Current Members
Ignacio Fernandez Mata, PhD
Ignacio Fernandez “Nacho” Mata, PhD is the principal investigator of the Mata Lab. He studied biology at the Universidad de Oviedo in Spain, where he later obtained a PhD in neurogenetics. He has been researching the genetics of neurological disorders, especially Parkinson’s Disease, since 2001. He has been very fortunate to have trained with some of the best in the field at the Mayo Clinic, the University of Washington, and the VA Puget Sound. In 2006, Nacho was invited to a meeting by SOLAMA, the Latin American movement disorder society, in Lima, Peru. There he had the opportunity to meet some incredible movement disorder specialists from several Latin American countries who were very eager to have access to genetic testing for their patients. Nacho offered to help, and LARGE-PD was born. He began working at the Cleveland Clinic in September of 2018. Nacho hopes to do everything possible to advance the field of Parkinson’s disease, which will help to provide better care for patients and hopefully be able to slow or stop the disease all together someday soon. In LARGE-PD, his motivation is to ensure that these advances apply to everyone, regardless of their ethnicity or country of origin. He wants to assist in building the necessary resources, both physical and in terms of personnel, to allow scientists in Latin America to perform high-quality research locally. Finally, Nacho would like to educate clinicians, researchers, and most importantly patients about genetics research and the importance of their participation, ensuring that these populations are not left behind. Outside the lab, Nacho enjoys traveling, biking, hiking, camping, and spending time with family.
Miguel Inca Martinez
Miguel Inca Martinez is the lab manager of the Mata Lab. He studied biology at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and obtained his master’s degree in human genetics at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru. He has been working with neurogenetic diseases such as Huntington’s disease, spinocerebellar ataxia, Parkinson’s Diseases, and others since 2012. Miguel began his training at the Neurogenetics Research Center in Lima, Peru. In 2012, he began collaborating on the recruitment process of the LARGE-PD project in Peru, and by 2014, under the supervision of Nacho, he made a rotation at the University of Washington and the VA Puget Sound. Having the chance to learn about the clinic and the individuals affected by neurogenetic diseases, including Parkinson’s, linked a history to the samples with which he had always worked. This experience helped Miguel to understand how important this work can be for every affected person. His personal motivation behind his work with LARGE-PD is knowing that all the information that they produce as scientists will be used in favor of an individual and their family, regardless of their ethnicity or region of origin. In his free time, Miguel enjoys cooking Peruvian food and traveling.
Shilpa Rao
Shilpa Rao is a Molecular Medicine PhD student at the Cleveland Clinic. She has a degree in molecular biology from Loyola University Chicago and became involved with LARGE-PD after listening to a presentation from the Mata Lab for her PhD program. She was immediately intrigued and wanted to become involved in the initiative. Shilpa strongly believes that diversity is a necessity. In society, the need to accept and represent all people is acknowledged, but it can be overlooked in the science community. With the growth of genetic research, it is astonishing that so much of the representation has been from people of European ancestry. Therefore, she believes LARGE-PD is one of the strong drivers in today’s research that focuses on inclusivity, an initiative that will inspire more minority genetic consortiums to be made. In her free time, Shilpa enjoys being outdoors with her pup Elsie, going to local pizzerias and breweries, and watching horror movies.
Nicolas Gutierrez
Nicolas Gutierrez is a Research Coordinator II for the Mata Lab. He received a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied neuroscience and psychology. Nicolas has worked in several research laboratories prior to arriving in the Mata lab, with a focus on neuroscience-oriented labs. He started working at the Cleveland Clinic in 2019 as a research coordinator in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He joined the Mata team in order to further pursue research on Parkinson’s disease, and to contribute to LARGE-PD’s mission to work with Hispanic communities. Nicolas is incredibly interested in neurodegenerative diseases and their pathophysiology, genetics, and treatment. A family history of different neurological and psychological disorders sparked his interested in understanding how neurological disorders can affect people. As a member of the Mata Lab, Nicolas is excited to work with Hispanic populations in order to advance science that may be beneficial to them. As a Colombian born citizen, he values diversity and representation in science. He believes that promoting diversity in science is an incredibly important step in helping bridge trust with communities that have been marginalized and who have grown uncomfortable with the medical system. Nicolas enjoys reading, hiking, cooking, dancing and DJ’ing in his free time!
Thiago Peixoto
Thiago Peixoto began working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Mata Lab in April of 2021. He has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Universidade Federal de São João Del Rey and a master's and PhD in Bioinformatics from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, both of which are in Brazil. He previously spent nearly ten years working at the Human Genetic Diversity Laboratory with one of the greatest population geneticists in Brazil. They made many great achievements in the studies of Latin Americans, including mapping the admixture of Brazilian populations and inferring their admixture dynamics. They also investigated Native American populations in Peru, as well as how different African groups contributed to the formation of American populations during the African Diaspora. Thiago’s personal motivation for his work with LARGE-PD is to help improve the quality of life of many people, especially those who live in countries that do not have access to the best medical treatments and personalized medicine. As a Brazilian himself, a person whose genetic material, culture, and customs are the result of the interaction of diverse populations over time, he feels that diversity is a part of his DNA. In his free time, Thiago enjoys spending time with family, watching movies and television shows, playing games, and travelling.
