The Team

Samuele G. Marro, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He received his early training as a molecular biologist in the field of iron metabolism before shifting his focus to neuroscience. He pioneered the reprogramming of fibroblasts and other somatic cells into induced neuronal cells (iN cells), contributing to establish a foundational method for generating human neurons. His research focuses on modeling neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and gene editing technologies. He has developed widely adopted protocols for deriving human neurons and other brain cell types from iPSCs, and his lab integrates stem cell–based models and CRISPR tools to investigate disease mechanisms and explore therapeutic strategies. He is also the Director of the Stem Cell Engineering Core at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Ruiqi Hu, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow: Dr. Hu is a postdoctoral fellow in the Marro laboratory and has co-authored several publications employing stem cell methods, including two first-author manuscripts. She is a well-trained neurobiologist specializing in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), neuronal differentiation and 3D neuronal organoid culture. Dr. Hu also has extensive experience in epigenetic profiling, high-throughput sequencing, neuronal imaging, and mouse handling and surgery.