The Rainey Lab Team

The Rainey Lab is staffed with professional persons with varying degrees of technical and scientific knowledge and international backgrounds.  This mix of capabilities and background provides a stimulating and enriching  environment where each person brings their unique perspective to conducting our varied research projects.

The Rainey lab team consists of three distinct groups, postdoctoral fellows, students, and technicians.  Click on their names below to view their biosketch.

 

Post Docs

Ping Ye
Dr. Ping Ye’s Master of Science work was conducted at The University of Queensland, Australia under the guidance of Professor Malcolm West. He then moved to the University of Glasgow where he obtained a Ph.D. while working with Professor John Connell. His research focus at both Universities was directed at defining the genetic etiology of hypertension. Upon completion of his degrees he embarked on a postdoctoral research project in Dr. Rainey’s group, focusing on the regulation of aldosterone production, and the role of this steroid in causing hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

 

 

Yasuhiro Nakamura
Dr. Yasuhiro Nakamura earned his bachelors, Ph.D., and M.D. at Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, where he conducted research under the guidance of Professor Hironobu Sasano. His primary research focus was the study of steroid hormones and their association with cardiovascular disease. Upon completion of his degree, he embarked on a postdoctoral research project in Dr. William Rainey’s laboratory, where he currently studies the regulation of steroid production.

 

 

Christine Rigsby
Dr. Christine Rigsby earned her Ph.D. at the Medical College of Georgia in December 2006 under the direction of Dr. Anne Dorrance.  Her thesis work involved studying the effect of the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, spironolactone and eplerenone, on ischemic stroke and remodeling of cerebral arteries in a hypertensive rat model.  After completing her Ph.D., Dr. Rigsby joined the Rainey lab in January 2007 to continue research on adrenal hormones and their effects on the cardiovascular system.  Her current project involves developing a rat model of enhanced adrenal zona glomerulosa or fasciculata regeneration to study the mechanisms involved in adrenal glad zonation.

 

 

Students

Edson F. Nogueira
Dr. Edson Nogueira earned his M.D. in 2001 from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He practiced medicine for 3 years in Brazil, and then moved to Augusta, Georgia after acceptance to Ph.D. graduate studies program at the Medical College of Georgia in 2005. He is currently a second year graduate student in the Department of Physiology under the guidance of Dr. William Rainey. His research focuses on mechanisms involved in adrenal zonation.

 

 

Jeniel Parmar
Jeniel Parmar earned his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University in Pharmaceutical Sciences.  He joined the Medical College of Georgia School of Graduate Studies, where he is currently working on his Ph.D. in Physiology under the guidance of Dr. Rainey.  His current research focuses on defining the mechanisms controlling the tissue specific expression of the enzyme aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and developing new adrenocortical cancer cell lines.

 

 

Yewei Xing
Ms. Yewei Xing graduated from Department of Biochemistry, Nanjing University with a Bachelor of Science. In 2006, she joined Dr. Rainey’s group as a Ph.D. graduate student. Her research focuses on the mechanisms regulating fetal adrenal development and stereogenesis.

 

 

 

 

Technicians

Rebecca E. Key
Rebecca Key graduated summa cum laude from Augusta State University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.  Her undergraduate research, under the direction of Dr. Gary G. Stroebel and Dr. Stephanie A. Myers, involved phase-transfer catalysis and air oxidation reactions of a conjugated hydrocarbon.  Rebecca joined Dr. Rainey’s laboratory group in March, 2006, where she focuses on steroid hormone analysis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

 

 

Claudia Anne Vargas
Claudia Anne Vargas received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of Georgia (UGA), in Athens, Georgia in 2002. While at UGA, she completed her honors thesis on the Multigene Families of Pneumocystis carinii under the instruction of Dr. Jonathan Arnold in the Department of Genetics. Upon graduation, she worked as a Lead Research Specialist for two years at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia where she conducted research in the area of Galactosemia under the guidance of Dr. Judith Fridovich-Keil. In 2006, she joined the laboratory of Dr. William Rainey where she is currently working on developing a Lenti virus system that allows specific G-coupled protein receptors to infect the H295 adrenal cell line. Claudia also serves as the Rainey laboratory manager.

 

 

 

Kate Rainey
Assistant to the Managing Editor for the Americas, Dr. William E. Rainey, Journal of Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.

Kate acts as administrative assistant to and facilitates the flow of manuscripts through the submission process. She has held this part time position since 1997.