Cara Fuentes Lab Staff
Gabriel Cara Fuentes, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
Gabriel.CaraFuentes@NationwideChildrens.org
Gabriel Cara Fuentes, MD, PhD, is a pediatric nephrologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital and a principal investigator at the Kidney and Urinary Tract Center. He is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Cara Fuentes earned his medical degree from the University of Granada in Spain. He completed his pediatric residency training at Torrecardenas Hospital in Spain and at the University of Florida, where he later completed a fellowship in pediatric nephrology.
His clinical interests include glomerular diseases such as nephrotic syndrome, minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and IgA nephropathy. Dr. Cara Fuentes' research focuses on understanding the mechanisms responsible for proteinuria in children with protein-spilling kidney diseases.
Audrey Fetsko
Postdoctoral Scientist
Audrey.Fetsko@NationwideChildrens.org
Audrey earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2018. She then joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison where in 2023 she completed her doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences under the direction of Dr. Michael Taylor. For her doctoral research, she used zebrafish to study the development of the blood-brain barrier, including the roles of Vegf and Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Audrey joined the Cara Fuentes Lab in March 2024. Here, she plans to apply her knowledge and skills on signaling pathways related to endothelial cells to the kidney physiology. Specifically, she investigates signaling pathways involved in endothelial-podocyte crosstalk and their relevance in nephrotic syndrome. Her primary work will involve studies with human biosamples, cell culture and animal models of proteinuria.
Md Imtiaz Islam, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
Mdimtiazul.Islam@NationwideChildrens.org
Imtiaz was born and raised in Bangladesh. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. Following this, he worked for a biopharmaceutical company, focusing on the industrial optimization of cholera and hepatitis vaccines. He later moved to South Korea for his second master’s degree, where his research spanned lung-kidney crosstalk in acute kidney injury, antituberculosis drug development and probiotic therapeutics for drug-resistant bacteria. In 2023, Imtiaz earned his doctorate in microbiology and biotechnology from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Before joining the Cara-Fuentes Lab in April 2024, he also served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, where he focused on developing therapies for myelodysplastic syndrome.
At the Cara-Fuentes Lab, Imtiaz’s research is focused on the biology involving glomerular endothelial cell and podocyte crosstalk, and its implications for proteinuric kidney diseases. He utilizes human bio-samples, multiple cell culture approaches and different animal models of proteinuria to explore innovative therapeutic strategies for nephrotic syndrome.
Nelofar Nargis, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
Nelofar.Nargis@NationwideChildrens.org
Nelofar earned her master’s degree in zoology with a specialization in Immunology from the University of Calcutta. She earned her PhD in clinical and translational sciences from the University of North Dakota in 2025, where her research focused on the roles of Keratin 6 and SOX2 in bladder cancer progression, chemoresistance, and stemness. Nelofar brings extensive experience in tumor immunology, molecular and cellular biology, 2D/3D culture systems and bioinformatics. Her current research focuses on immune-endothelial interactions and the role of endothelial dysfunction in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). By integrating analyses of human biosamples, gene-edited endothelial cells and animal models, she aims to uncover novel mechanisms underlying chronic kidney disease. Her investigations center on key signaling pathways, with particular emphasis on immune-endothelial crosstalk and podocyte-endothelial dynamics.
Julie Dougherty, PhD
Research Scientist
Julie.Dougherty@NationwideChildrens.org
Julie Dougherty received her doctorate in biomedical research from The Ohio State University while focusing on RNA regulation and molecular biology. Her postdoctoral experience centered on regenerative therapy for cardiovascular disease by investigating the efficacy of a 3D bioengineered hiPSC-derived cardiac patch for transplantation after myocardial infarction in rodent models. As a part-time research scientist in Dr. Cara Fuentes’s lab, she will use her basic research background to help elucidate the role of endothelial cells in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome.