Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. William David Arnold
wdavidarnold@health.missouri.edu
W. David Arnold completed his undergraduate degree at the University of the Cumberlands where he majored in Biology and minored in English and also competed on the cross country, track and swimming teams. He completed his medical degree at the University of Louisville in 2004 and his physical medicine and rehabilitation residency training at the University of Louisville and Frazier Rehabilitation Institute in 2008. He continued on with subspecialty training in neuromuscular medicine at the Ohio State University in 2009 and thereafter joined the faculty. Dr. Arnold currently has faculty appointments in the Departments of Neurology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physiology and Cell Biology, and Neuroscience. His clinical expertise is in genetic, sporadic, and traumatic neuromuscular diseases with a particular interest in myotonic dystrophies and nondystrophic forms of myotonia. Dr. Arnold’s preclinical research is primarily focused on translational neuromuscular physiology in health and disease. Dr. Arnold is married to Angela and they have two children, Maddie and Liam. Dr. Arnold continues to active in endurance sports including running, swimming, and triathlons and he coached a local running team in Pickerington Ohio.
Assistant Research Professor
Dr. Kristina M. Kelly
kristina.kelly@health.missouri.edu
Dr. Kristina M. Kelly is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Missouri.
Kris holds two degrees from Boston University. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a Master of Education in Counseling with a specialization in Sport Psychology. After spending many years coaching figure skating and competing in Ultimate Frisbee, she went on to receive a Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Vermont. Subsequently, she completed a Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency, postdoctoral research training, and a Master of Science in Health and Rehabilitation Science at The Ohio State University.
Kris is a Board-certified Clinical Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy and has expertise in adults with neuromuscular diseases, which she utilizes in the MDA and ALS multidisciplinary clinics at the University of Missouri. Her research interests include neuromuscular correlates of motor function and fatigue, mechanisms of exercise as treatment for neuromuscular disease, and aging phenotypes in neuromuscular disease. In her spare time, she enjoys pole fitness, binge watching all things Star Wars and Star Trek, and hiking with her pibble Libby.
Scientist lead/ Neuromuscular Surgical and Phenotyping core director
Meifang Wang
wangmei@missouri.edu
Mei earned her BS/PharmD from Fudan University, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai China, where she stayed as a pharmacist and assistant professor before came to Mizzou as a graduate student. She completed her Master of Science in Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry at Mizzou. She has been working for more than 30 years as a Laboratory Supervisor mainly in preclinical research in different disease models including Type II Diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and COVID. Since her health change in 2015, she is passionate in the research to improve health as well as disease control using antioxidants and enhance gut health that she became a certified functional medicine coach by training.
Mei along with her husband is thrilled by both of her sons’ achievements, one earned MD/PhD while the other earned MD recently, and humble to the tremendous support behind scenes from their mentors, lab members and friends that reminds me “Be useful” – a quote from a former chair at MPP Dr. Alan Jones to the boys when they worked in the lab. I commit myself to do my best to utilize my talents to support everyone around me and wish everyone success at every stage of their life as well as Arnold Lab, Neuromuscular Group and NextGen. At leisure time Mei loves gardening, hiking, singing, and dancing.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Joe Viteri, PhD
joseviteri@mail.missouri.edu
Dr. Joe Viteri is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the lab. He obtained his BS in Biology from Truman State University (Kirksville, Missouri). After graduating, Joe pursued many different endeavors; one of which was working as an English instructor at the ‘Ponitifica Universidad Catolica del Peru’ (Lima, Peru) where he taught the English language to students wanting to pursue higher education abroad.
Joe then obtained his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri – Columbia under the supervision of Dr. David Schulz. His doctoral work involved using small invertebrate neural networks to shed light on the feedback signals that establish the ion channel mRNA profile of motor neurons conducive to stable outputs.
In the Arnold lab, Joe will use a combination of electrophysiological, molecular, imaging, and genetic approaches to study the extent of the ‘cross-talk’ between age-related changes in lower motor neuron activity and changes at the neuromuscular junction. Outside of the lab, Joe enjoys spending time with friends, engaging in moving heavy objects, listening to TOOL (the best band in the world in his opinion), and delving into the lore of JRR Tolkien’s works.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Nathan Kerr, PhD
nathankerr@missouri.edu
Dr. Nathan Kerr is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab. He obtained his BS in Biology from Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, Kansas). In 2019, Nathan began his PhD under Dr. Frank Booth in the Biomedical Sciences department at the University of Missouri – Columbia. His doctoral work focused on the effects of exercise, physical inactivity, and muscle disuse on cognition and hippocampal function, a brain region involved in learning and memory.
