Meet Our Team
Jihyun Jang, PhD
Principal Investigator
Jihyun.Jang@NationwideChildrens.org
Jihyun Jang, PhD, is an assistant professor at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in cardiovascular physiology from Seoul National University College of Medicine and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Jang is dedicated to understanding heart development and congenital heart disease at the cellular and molecular levels. Her research explores the fundamental mechanisms of cardiac development, including cardiomyocyte proliferation, differentiation and the role of signaling communication in these processes. Her lab focuses on epitranscriptomic regulation in heart development, with a particular emphasis on m6A modifications.
Savanna Burke
Graduate Student
Savanna.Burke@NationwideChildrens.org
Savanna joined the Jang Lab in September of 2024. She is currently pursuing her PhD in biomedical sciences through The Ohio State University. She holds a master’s degree in applied neuroscience which she earned from OSU in December of 2024, where she focused on understanding the mechanisms driving impulsive choice behavior. Prior to that, she completed her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at the University of Kentucky. In the Jang Lab, Savanna specializes in studying how RNA metabolism affects heart development through advanced visualization techniques.
Donna Li
Research Assistant
Donna.Li@NationwideChildrens.org
Donna Li joined the Jang Lab as a research assistant in October 2024 after graduating from The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in psychology. During undergraduate years, Donna conducted research in cell biology and physiology. She is eager to gain more experience and pursue more research interests while studying cardiac development.
Joungpyo Lim, PhD
Postdoc
Joungpyo.Lim@NationwideChildrens.org
Joungpyo Lim joined the Jang Lab as a postdoctoral scientist in March 2025. He received his doctoral degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Sogang University in the Republic of Korea, where he focused on using functional nanomaterials to improve electrophysiological connectivity between engineered neuronal organoids and muscle tissues. In the Jang lab, his research takes an epitranscriptomic perspective to investigate how RNA modifications regulate heart development and chamber-specific morphogenesis using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiac organoids.
Young Keul Jeon, PhD
Visiting Collaborator
Youngkeul.Jeon@NationwideChildrens.org
Dr. Youngkeul Jeon is a visiting collaborator in the Jang Lab at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He earned his PhD in physiology from Seoul National University College of Medicine and currently holds a position as a research professor. Prior to joining the Jang Lab, Dr. Jeon’s research focused on the integrative physiology of cardiac excitation-contraction coupling and the biophysical characterization of ion channels. His work has addressed chamber-specific calcium buffering in ventricular cardiomyocytes and how these properties adapt to physiological stimuli, as well as the electrophysiological properties of gap junctions. At the Jang Lab, he is expanding his research scope to include developmental and epitranscriptomic mechanisms in heart biology, with the goal of integrating his expertise in cardiac physiology with cutting-edge approaches to understanding cardiac development.
Seungbeom Oh, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
SeungBeom.Oh@nationwidechildrens.org
Seungbeom Oh joined the Jang Lab as a postdoctoral scientist in September 2025. He received his doctorate in physiology from Seoul National University College of Medicine, where his research centered on the integrative physiology of vascular contraction–relaxation and mitochondrial function in pulmonary arterial hypertension. At the Jang Lab, he is broadening his focus to investigate developmental and epitranscriptomic mechanisms underlying lung biology, with a particular interest in how RNA modifications regulate vascular and epithelial cell fate.
Dipti Pant
Research Assistant
Dipti.Pant@nationwidechildrens.org
Dipti joined the Jang lab in September 2025 after graduating from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. During her academic tenure, she worked on healthy placental biomarker development using spatial transcriptomics and immunofluorescence and conducted a meta-analysis on gene polymorphisms associated with endometrial cancer. At the Jang lab, she is excited to learn advanced research techniques and broaden her understanding of cardiac development.