at Boston University where he got a PhD in bioinformatics. George also has experience working at the Center for Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Loyola University, and the University of Chicago within the Proteomics Core lab as well the Molecular Pathology group. George joined the Hoffmister lab as a Computational Biologist in 2022 where he performs analysis of high tech experiments across diverse platforms to interrogate cells for differences in “omics,” namely transcriptome, genome, and glycome.
Natalia Weich, PhD
REsearch Scientist
Natalia recently joined as a Research Scientist in Dr. Hoffmeister’s lab to understand how glycan signatures can guide precision therapy in hematologic malignancies. She was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She came to the United States in 2017 to perform her postdoctoral studies working in the field of DNA damage and epigenetics.
In her free time, Natalia enjoys watching movies, cooking and having fun with family and friends.
Alejandro Roisman, PhD
REsearch scientist
Alejandro obtained his PhD in 2017 from the University of Buenos Aires studying how epigenetic changes contribute to leukemia and lymphoma development and progression. He then moved to the United States for a post-doctoral training in hematopoietic stem cell biology, genome editing and epigenetics. He joined Dr. Hoffmeister’s lab as a Research Scientist to understand how glycan changes affect cell fate decisions and genome organization at the stem cell level.
Kate Rosenbalm, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Kate completed her PhD in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia. She joined the team in 2022 and brings expertise in glycobiology and mass spectrometry. At the Translational Glycomics Center, Kate studies the glycan niche in bone marrow and downstream hepatic signaling.
Ratnashree Biswas, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ratnashree received her Bachelor of Medicine, and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. She did her residency in Internal medicine, Dermatology, and Emergency medicine in Kolkata and received her M.D. in Biochemistry at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, India. She joined the lab in the fall of 2019 and focuses on deciphering the cellular mechanisms and proteins regulating normal and abnormal blood platelet production and function. Currently, she is focusing on doing lectin and glycan arrays in human MDS /MPN samples. In her spare time, she enjoys playing musical instruments, swimming, and sports like soccer and cricket.
Grace Kelly
REsearch Technologist
Grace received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. She recently joined the lab and is excited to gain hands-on experience working with her new team. In her free time, Grace enjoys anything on the water especially skiing, and spending time with friends, family, and her puppy Beau.
Anna Schmidt
Research technologist/
lab support
Anna received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology from Loyola University of Chicago. She joined the lab in November 2018 where she focused on Glycosylation patterns of red blood cells. Since having her daughter, Josephine, in 2020, Anna has moved to the role of an external support for the lab and Translational Glycomics Center needs. In her free time she enjoys chasing around a busy toddler, and spending time with family and friends.
Marge Kipp
Animal Tech
Marge received her Certification as Biotechnology Technician in 1996 followed by her BS in Business Management in 2006. She has been with the BRI since 2003. She currently supports 5 labs. When she’s not in the lab she enjoys spending time with her family and their dog Sadie. They enjoy camping, fishing and traveling.
visiting Team MEMBERS:
Friedrich Reusswig, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Friedrich obtained his bachelor’s and master’s in biology at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen in Germany. Afterwards he finished his PhD in the lab of Margitta Elvers in Düsseldorf focusing on platelet function and platelet count restoration after liver injury. He joined the lab to expand his knowledge of hematopoiesis regarding hepatocyte related signaling.
Away from work he spends time with his two dogs, experimenting with new cooking recipes, or catching up with friends and family