Nicholas Koelsch
BME Postdoctoral Researcher
Nick is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering who joined the Dolatshahi Lab in 2026. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Virginia Commonwealth University in August 2026. His doctoral research, titled “From Hepatic Immune Responses to Functional Patient Cohorts: Systems Immunology Approaches in Hepatocellular Carcinoma,” focused on computational and systems immunology approaches to understand how interactions between immune and non-immune cells shape the progression of liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Nick grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia, and graduated from Virginia Tech in 2021 with a B.S. in Biology. He received his M.S. in Microbiology and Immunology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2023.
Prior to joining UVA, Nick’s research focused on understanding complex cellular interactions within the hepatic microenvironment and developing computational approaches to leverage single-cell data for clinically meaningful patient stratification.
Nick is interested in developing computational and systems-level approaches to analyze high-dimensional biological data with implications for precision medicine.
Outside of the lab, Nick spends his time connecting with long-distance friends through video games, hiking, trying out new recipes, and traveling with his wife.