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.
Kate Katsnelson, MBA, Assistant Director of Finance
Mrs. Katsnelson oversees the preaward and postaward activity for the department. She started at NYU Langone in 2010 and worked at central finance for three years as well as Perlmutter Cancer Center for six years prior to joining our institute. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Ural State University in Russia and her MBA from Baruch College. Contact Mrs. Katsnelson at Kate.Katsnelson@NYULangone.org.
Nakisha Davis, MPA, Senior Program Coordinator
Ms. Davis coordinates and oversees administrative procedures, including special events, communications, the wellness initiative, and the faculty recruitment program. She also provides administrative support and oversees all operational aspects of the education program for the institute. Ms. Davis holds a master's degree in public administration and joined us in November 2013. Contact Ms. Davis at Nakisha.Davis@NYULangone.org.
Andrew Martin, Manager of Research Laboratory Operations
Mr. Martin oversees the use and maintenance of our institute’s equipment and sophisticated Genome Foundry instrumentation. He works closely with all levels of research personnel to innovate, develop, and optimize experimental procedures and novel, cutting-edge technologies. Contact Mr. Martin at Andrew.Martin@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.
Kelly Scott, Administrative Manager
Ms. Scott is responsible for managing administrative services including human resources and compliance for the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratories and select faculty within the Institute for Systems Genetics. She also oversees the grant submission process for select faculty within the institute and serves as a liaison between our institute and Sponsored Programs Administration. Additionally, Ms. Scott provides executive assistant support for Dr. Itai Yanai and works closely with administrative leadership on daily operations and special initiatives for the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratories. Contact Ms. Scott at Kelly.Scott@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
Ran Brosh, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: Genome engineering cell and animal models of disease, development, and evolution
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
Raquel Ordonez Ciriza, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: Understanding the genetic and molecular principles of regulatory DNA in evolution and disease
Teresa Davoli, PhD
Associate 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
Molly C. Gale Hammell, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology
Research interests: transposable elements in the human genome and how these viral-like elements contribute to neurodegenerative disease; the genetics and genomics of neurodegeneration
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
Associate 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
Paolo Mita, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: how de-repressed retroelements mechanistically work and affect cellular physiology in the context of cancer, aging, and differentiation; how high throughput and synthetic biology approaches can be applied to cell biology methodologies
Marcus Noyes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: characterization and manipulation of protein–ligand interactions
Jonas Schluter, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology
Research interests: gut microbiome, massive clinical data sets and the hospitalome, microbial ecology and warfare, evolutionary theory, quorum sensing, machine-learning and Bayesian time series analysis, microbiota, cancer, immunity, and immunology
Liat Shenhav, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology
Research interests: Developing state-of-the-art machine learning and bioinformatics methods to discover causal mechanisms underlying host-microbiome interactions.
Itai Yanai, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: cancer, computational biology, developmental genetics, genomics, microbiome, systems biology, single-cell transcriptomics, gene expression atlas construction, and genome evolution
Weimin Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: Modeling a variety of human diseases using genomically rewritten and tailored-genetically engineered mouse models (GREAT-GEMMs).
