Our team
The people behind
the science.
A focused group of experimentalists and thinkers working together to understand how human blood begins.
01
Principal Investigator
Christopher M. Sturgeon, PhD
Chris trained with Michel Roberge at the University of British Columbia and Gordon Keller in Toronto before establishing the Sturgeon Lab in 2014. His research uses human pluripotent stem cells and developmental models to understand how blood-forming and immune cells emerge during embryogenesis, with the goal of translating that developmental logic into renewable cell-based therapies. His mentorship emphasizes scientific independence, rigor, clear communication, and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.
02
Postdoctoral Fellow
Nestor A. Fernandez
Nestor is a postdoctoral fellow investigating how stage-specific signaling regulates human definitive hematopoiesis. His work uses human pluripotent stem cell models to define the mesodermal origins of blood-forming progenitors and to understand how retinoic acid signaling establishes hematopoietic competence. His recent research has helped map the non-cell-autonomous role of retinoic acid during definitive blood development.
03
Postdoctoral Fellow
Oriol Bover Centelles, PhD
Oriol is a postdoctoral fellow investigating the molecular mechanisms that regulate the growth of in-vitro-generated yolk-sac natural killer cells. He earned his PhD in Regenerative Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and completed postdoctoral training in Hans-Willem Snoeck’s laboratory at Columbia University, where he studied replication stress, cell-cycle regulation, and hematopoietic stem cell maintenance.
04
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stephanie Luff, PhD
Stephanie is a postdoctoral researcher investigating the signaling cues and transcriptional modulation involved in specifying hemogenic endothelium from its mesodermal progenitor. By combining experimental and computational approaches, her project aims to discover pathways that can specify HSC-competent hemogenic endothelium from human pluripotent stem cells. She received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Delaware, where she investigated megakaryocyte differentiation from primary hematopoietic stem cells. Outside the lab, Stephanie enjoys soccer, books, and Reggaeton.
05
Lab Manager · Senior Research Technician
Kendra Sturgeon, MS
Kendra is the lab manager and a lifelong science enthusiast. After completing an undergraduate degree in Cell Biology and Genetics at the University of British Columbia, she earned an MSc in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto. She brings scientific curiosity, practical expertise, and a genuine delight in organization to the day-to-day life of the lab.
