Our Team

Pankaj Sahai-Hernandez completed his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. He then went on to do his PhD in the University of California, San Francisco, where his thesis focused on characterizing the follicle stem cell niche in the Drosophila Ovary in the laboratory of Dr. Todd Nystul. During his graduate work he characterized the population of stromal cells adjacent to the follicle stem cells and the morphogens required for their maintenance and proliferation.

Pankaj joined the lab in May 2014 and is interested in understanding the signals necessary for HSC maintenance. Pankaj enjoys running and cycling.

Shai Eyal graduated in Biology in 2008 from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He then continued and obtained his MSc and PhD in Molecular Biology and Embryonic Development in 2017 at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Shai’s PhD Thesis was focused on the formation of bone superstructures and the molecular signals that regulate their patterning in murine model organism.

Shai joined the Traver lab in 2017 as a postdoctoral fellow. He is studying the role of Notch signaling during hematopoietic stem cell emergence in the embryo. In addition, he is collaborating with several leading labs to develop a robust platform to systematically track the developmental trajectories and fates of mesodermal lineages by combining lightsheet microscopy, computational biology, and the power of the zebrafish model organism.

Outside of the lab, Shai enjoys the perfect San Diego weather and likes to surf, climb, and bike. Occasionally he will stay home to homebrew some Hazy IPAs and Milk Stouts.