Aaryani Tipirneni-Sajja, PhD

Dr. Aaryani Tipirneni-Sajja, is an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Memphis. Dr. Sajja is a biomedical scientist with expertise in developing quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy techniques that will noninvasively identify disease biomarkers, enable early diagnosis and guide response to therapy. Dr. Sajja has secured research funding as a Principal Investigator from National Institute of Health (Trailblazer Award) and National Science Foundation (CAREER Award) and also received several internal and external university grants. She has published 25 journal articles with 1500+ citations, over 45 conference abstracts and 1 book chapter in this field. She is the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award and 2023 Outstanding Faculty Research Award from the College of Engineering in recognition of her dedicated teaching and research efforts. Dr. Sajja has utmost interests in empowering women and enriching student education in STEM. She has served as K-12 Outreach Chair for SWE (2022, 2023) and organized several STEM activities for K-12 and public. 

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Office: 321C Engineering Technology Building
PHONE: (901) 678-3772

Utsav Shrestha 

Utsav is a PhD student at the University of Memphis studying biomedical engineering. He completed his Masters in Computer Science from the University of Memphis in 2020. He joined MRIS lab in Fall 2019 for pursuing his Masters Thesis. He enjoys programming and aims to aid technical advancement in biomedical field. His research is focused on diagnostic imaging using MRI. His research interests include fat and iron quantification, image processing, simulation, machine learning and deep learning.

Hayden Tyler Johnson

Hayden is a PhD student pursuing PhD in Biomedical Engineering. He joined the lab in Summer 2019 after graduating with his Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Memphis in Spring 2019. His work primarily focuses on NMR-based metabolomics and computational methods for quantitative NMR. Research interests include NMR spectroscopy, metabolomics, quantitative MRI, and machine learning. He also enjoys deep learning, foraging, mycology, and soccer.

Juan Esparza

Juan is a MS student at the University of Memphis. He joined the lab in the spring of 2021 as an undergraduate researcher to work on hepatic steatosis morphological characterization and fat quantification as part of the summer Honors Summer Research Fellowship. He has conitnued in the lab as a graduate student and is working on correlating sarcopenia and muscle fatty infiltration with frailty in liver cirrhosis using deep learning.

Lara Van Heerden

Lara is an undergraduate student at the University of Memphis pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Chemistry. She is an international student from South Africa and will be graduating in 2024 and plans on attending medical school. She is interested in the intersection of engineering and healthcare, with a particular attraction to the field of medical imaging and diagnostics.  Currently, Lara is actively involved in a research project that aims to develop precise methods using MRI to measure fat and iron levels in the body, which can provide valuable insights into various diseases and conditions. Beyond her academic pursuits, Lara maintains an active lifestyle and enjoys gardening in her free time. 

Darby Grace Eime

Darby is an undergraduate student at the University of Memphis pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering. She will be graduating in Fall of 2024 and aims to enter the medical device industry. She joined the lab in the Winter of 2023 and helps collaborate with correlating sarcopenia and muscle frailty within the lumbar paraspinal muscles.

Abdulla Obadat

 Abdulla is a biomedical engineering undergraduate also majoring in biology. He began his graduate school through the University of Memphis' ABM program starting in Spring 2023. He is currently working under Dr. Sajja and Mr. Hayden Johnson in research in NMR-based metabolomics/computational methods. His research focuses on the effects of varying levels of fats in diets on muscle/organ tissues by measuring metabolites using NMR spectroscopy. As for hobbies, he enjoys reading and visiting state parks in his spare time.

Laila Obadat

Laila Obadat is an undergraduate student studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Memphis and will be graduating in the Spring of 2024. She is enrolled in the Accelerated Bachelors/Master (ABM) Joint Graduate Program and will be continuing her graduate studies at the University of Memphis and aims to complete her Master’s degree in the Spring of 2025. She began working in Dr. Sajja’s MRIS lab on various projects in the Summer of 2023 and is currently working on her own research. She is working on NMR-based metabolomics/computational methods to study the influences of dietary lifestyle in the skeletal muscle and other metabolically active tissues. Her interests include studying the physiology of the human body and working on external orthoses for tremor patients.