People

Kavi Mehta, PhD, Assistant Professor

Background: I am a native Wisconsinite. My dad was a chemical engineer and my mom a school teacher. I attended UW-Madison and received a BS in Biochemistry and French.  I completed my PhD in Human Papillomavirus virology at Northwestern University in Dr. Laimonis Laimins’ lab after a stint in industry.  I did my postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University studying mechanisms of DNA Repair in Dr. David Cortez’s laboratory.
Interests: Cooking, eating, travel, music, & renewable energy.

Haley Deorio, PhD

Background: I was born and raised in Connecticut and have always had a deep appreciate for New England history. I grew up as one of four children, with my father who was a stone mason and a mother who is a travel agent, and many cats. I attended Penn State University, where I received my BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. After undergrad, I stayed in Pennsylvania for several years working in numerous labs specializing in chromatin, structural biology, human genetics, and gene regulation. I eventually made my way to Madison, Wisconsin, where I completed my PhD in Biochemistry in Dr. James Keck lab focused on understanding the regulatory mechanisms of a complex responsible for restarting DNA replication at failed sites in E. coli. In the summer of 2026, I joined Dr. Kavi Mehta’s lab where I now study template-specific replication stress responses in mammalian cells. My research continues to center on the fundamental mechanisms that maintain genome stability, while allowing me to explore these questions in increasingly complex biological systems.
Interests: Cooking, cats, Ancient Egypt, traveling, true crime documentaries.

Dhruthi Suresh, MSc, Graduate Student

Background: I am originally from Bengaluru, India. I got my undergraduate degree from RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru, where I majored in Biotechnology. I then completed my masters from UW-Madison at the School of Medicine and Public Health, where I studied cell cycle dysregulation in Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) associated head and neck cancers.
Interests: Cooking, reading, music (I’m always humming some song), traveling, Netflix-ing.

Gopishankar Thirumoorthy, MSc, Graduate Student

Background: I grew up in the vibrant city of Coimbatore, India. I started off with a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Dr. N.G.P Arts and Science College, and then went on to do my master’s at Christ University in Bangalore. During my studies, I got involved in research, focusing on biomedical engineering and exploring into the applications of nanoparticles. After that, I transitioned to work in the field of DNA damage repair as a research assistant in Dr. Ashok Venkitaraman’s lab at CCBT, InStem, Bangalore, where I worked on uncovering the unknown regulators of BRCA1.
Interests: Fitness enthusiast, Cinephilia, Travel & Cooking.

Kay Ylvisaker, Undergraduate

Background: I was born here in Madison, Wisconsin and am currently a 5th year undergraduate student in the UW Madison School of Pharmacy studying Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biochemistry, and Mathematics. I joined the Mehta Lab about 18 months ago working on the DNA damage and repair projects but has expanded into the HPV space as well. I’m interested in pursuing a PhD in the biological sciences realm.

Interests: Cats, City Skylines, Lab Rats, Hello Kitty, and Crosswords.

Sunskritha Shivaprasad, Undergradute

Background: I was born in Colorado but grew up in Cary, North Carolina, and Bangalore, India. I’m currently a sophomore majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology. During my BIO 152 mentored research project at the Mehta Lab, I studied the influence of RAD51 filament formation on strand-specific replication-coupled DNA-repair. I also spent the summer before freshman year in Dr. Arjun Guha’s lab at InStem, Bangalore, where I worked on DNA damage-induced p53-independent senescence.

Interests: Baking, music, playing my guitar, sketching, table tennis, & trying out new things at Madison.

Animal, BLT, Mascot

Background: I have a BLT from the university of sandwiches. I am misunderstood but a representation of the lab after a good days work. 

Interests: Munchies, drums, kindness, & chaos.