In the Arnold lab, Nathan will use a suite of clinically relevant in vivo approaches to interrogate the relationship between motor and cognitive function across aging and neurodegeneration. His ultimate goal is to design therapeutic approaches to treat age- and disease-related motor and cognitive decline. Outside of the lab, Nathan enjoys spending time with his wife and son, exercising, and enjoying the outdoors.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Arsh Ketabforoush , MD
arsh.ketabforoush@missouri.edu
Dr. Arsh Ketabforoush is a physician-scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Arnold translation neuromuscular lab. He graduated with an MD from Alborz University of Medical Sciences in Iran in September 2021 and subsequently joined the Neuroscience department of the cellular and molecular research center at Iran University of Medical Sciences. There, he focused on clinical and preclinical studies in Neurology, particularly stroke and ALS disease, and managed the ALS registration program at the center hospital.
His research program in the lab focuses on translational neuromuscular physiology in health, aging, and disease. He was awarded a research recognition award for his work on quantifying Phrenic motor unit numbers as a degenerative and regenerative biomarker for neurodegenerative disease at the American Physiology Summit 2024. Recently, Dr. Ketabforoush was awarded a grant from the Spinal Cord Injury Disease Related program to integrate decomposition electromyography (dEMG) and threshold-tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation (TTTMS) techniques to investigate the early stages of ALS comprehensively. This approach aims to address diagnostic gaps in ALS by potentially offering new biomarkers that accurately reflect upper and lower motor neuron degeneration, thereby enhancing diagnostic accuracy and facilitating early intervention strategies for improved patient outcomes.
In his spare time, Arsh enjoys spending time with his sister Shera, hanging out with friends in cafes, and watching movies with his friend Arash.
Graduate student
Anna Roshani Dashtmian
aroshanidashtmian@missouri.edu
Anna joined the Arnold lab in December 2022. She is a Ph.D. student in the interdisciplinary neuroscience program at the University of Missouri.
Anna obtained her bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biology-biotechnology at the Lahijan University, Iran and pursuit her master’s degree in molecular biology at the University of Padua, Italy, where she became fascinated about studying the potent role of mitochondria in pathophysiological conditions, in particular neurodegeneration. She studied deubiquitinating enzymes and mitochondrial degradation as causative mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease. After completing her master’s degree, Anna continued to work as a pre-doctoral research fellow in the biomedical sciences department of University of Padua. During her fellowship, she focused on the role of mitochondrial chaperon -TRAP1- in the metabolic rewiring of cancer cells using in vitro spheroid tumorigenesis assays.
With the goal of studying the neurodegeneration and neuromuscular diseases more in depth, Anna joined the Arnold lab. To fulfill this goal, she is investigating the motoneuronal function in 5XFAD mice- a model of Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, she is using a comprehensive set of in vivo electrophysiological approaches, as well as molecular, and biochemical techniques.
Anna likes reading psychological, sociological books in her spare time. She also enjoys aerobic and fitness exercises, and hiking in the nature.
Research Specialist II
Fereshteh B. Darvishi
fereshtehbabaeidarvishi@missouri.edu
Fereshteh is a research specialist II in the Arnold lab. She completed her bachelor’s degree in cell and molecular biology-biotechnology at Lahijan University, Iran. Later, she obtained her master’s degree in molecular biology at the University of Padua, Italy. During her master’s degree, she became interested in studying the prominent role of mitochondria in disease, her master’s internship was focused on the characterization of mitochondrial network and dynamics in c-Rel deficient mouse, a model of prodromal and late-onset Parkinsonism. After graduating, she won a pre-doctoral research fellowship from the national research council of Italy (CNR), where she studied the regulatory role of mitochondria in metabolic rewiring in cancer and inflammation using molecular, biochemical techniques, and in vitro cell culture systems.
Currently, in the Arnold lab, Fereshteh uses a variety of electrophysiological, biochemical, and molecular approaches to understand the mechanisms of age-related neuromuscular decline as contributors to loss of physical function in older adults as well as the heterogeneity of aging.
In her free time, Fereshteh enjoys listening to baroque and classic music and appreciates fine art. She likes walking in nature, painting, and she has a particular interest in books on philosophy, and anthropology.
Research Specialist II
Sindhuja Ayyagari
sadg2@missouri.edu
Sindhu is a Research Specialist at the Arnold Lab, where she joined in August 2023 after earning her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the Ohio State University in May of the same year. She is currently taking a gap year before pursuing medical school.
During her time as a Junior at Ohio State University, Sindhu specialized in optimizing Compound Muscle Action Potential, a crucial in vivo electrophysiology measure. Transitioning to the Arnold Lab at NextGen Precision Health, she has assisted in behavioral and cognitive measurements for longitudinal aging and neurodegenerative studies. Additionally, she is interested in investigating chloride channel expression in Spinal Muscular Atrophy and refining the Weighted Cart Pull test, a critical assessment of muscle power.
The Arnold Lab 