Institute for Systems Genetics Faculty & Staff
The Institute for Systems Genetics comprises faculty and staff across multiple departments.
Administration
Our administrators lead a team of faculty, students, and investigators that collaborates with other research and clinical programs at NYU Langone Health and around the world.
Jef Boeke, PhD, Founding Director
Dr. Boeke is best known for his fundamental genetic and biochemical work on mechanisms of transposition in higher cells. He coined the term “retrotransposon.” He is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Learn more about Dr. Boeke.
Debbie Bemis, PhD, Executive Director
Dr. Bemis works with our director to set and operationalize the strategic plan for the institute, as well as oversees its administration. She has more than 20 years of experience in basic and translational research, scientific communications, and research administration. Contact Dr. Bemis at debra.bemis@nyulangone.org.
Nakisha Davis, MPA, Senior Program Coordinator
Ms. Davis oversees and coordinates administrative procedures, including special events, communications, the wellness initiative, and the faculty recruitment program. She holds a master's degree in public administration and joined us in November 2013. Contact Ms. Davis at nakisha.davis@nyulangone.org.
Kate Katsnelson, MBA, Assistant Director of Finance
Kate oversees the pre- and post-award activity for the institute. She started at NYU Langone in 2010 and worked in the central finance department for three years as well as Perlmutter Cancer Center for six years prior to joining us. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Ural State University in Russia and her MBA from Baruch College. Contact Ms. Katsnelson at kate.katsnelson@nyulangone.org.
Julie Oaks, Administrative Manager
Ms. Oaks supports administrative procedures including human resources and compliance. She also oversees the grant application process and serves as a liaison between the institute and Sponsored Program Administration. Contact Ms. Oaks at julie.oaks@nyulangone.org.
Meghan O’Keefe, MS, Executive Assistant
Ms. O’Keefe primarily supports Dr. Boeke in his role as director of the institute and works closely with our administrative leadership on daily operations and special initiatives. She earned her MS in nonprofit management from the New School and an undergraduate degree from Muhlenberg College. Contact Ms. O’Keefe at meghan.o'keefe@nyulangone.org.
Teddy Shin, Senior Financial Analyst
Mr. Shin manages our financial ledgers, procurement, and reporting. Prior to joining the institute, he monitored and reported on postaward grant activities for the NYU Langone research finance department. He is a lifelong New Yorker and business professional who earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Baruch College. Contact Mr. Shin at teddy.shin@nyulangone.org.
Core Faculty
Jef Boeke, PhD
Institute Founder and Director
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: mechanism of retrotransposition in eukaryotes and redesigning and synthesizing entire eukaryotic chromosomes
Aravinda Chakravarti, PhD
Director, Center for Human Genetics and Genomics
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Neuroscience and Physiology
Research interests: molecular basis of human disease, gene regulatory networks, and human population genomics
Teresa Davoli, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: understanding the causes and consequences of genomic instability (with a focus on aneuploidy) in cancer and cell physiology
Gilad Evrony, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, and the Center for Human Genetics and Genomics
Research interests: genetics of brain development, function, and disease; technology development for neuroscience; precision medicine
David Fenyö, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: proteomic data analysis and developing methods and databases for protein identification, characterization, and quantitation using mass spectrometry–based technologies
Liam Holt, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: how mechanical compression and molecular crowding affect cell biology and drive diseases like cancer, aging, and neurodegeneration
Timothee Lionnet, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell biology
Research interests: understanding how gene expression works, focusing mainly on its first step, transcription—the synthesis of mRNA from a gene encoded in DNA
Matthew Maurano, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: genomics of gene expression and genetics of human disease
Marcus Noyes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: characterization and manipulation of protein–ligand interactions
Kelly V. Ruggles, PhD
Assistant Professor, Division of Translational Medicine, Department of Medicine
Research interests: multi-omic data integration, data visualization, application and development of computational and statistical methods to analyze genomic, transcriptomic, translatomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and microbiome data to inform cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease
Affiliated Faculty
Thales Papagiannakopoulos, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Neville Sanjana, PhD
Assistant Professor, NYU Department of Biology
Rahul Satija, DPhil
Assistant Professor, NYU Department of Biology
Beatrix Ueberheide, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Christine Vogel, PhD
Professor, NYU Department of Biology
Postdoctoral Fellows
Joy Bianchi, PhD—Davoli Lab
Research interests: understanding the control of genome stability in health and disease and the impact of copy number alterations on cancer immune evasion
