meet our team
Maurizio Chioccioli BSc, MSc, PhD (he/him/his), Assistant Professor
Mau is an Assistant Professor in Genetics and Comparative Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. His research focus is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern tissue regeneration and repair in the lung, and how these pathways are hijacked in disease. His experience and expertise span multiple areas from biophysics and live-imaging microscopy to molecular biology, genetics, and human respiratory diseases. Mau is from Arezzo, Tuscany, city of Piero Della Francesca, S.S. Arezzo and the Giostra del Saracino (he is proudly supporting the “Quartiere di Porta Crucifera”). He obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Florence in Tuscany, before going on to obtain his PhD from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland in Australia. He then performed his postdoctoral studies at the Cavendish Laboratory, Physics of Medicine Institute at Cambridge University where he worked on the biophysical basis of dynamic ciliary beating in respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia. He was recruited into the lab of Naftali Kaminski at Yale School of Medicine in 2018 where he focused primarily on establishing new techniques and approaches to investigate lung remodeling and repair. He was appointed Assistant Professor in Genetics and Comparative Medicine in September 2023.
Dhruthi Singamsetty PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dhruthi Singamsetty received her BS in Biology from Kansas State University and her PhD in Comparative Biomedical Sciences (focus in immunology) from North Carolina State University, where her doctoral research focused on the cellular and molecular pathways involved in mixed allergen-induced mucous cell metaplasia. As a Postdoctoral Associate in the Chioccioli Lab, she is investigating the cell of origin mechanisms of KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma
Dhruthi Singamsetty PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Norisha Badhwar graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in May 2026 with B.S. degrees in Neurobiology and Genetics & Genomics. During her undergraduate training, she conducted research spanning neuroscience, molecular genetics, epigenetics, and neuromuscular disease, gaining experience in molecular biology and quantitative imaging. As a Postgraduate Associate in the Chioccioli Lab, she is interested in investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying lung injury and alveolar regeneration. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, baking, and spending time with animals.
Carlos Abudo Maldonado
B.S. Candidate, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
Carlos Abudo Maldonado is a pre-med rising senior at Yale University pursuing a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. In the Chioccioli Lab, Carlos is studying the subcellular dynamics that drive alveolar type 2 (AT2) cell behavior during lung repair. Using a fluorescent "Kaleidoscope" mouse model together with long-term live imaging of precision-cut lung slices, he is tracking how mitochondria, lysosomes, and the cytoskeleton reorganize as AT2 cells proliferate and migrate to regenerate the injured alveolus. Before joining the lab, Carlos conducted research at the Yale School of Medicine on regenerative strategies for glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration — focusing on Müller glia reprogramming, Hippo/YAP signaling, ASCL1, and nanoparticle-based delivery in human retinal explants and organoids — and earlier carried out microbiology research at UConn, where he isolated and sequenced bacteria from the digestive tract of Macrobdella decora and co-authored a genome announcement on Plesiomonas shigelloides. Outside the lab, Carlos serves as a Spanish interpreter at HAVEN Free Clinic, volunteers in the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department, and teaches middle and high schoolers through Splash at Yale and the Yale Undergraduate Science Olympiad. Back home in Puerto Rico, he helps organize beach cleanups to protect local coastlines, and he enjoys ballroom dancing.
Overall view of the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center, bldg 30, during the lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. NASA