People

Hanna Martens, PhD

Assistant Professor
Biochemistry and Biophysics

Dr. Hanna Martens is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF and a principal investigator at the BAKAR Aging Research Institute. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of aging, particularly how cellular mechanotransduction, senescence, and tissue integrity influence organ function over time. She combines cutting-edge single-cell technologies, advanced imaging, and computational biology to study the fundamental processes driving tissue degeneration and aging.

Fred Biancardi

Staff Research Associate

Fred Biancardi is a Staff Research Associate at UCSF, where he applies his expertise in molecular cloning, genome assembly, and transgenic mouse models to support research in aging biology. He earned his B.S. in Biomolecular Engineering & Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz, where he worked on metagenomics and environmental toxicology, investigating how lichen interacts with methylmercury contamination.

Neda Keyhanvar, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar
Biochemistry and Biophysics

Dr. Neda Keyhanvar has always been fascinated about how biology can be reprogrammed—from gene editing and stem cells to how our tissues age over time. She got her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from AUTM, followed by an M.S. and Ph.D. in Medical Biotechnology at GOUMS and TBZMED, where she started playing with the idea that cells feel their surroundings—her first deep dive into mechanobiology.

KaiShan Li

Faculty Assistant

KaiShan Li is the Faculty Assistant at UCSF, ensuring that everything in the Martens Lab runs smoothly. From coordinating schedules to keeping research operations on track, she is the behind-the-scenes force that makes the lab’s work possible.

Anastasia Zhurikhina, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar
Biochemistry and Biophysics

Dr. Anastasia Zhurikhina started her academic journey in applied mathematics and physics, fascinated by how complex systems could be modeled and understood. But biology kept pulling her in, leading her to a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where she explored vascular biomechanics and cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) through a mix of computational modeling, RNA-seq analysis, and experimental techniques.