Debarshi Mustafi, M.D. Ph.D

Angela brings 20 years of experience in the field of molecular biology and ophthalmology research to help manage the Mustafi lab. She 

Kenji is a Seattle native and graduated with a B.S. from the University of Washington.  He joined the Van Gelder lab shortly afterwards and has led the bioinformatic development of targeted long-read sequencing for metagenomic analysis. Kenji began working with the Mustafi lab in its earliest days and was instrumental in applying adaptive sampling for human genomic uses in the lab. He has since helped develop numerous tools to aid in variant discovery that have helped solve complex genetic cases underlying inherited retinal diseases and retinoblastoma.

Behrouz Rahimi is a research scientist in the lab working on various retinal genetic projects. He brings expertise in wet bench techniques to expand our ability to sequence blood and saliva samples for diagnostic understanding of epigenetic signatures in disease.

Samson is a PhD Student in the UW Department of Bioengineering. He is working jointly in the Mustafi and Sabesan labs to understand the genotype-to-phenotype relationship in inherited retinal diseases. Prior to joining UW, he completed his Doctor of Optometry degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and subsequently served there as a Clinical, Teaching and Research Assistant. Outside the lab, Samson serves as the Founder & Executive Director of iCare Network International, an organization that provides medical care and social support to underserved communities in Ghana. When not working, he enjoys photography, traveling and playing ping pong.

Mark is a native of Portland, Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.S. in Biology in 2018. He is an MD candidate for the class of 2026 at the University of Hawaii. Mark has a passion for ophthalmology and is taking a gap year to work as a Research Assistant in the Mustafi lab to better understand the role of genetics in various retinal diseases. Mark's work focuses on clinical integration of genetics and ophthalmology to better diagnose patients with inherited retinal diseases. He is also actively involved in recruiting patients for the retinoblastoma project to understand the genetic signatures in pediatric and adult patients that lead to more severe disease. In his spare time, Mark enjoys playing basketball, golfing, skiing, running, fishing, and spending time with friends and family.

Dr. Cech is a clinical genetic counselor at Seattle Children's Hospital and works with Dr. Mustafi as part of the multi-disciplinary inherited retinal disease clinic that allows visits with ophthalmolgy and genetics in one visit. Dr. Cech brings her research background to also work with clinical patients that undergo research level long-read sequencing in the Mustafi lab to work with families to understand the research results and implications of any research level findings.

Stefan is currently majoring in Biochemistry with Interdisciplinary Honors at UW. Stefan's involvement in the lab dates back to high school where his interest in medical research led him to the Mustafi lab. Since then he has been an important member of the lab, now working as an undergrad researcher. Stefan is spearheading work looking at the evolving nature of population databases and how that impacts variant annotation for inherited retinal disease genes. He is also involved in retinal imaging projects examining the role of multi-modal imaging in the diagnosis of pediatric retinal disorders.