Affiliated Faculty
Brendan Keating, PhD
Member of the Faculty, Department of Surgery
Thales Papagiannakopoulos, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Kelly V. Ruggles, PhD
Associate Professor, Division of Translational Medicine, Department of Medicine
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
Fabio Alfieri, PhD—Davoli Lab
Research interests: dissecting the interplay between cancer aneuploidy and the immune system
Fabio.Alfieri@NYULangone.org
Takahiro Asanuma—Boeke Lab
Research interests: ecDNA functions, as a cause of cancer and a defense system against invading DNA
Takahiro.Asanuma@NYULangone.org
Alba Ballerini, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: My research focuses on tRNA neochromosomes engineering and the design, construction, and characterization of synthetic eukaryotic genomes
Alba.Ballerini@NYULangone.org
Anna Berenson, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: Using genome engineering approaches to improve biodiversity and conserve wild bird populations
Anna.Berenson@NYULangone.org
Amit Bhardwaj, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research interests: generation and characterization of an encyclopedia of the secretome of murine and human adipocytes
Amit.Bhardwaj2@NYULangone.org
Jennifer Dawkins, PhD—Shenhav Lab
Research interests: Using machine learning and data science methods to investigate adverse pregnancy outcomes
Lance Denes, PhD—Holt and Lionnet Labs
Research interests: investigating the interplay between cellular mechanics and gene expression
Lance.Denes@NYULangone.org
David C. Durán-Chaparro, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: Physics of Aging—investigating how intracellular diffusion and cellular aging intertwine to develop a comprehensive framework for understanding aging
David.CamiloDuranChaparro@NYULangone.org
Ryan Fine, PhD—Chakravarti Lab
Research interests: effects of pathogenic non-coding genetic variation in human disease; genetic causes of variation in penetrance
Ryan.Fine@NYULangone.org
Talitha Forcier, PhD—Gale Hammell Lab
Research interests: investigating differential transposon expression patterns in disease contexts
Talitha.Forcier@NYULangone.org
Gregory Goldberg, PhD—Boeke and Noyes Labs
Research interests: engineering CRISPR-Cas systems to facilitate the remodeling of genomes and gene regulatory circuits
Gregory.Goldberg@NYULangone.org
Marta Gronska-Peski, PhD—Evrony Lab
Research interests: somatic mutation processes in the brain
Marta.Gronska-Peski@NYULangone.org
Chao Jiang, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: studying macromolecular crowding and cellular behaviors under mechanical regulation
Chao.Jiang@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
Iman Lohraseb, PhD—Davoli Lab
Research interests: Unraveling the role of specific chromosomal aneuploidies in brain tumors
Iman.Lohraseb@NYULangone.org
Feiyue Lu, PhD—Lionnet Lab
Research interests: in vivo live imaging of transcription regulation
Feiyue.Lu@NYULangone.org
Harsh Maan, PhD—Schluter Lab
Research interests: deciphering microbial interactions and biofilm formation in gut microbes
Harsh.Maan@NYULangone.org
Fanny Matheis, PhD—Schluter Lab
Research interests: investigating epigenetic inheritance as a mediator of host-microbiome co-evolution
Fanny.Matheis@NYULangone.org
Raquel Moya, PhD—Maurano Lab
Research interests: applying computational and analytical approaches to understand the impact of genetic variation in CACNA1C
Raquel.Moya@NYULangone.org
Teesta Naskar, PhD—Chakravarti Lab
Research interests: genetic predisposition of neurodevelopmental disorders in multiplex families
Teesta.Naskar@NYULangone.org
Karthick Natarajan, PhD—Gale Hammell Lab
Research interests: understanding the role of retrotransposons in ALS/FTD
Karthick.Natarajan@NYULangone.org
Kathryn O'Neill, PhD—Gale-Hammell Lab
Research Interests: computational investigation of transposon and functional genome biology in the context of neurodegenerative disease
Kathryn.O'neill@NYULangone.org
Maayan Pour, PhD—Yanai Lab
Research interests: maintenance of cancer cell state heterogeneity by microenvironment interactions
Maayan.Pour@NYULangone.org
Nora Pyenson, PhD—Schluter Lab
Research statement: bacteriophage biodiversity and evolution in the microbiome
Nora.Pyenson@NYULangone.org
Peter Ruehmann, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: chemical and biological approaches to access and derivatize antibiotics