Sekinat Mumuney
Sekinat Mumuney is a medical student at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) whorotated through the Mata lab in the summer of 2020. She is currently working on a project that seeks to validate PD variants in multiplex families from LARGE-PD. Sekinat has an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Mercer University and now attends the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Prior to joining the Mata Lab, she was a Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health at the NIH, where she worked on developing genetic tools for neuromodulation in non-human primates. Sekinat is interested in both health disparities and research, and she feels that the work of LARGE-PD is right at the intersection of the two. As an aspiring physician-scientist, Sekinat would like to pursue this same type of work in the future, and she is excited to learn and develop as a scientist through this experience. Sekinat also loves travelling, trying new foods and restaurants, and spending time with friends and family, as well as music, books, and film.
Samantha Stalkamp
Samantha Stalkamp is a medical student at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) who rotated through the Mata Lab in the summer of 2019. She completed her undergraduate degree in neuroscience at The Ohio State University in 2019 and is currently a medical student at CCLCM. At Ohio State, she studied a forgetting paradigm called recognition-induced forgetting in the lab of Dr. Ashleigh Maxcey. Samantha has been honored to have several publications on the subject. Her medical school is dedicated to training physician-scientists, and in the first semester, the students were randomly assigned to work in various labs at the Lerner Research Institute. Samantha was lucky enough to be placed with Dr. Mata. Although she came into the Mata Lab by chance, she has stayed involved after the program ended because of how important she considers this research. She believes the lack of Latin American representation in genetics research to be unacceptable, and she hopes that her work here can lessen this inequality so that all people can benefit from scientific innovation in the age of personalized medicine. She currently spends the majority of her time studying, but she enjoys eating and sleeping as well!
Madeleine Williams
Madeleine Williams is a high school junior who recently began working as a research intern in the Mata Lab. She was placed there in the winter of 2020 through a science research program at her school. She has always loved the subject of science, and she is so grateful for this incredible opportunity to learn in a professional setting. Madeleine is very excited to be a part of LARGE-PD and this meaningful project with the ability to help better the lives of so many affected by Parkinson’s in Latino populations. She believes it is extremely important that all people are equally represented in this time of tremendous growth in genetics research, and LARGE-PD plays a significant part in helping to bridge this gap. In her free time, Madeleine enjoys golfing, baking, and spending time with friends and family.
Seysha Mehta
Seysha Mehta joined the Mata Lab as a Research Assistant in July 2021 on a gap year with plans to attend medical school. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a double major in Biology and Psychology and a minor in Hispanic Studies. Some of Seysha’s previous research experience at the Cleveland Clinic includes exploring the possibility of using digital data to standardize the NYHA classification of heart failure patients under Dr. Jim Young and investigating how to personalize photodynamic therapy in treating basal cell carcinoma under Dr. Edward Maytin. She believes that the blend of backgrounds, ethnicity, heritage, culture, sexual orientation, and gender make the human species vibrant, interesting, and beautiful. She is passionate about improving clinical care and addressing gaps in healthcare. Seysha also enjoys dancing, writing and playing music, playing soccer, meditating, watching throwbacks on Netflix, and spending time with friends, family, and her dog.
Amira Salim
Amira Salim is a full-time graduate student researcher in the Mata Lab. After obtaining a B.S. in Biomedical Science and a minor in Sociology from the University of Washington, she is now a member of the Molecular Medicine PhD program at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University. She joined the Mata Lab in September of 2021 with a strong interest in neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Some of her previous research includes investigating how antibodies can improve drug delivery for Alzheimer’s disease and examining the maturation process of Malaria in mosquitos. Amira studied sociology to better understand social problems and the ways that society fails different populations, and she believes that the world is beautifully rich with different cultures, languages, and identities. She is passionate about doing impactful research and mending knowledge gaps for underrepresented groups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, dancing, painting, and weightlifting.
Emma Perez-Navarro
Emma Perez-Navarro began working in the Mata Lab as a Laboratory Technician in November 2021. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Integrative Physiology and Neurobiology. She has prior experience in the healthcare field as a Habilitation Technician working with patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Emma is passionate about neuroscience and closing the gap in health disparities for underrepresented populations. She believes that diversity is an essential part of progress in our society, especially in the research field, and feels that there is no way to achieve improvements for humankind without providing a seat at the table for people of all cultural backgrounds. Some of Emma’s hobbies include cooking, gardening, and playing Animal Crossing or Mario Kart.
Emma Perez-Navarro
Emma Perez-Navarro began working in the Mata Lab as a Laboratory Technician in November 2021. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Integrative Physiology and Neurobiology. She has prior experience in the healthcare field as a Habilitation Technician working with patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Emma is passionate about neuroscience and closing the gap in health disparities for underrepresented populations. She believes that diversity is an essential part of progress in our society, especially in the research field, and feels that there is no way to achieve improvements for humankind without providing a seat at the table for people of all cultural backgrounds. Some of Emma’s hobbies include cooking, gardening, and playing Animal Crossing or Mario Kart.