Lab Members

 

Michael Kruer, MD 
Associate Scientist  

Dr. Kruer  is an Associate Scientist in the Children’s Health Research Center at Sanford Research, an attending pediatric neurologist at Sanford Children’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, & Neurosciences at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. The primary focus of Dr. Kruer’s research is to characterize the mechanisms underlying childhood neurodegenerative disorders in order to develop targeted therapies.  

Before joining the Children’s Health Research team at Sanford, Dr. Kruer completed his undergraduate studies at Arizona State University and obtained his MD at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He performed postdoctoral work at Translational Genomics in Phoenix, AZ before training in pediatrics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Dr. Kruer completed a fellowship in pediatric neurology and developmental pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University where he also obtained further postdoctoral training in molecular neurogenetics.

 

 

Junwei Gao, PhD
Staff Scientist

Dr. Gao is a staff scientist in the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center working in the Kruer Lab. He graduated from Peking University in China with a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology in 2005. Before joining the Kruer Lab, he studied the molecular basis of iron overload diseases.

 

 
 
 
Tyler Jepperson
Lab Manager

A Sioux Falls native, Tyler graduated from Augustana College in 2007 with a BA in Biology and began working for Sanford Research.  He has previously worked in the Sanford Cancer Biology Research Center and Cardiovascular Health Research Center. Tyler is well-trained in a variety of molecular biological and biochemical techniques. He currently serves as lab manager for the Kruer laboratory whilst pursuing pioneering science in partnership with Drs. Kruer and Gao.