Klauspeter.Ruhmann@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
Alejandro Soriano Sexto, PhD—Maurano Lab
Research interests: elucidating the function of DNA regulatory elements and their impact on disease
Alejandro.SorianoSexto@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
Gustavo Starvaggi Franca, PhD—Yanai Lab
Research interests: understanding mechanisms of drug-induced adaptation in cancer cells using single-cell RNA-Seq approaches
Gustavo.Starvaggifranca@NYULangone.org
Beata Szeitz, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research interests: multi-omic analysis of small cell lung cancer
Beata.Szeitz@NYULangone.org
Henry Fabian Thomas—Lionnet and Mazzoni Labs
Research interests: applying live-cell single-molecule imaging to understand gene activation by HOX pioneer transcription factors
Henry.Thomas@NYULangone.org
Julie Trolle, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: endowing mammalian cells with novel metabolic capacities
Julie.Trolle@NYULangone.org
Skyler Uhl, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: RNA replicons and synthetic genetics approaches to studying innate immunity
Skyler.Uhl@NYULangone.org
Jordan M. Welker, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: focusing on synthetic genetics approaches to species restoration/de-extinction and building non-human models for human disease
Jordan.Welker@NYULangone.org
Peter Whitney, PhD—Lionnet Lab
Research interests: decoding the regulatory genome using high-resolution fluorescent microscopy
Peter.Whitney@NYULangone.org
Ying Xie, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: how cellular biophysical property and proteins are remodeled in quiescent cells
Ying.Xie@NYULangone.org
Cheng Xu, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interest: Studying mechanisms of eukaryotic gene regulation and chromatin structure using synthetic biology methods
Cheng.Xu@NYULangone.org
Or Yaacov, MD—Chakravarti Lab
Research interests: population genetics and genomics, large-scale biobanks, and electronic medical records research
Or.Yaacov@NYULangone.org
Scientific Staff
Heather Appleby—Boeke Lab
Senior Research Technician
Heather.Appleby@NYULangone.org
Kelly Barriball—Boeke Lab
Senior Research Technician
Kelly.Barriball@NYULangone.org
Bin Choi, PhD—Shenhav Lab
Research Associate
Bin.Choi@NYULangone.org
Carlos Coito, PhD—Noyes Lab
Senior Research Scientist
Carlos.Coito@NYULangone.org
Mark Grivainis—Fenyö Lab
Data Science Analyst/Engineer
Mark.Grivainis@NYULangone.org
April Jauhal, PhD—Shenhav Lab
Data Science Analyst/Engineer
April.Jauhal@NYULangone.org
Sarah Keegan—Fenyö Lab
Scientific Programmer
Sarah.Keegan@NYULangone.org
Rachael Kessler—Noyes Lab
Research Associate
Rachael.Kessler@NYULangone.org
Manjunatha Kogenaru, PhD—Davoli Lab
Senior Research Scientist
Manjunatha.Kogenaru@NYULangone.org
Jennifer (Shizhe) Liu—Boeke Lab
Research Associate
Shizhe.Liu@NYULangone.org
Wenke Liu, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research Scientist
Wenke.Liu@NYULangone.org
Colleen Mcloughlin—Maurano Lab
Research Associate
Colleen.Mcloughlin@NYULangone.org
Sally Mei—Davoli Lab
Research Associate
Sally.Mei2@NYULangone.org
Angela Mermerian—Davoli Lab
Assistant Research Scientist
Angela.Mermerian@NYULangone.org
Jude Nawlo, MD—Fenyö Lab
GYN Fellow
Jude.Nawlo@NYULangone.org
Eric Nishimoto—Yanai Lab
Assistant Research Technician
Eric.Nishimoto@NYULangone.org
Jharna Patel, MD—Fenyö Lab
GYN Oncology Fellow
Jharna.Patel@NYULangone.org
Luisa Quispe—Boeke Lab
Research Associate
Luisa.Quispe@NYULangone.org
Haylee Ressa—Shenhav Lab
Research Associate
Haylee.Ressa@NYULangone.org
Nestor Saiz, PhD—Lionnet Lab
Senior Research Scientist
Nestor.Saiz@NYULangone.org
Regina Shaw—Gale Hammell Lab
Lab Supervisor
Regina.Shaw@NYULangone.org
Alexis Sullivan, PhD—Schluter Lab
Lab Supervisor
Alexis.Sullivan2@NYULangone.org
Daniel Sunko—Shenhav Lab
Research Associate
Daniel.Sunko@NYULangone.org
Oliver Tam, PhD—Gale Hammell Lab
Research Scientist
Oliver.Tam@NYULangone.org
Antonio Vela Gartner—Boeke Lab
Research Associate
Antonio.Velagartner@NYULangone.org
Nongyun Wang—Holt Lab
Research Associate
Nongyun.Wang@NYULangone.org
Yufeng Wang, PhD—Davoli Lab
Research Scientist
Yufeng.Wang@NYULangone.org
Aleksandra Wudzinska, MPhil—Boeke Lab
Lab Supervisor
Aleksandra.Wudzinska@NYULangone.org
Guisheng Zhao, MD, PhD—Yanai Lab
Lab Manager
Guisheng.Zhao@NYULangone.org
Angelina Ziarno—Lionnet Lab
Research Associate
Angelina.Ziarno@NYULangone.org