Research Team
Virginie Papadopoulou
Dr. Papadopoulou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology and Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and heads the ENHANCE laboratory (Est. 2024). Her research revolves around ultrasound and microbubbles, their detection and gas physiology modulation in vivo, and their applications in addressing today’s needs in biomedical disease and human performance applications. A physicist by background, “Virginia” received her PhD in Bioengineering in 2016 from Imperial College London in Prof. Mengxing Tang’s ultrasound laboratory, concurrently training in the pathophysiology of decompression (PHYPODE) under a European Union Marie Curie fellowship. She joined UNC Chapel Hill as a postdoc in Prof. Paul Dayton’s laboratory in 2016, where she stayed as Research Faculty and eventually Research Director, before joining Radiology and Biomedical Engineering as an Associate Professor in 2024. Her team’s work refining the ultrasonic assessment of decompression bubbles is internationally recognized, with distinctions including the 2017 DAN/Bill Hamilton Memorial Award from the Women Divers Hall of Fame, the 2020 Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS) Young Scientist Award, the title of Divers Alert Network Scholar since 2018, as well as the UHMS President’s Award for Best Presentation in 2023 and in 2024. Dr. Papadopoulou was also the recipient of the 2022 University of North Carolina Women’s Leadership Council “Faculty to Undergraduate Mentoring Award”. Most recently, she served on the National Academies 2024 Workshop Committee “Emerging Technology to Address Naval Undersea Medicine Needs”.
Arian Azarang
Dr. Azarang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology. Arian earned his B.S. degree with First Rank Honors from Shiraz University, Iran, in 2015, followed by an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tarbiat Modares University, Iran, in 2017. He completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas in 2021, where he received an Honorable Mention for the David Daniel Thesis Award from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. He first joined Dr. Papadopoulou's team as a Postdoctoral Research Associate within the Dayton lab at UNC Chapel Hill in 2021, earning the Research Excellence Award from the joint Biomedical Engineering Department in 2022. He is now a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at UNC Chapel Hill since Fall 2024, where his research focuses on real-time signal and image processing, development and deployment of deep learning models in biomedical fields, and speech recognition and enhancement. Dr. Azarang has authored or co-authored 24 scholarly publications in these areas. Since 2021, he has also served as an Associate Editor on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Real-Time Image Processing and Signal, Image, and Video Processing. He is also the instructor for the Biomedical Engineering course "Practical Machine Learning" offered yearly in the Fall which he has now been teaching for 3 years.
Emmanuel (Manu) Dugrenot
Dr. Dugrenot holds a visiting researcher position within ENHANCE. He is currently a senior researcher at the Divers Alert Network and collaborates closely with the laboratory on several projects. Previously, he completed a master’s degree in molecular biology and went on to work as a dive instructor, specializing in technical and rebreather diving and earning an instructor trainer certification. Around that time he also created and ran a company to develop improved decompression procedures, working with engineers, mathematicians, and biologists. After a few years working full time in the dive industry, Dr. Dugrenot completed a PhD in in Physiology in Prof. Guerrero's ORPHY laboratory at the University of Western Brittany (France) on genetic resistance to decompression sickness. It was only natural that he joined DAN in November 2022 to continue working on divers’ safety. Dr. Dugrenot maintains visiting researcher status in Dr. Papadopoulou's laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the ORPHY laboratory at the University of Western Brittany.
Clement Leveque
Dr. Clément Lévêque earned his Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Brittany, France, in 2024, in collaboration with the Environmental, Occupational, Aging (Integrative) Physiology laboratory at HE2B in Belgium. A researcher, physiotherapist, and intensive care nurse, his work focuses on environmental physiology and oxidative stress. His research specifically examines the effects of variations in oxygen partial pressure on the human body, with a particular interest in the kinetics of oxidative stress under normobaric and hyperbaric hyperoxia, as well as normobaric hypoxia. He will join the ENHANCE team as a postdoctoral researcher in February 2025, working on ultrasound research applied to human performance.
Jyoti Jethe
Dr. Jethe is an incoming postdoctoral research associate, expected to start in January 2025. Dr. Jyoti Jethe holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and is a skilled professional with expertise in data analysis, bio-signal processing, and imaging techniques. Her PhD work focused on measuring bone porosity using the combination of non-invasive modalities like Bioelectric Impedance Analyzer and Quantitative Ultrasound. She has experience with MATLAB and Python for processing complex datasets and is proficient in coaching students in advanced mathematics, including calculus and linear algebra. Dr. Jethe has a strong academic and professional background, serving as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at New York Medical College and collaborating on multidisciplinary projects. Dr. Jethe’s recent research spans areas such as neuromodulation, OCT-A, ultrasound, and cerebral blood flow monitoring, with notable contributions to studies involving Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy and premature infant models. Additionally, her work is featured in prestigious journals, and she has led independent research initiatives in human subjects. Dedicated to mentoring, she has designed curricula and prepared students for competitive exams, embodying her commitment to education and innovation in science.
