Jeyaram (Jey) Damodaran obtained his bachelor’s in Biotechnology from the National Institute of Technology Calicut, India in 2019. Upon completion he pursued a Master’s degree in Stem Cell Biology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and graduated in December 2020. He has developed a unique set of skills having been an active student researcher at five different laboratories, during his master’s and bachelor’s degrees combined, focused on microbiology, cancer biology, stem cell biology, and musculoskeletal biology. With his recent experience differentiating human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to oligodendrocytes, he was drawn towards using stem cell based models to study development and cancer. At the Huangfu lab he hopes to further polish his skills and gain valuable experience which would help him in his quest to become a translational scientist.