joy.bianchi@nyulangone.org
Martina Bonucci, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: investigating molecular crowding in neural cells and defining molecular crowding role in neurodegeneration
martina.bonucci@nyulangone.org
Makiha Fukuda, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: synthesizing RNA-based chromosomes in yeast
makiha.fukuda@nyulangone.org
Gregory Goldberg, PhD—Noyes Lab
Research interests: engineering CRISPR-Cas systems to facilitate the remodeling of genomes and gene regulatory circuits
gregory.goldberg@nyulangone.org
Hala Iqbal, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: biosynthetic engineering of antibiotics in yeast
hala.iqbal@nyulangone.org
Gururaj Rao Kidiyoor, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interest: investigating physiological and pathological role of nuclear crowding in normal and cancer cells
gururajrao.kidiyoor@nyulangone.org
Benjamin King, PhD—Lionnet Lab
Research interests: three-dimensional transcriptional heterogeneity and cancer resistance
benjamin.king@nyulangone.org
Stephanie Lauer, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: using synthetic genomes to understand evolutionary processes
stephanie.lauer@nyulangone.org
Luciana Lazar Stefanita, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: structural plasticity of eukaryotic genomes
luciana.lazarstefanita@nyulangone.org
Zhi Li, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research interests: improving the quality of peptide identification using bioinformatics tools and modeling
zhi.li@nyulangone.org
Susan Liao, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in development
susan.liao@nyulangone.org
Feiyue Lu, PhD—Lionnet Lab
Research interests: in vivo live imaging of transcription regulation
feiyue.lu@nyulangone.org
Wilson McKerrow, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research interests: bioinformatic analysis of transposable elements broadly and LINE-1 specifically
wilson.mckerrow@nyulangone.org
Gudjón Ólafsson, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: using humanized yeast to uncover mechanisms of human chromosome segregation
gudjon.olafsson@nyulangone.org
Raquel Ordonez Ciriza, PhD—Maurano Lab
Research interests: deciphering genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that generate cellular identities and pathological phenotypes
raquel.ordonezciriza@nyulangone.org
André M Ribeiro dos Santos, PhD—Maurano Lab
Research interests: understanding the genomics of gene expression and human diseases through the development of bioinformatics tools and statistical analysis
andre.ribeirodossantos@nyulangone.org
Dajun Sang, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: using ancestral resurrection to understand kinase regulation and decode cancer mutations
dajun.sang@nyulangone.org
Shivanjali Saxena, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: investigating signaling pathways associated with the impact of pathological physical factors within glioblastoma microenvironment
shivanjali.saxena@nyulangone.org
Tong Shu, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: understanding the biophysical mechanisms of molecular crowding within cell influencing cellular processes
tong.shu@nyulangone.org
Tamas Szoradi, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: characterizing the biophysical properties of the nucleus with a particular emphasis on molecular crowding
tamas.szoradi@nyulangone.org
Ying Xie, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: how cellular biophysical property and proteins are remodeled in quiescent cells
ying.xie@nyulangone.org
Weimin Zhang, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: stabilizing and engineering the genome in haploid mouse embryonic stem cells
weimin.zhang@nyulangone.org
Xin Zhao, PhD
Research interests: somatic mutation and copy number alterations in cancer genomics
xin.zhao@nyulangone.org
Yu Zhao, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: building the eukaryotic cells with synthetic genomes and engineering to understand biology
yu.zhao@nyulangone.org
Scientific Staff
Dania Annuar—Davoli Lab
Student Intern
dania.annuar@nyulangone.org
Ran Brosh, PhD—Maurano Lab
Senior Research Scientist
ran.brosh@nyulangone.org
Finnegan Clark—Lionnet Lab
Research Associate
finnegan.clark@nyulangone.org
Camila Coelho—Boeke Lab
Student Intern
camila.coelho@nyulangone.org
Nicole Easo—Boeke Lab
Assistant Research Technician
nicole.easo@nyulangone.org
Sergei German, MS
Senior Architect, Solution Development
sergei.german@nyulangone.org
Courtney Gionco—Davoli Lab
Research Associate
courtney.gionco@nyulangone.org
Mark Grivainis, MS—Fenyö Lab
Scientific Programmer
mark.grivainis@nyulangone.org
Cindy Hernandez—Holt Lab
Assistant Research Technician
cindy.hernandez@nyulangone.org
Angela Hitchcock—Maurano Lab
Research Technician
angela.hitchcock@nyulangone.org
Megan Hogan, PhD—Maurano Lab
Senior Research Scientist
megan.hogan@nyulangone.org
Jillian Hornbeck—Noyes Lab
Research Associate
jillian.hornbeck@nyulangone.org
Emily Huang—Maurano Lab
Assistant Research Technician
emily.huang@nyulangone.org
Sarah Keegan—Fenyö Lab
Scientific Programmer
sarah.keegan@nyulangone.org
Wenke Liu, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research Scientist
wenke.liu@nyulangone.org
Sally Mei—Davoli Lab
Research Associate
sally.mei2@nyulangone.org
Nicolette Somogyi, MS—Boeke Lab
Assistant Research Technician
nicolette.somogyi@nyulangone.org
Aleksandra Wudzinska, MPhil—Boeke Lab
Lab Supervisor
aleksandra.wudzinska@nyulangone.org
Sandy Yang—Boeke Lab
Student Intern
sandy.yang@nyulangone.org
Yinan (Florrie) Zhu—Boeke Lab
Assistant Research Technician
yinan.zhu@nyulangone.org