Josh Currens
Josh completed a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Biotechnology from North Carolina State University in 2021, which ignited his passion for research. That same year, he began his Ph.D. in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC and NC State. His graduate research is centered on the implementation of ultrasound technology in the decompression field, aiming to enhance understanding and prevention of decompression sickness, or ‘the bends’. In 2022, Josh was awarded the Zale Parry scholarship for his contributions to undersea and decompression research. He has also gained valuable experience working at the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology and the Navy Experimental Diving Unit. Outside the lab, he is an avid scuba diver with experience working as a divemaster and has earned the TECH40 certification.
Katherine Eltz
Katherine Eltz is currently a second year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. She graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Marine Science. During her undergraduate career, she developed a passion for research and spent her time studying decompression sickness in human scuba divers and diving marine animals in Dr. Papadopoulou's team. Katherine graduated with highest honors and distinction based on her completion of her senior honors thesis. She received other awards for her work as an undergraduate, including UNC’s excellence in undergraduate research award, a summer research fellowship, and multiple scuba diving training scholarships. Now, as a PhD student, she remains focused on extreme environment physiology, where she works in and outside of the lab with human divers and diving animals such as sea turtles. She also serves as the president of the Aerospace Medicine organization at UNC and has been helping run collaborative experiments between ENHANCE and the Divers Alert Network, the largest non-profit organization devoted to the safety of scuba diving. So far in her time as a PhD student, Katherine has received scholarships to travel to multiple academic conferences, at which her work has been highlighted through an oral presentation, a press conference, a poster competition, and more. Katherine has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to spend Spring 2025 in the Multiphase Dynamics Group at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki under Dr. Sotiris Evgenidis and Dr. Thodoris Karapantsios. She looks forward to continuing her research in the field of extreme environment physiology for the remainder of her PhD studies.
Kody Coleman
Kody received his B.S in Mathematics & Biochemistry from the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 2014. In 2017 he received his M.S. in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University. Kody worked at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition for 4.5 years conducting human performance in extreme environments research. In 2022 he joined the Neurosurgery Department at the University of North Carolina in Dr. Dawn Kernagis lab studying the glymphatic system of the brain in the context of TBI, where he continues to work full time. In 2024 he began pursuing a PhD in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NC State University. Kody joined Dr. Virginie Papadopoulou’s lab in the fall of 2024 where he will be conducting his thesis research on ultrasound for decompression sickness mitigation in astronauts.
Kaymille Sherman
Kaymille is a sophomore majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Health and Society. Her favorite part of the lab is learning about the various applications of ultrasound (especially for therapy purposes) through various ongoing projects. As a Chancellor's Science Scholar, she is excited to contribute to the advancement of biomedical engineering research and the development of innovative solutions for healthcare challenges. Outside of the lab, she enjoys crocheting, baking, and spending time with family and friends.
Danica Grant
Danica is an undergraduate pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Rehabilitation Engineering. In the fall of 2023, Danica was selected to participate in the Abrams Scholarship Program, a selective research opportunity within the Biomedical Engineering Department. She subsequently joined Dayton Laboratory and began researching decompression sickness and venous gas emboli under the mentorship of Dr. Virginia Papadopoulou. As of the summer of 2024, Danica is continuing her research under Dr. Papadopoulou’s mentorship in the new ENHANCE Laboratory at UNC Chapel Hill.
Ari Jindal
Ari is a senior undergraduate in Biomedical Engineering. She is currently working on assessing ultrasound bioeffects after hyperbaric decompression.
Hieu Doan
Hieu is completing a Senior Honors Thesis within the ENHANCE Laboratory, where his thesis focuses on mucus drug delivery and rheological properties with ultrasound. He is working in collaboration with the Hill and Dayton laboratories also in BME.
Perry Tseng
Perry Tseng joined ENHANCE during Fall 2024 as an Abrams Scholar working with Dr. Arian Azarang on the implementation of diabetic retinopathy deep learning models into mobile phone devices. He is a junior studying biomedical engineering at UNC with intended concentrations into medical microdevices and biosignals. While at Carolina, he has played violin with the UNC Symphony Orchestra and enjoys classical music.
Samanyu Dixit
Samanyu Dixit is a junior from Charlotte, NC, double majoring in biomedical engineering and computer science at UNC and NC State. He is passionate about leveraging technology to solve critical healthcare challenges, with a growing interest in applying machine learning techniques to enhance microdevices for pharmacoengineering and rehabilitation. As an Abrams Scholar mentored by Dr. Azarang, he is excited to expand his repertoire in AI-driven healthcare solutions by integrating deep learning models for diabetic retinopathy detection into smartphone applications.
Varsha Venkatapathy
Varsha is a senior studying Biomedical Engineering and Data Science at UNC. She is interested in data driven decision modeling and joined ENHANCE as a machine learning undergraduate researcher in Fall 2024 working with Dr. Azarang.
Muhammad Patel
Muhammad is a third-year student at UNC, majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics, with a focus on the intersection of biosignals and machine learning. As an Abrams Scholar, he is currently working on a project to enhance speech clarity for hearing-impaired patients by using deep learning for noise reduction and real-time audio processing on smartphones with Dr. Azarang.
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Opportunities to get involved: We are currently recruiting postdocs, PhD students and undergraduates. We always welcome new collaborators and visitors.