Institute for Systems Genetics Faculty & Staff | NYU Langone Health

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Institute for Systems Genetics Institute for Systems Genetics Faculty & Staff

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.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Matthew Maurano, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: genomics of gene expression and genetics of human disease

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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

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Marcus Noyes, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: characterization and manipulation of protein–ligand interactions

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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

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

Martina Bonucci, PhD—Holt Lab
Research interests: investigating molecular crowding in neural cells and defining molecular crowding role in neurodegeneration
Martina.Bonucci@NYULangone.org

Brendan Camellato, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research interests: engineering synthetic loci for red blood cell specific gene expression
Brendan.Camellato@NYULangone.org

Lance Denes, PhD—Holt and Lionnet Labs
Research interests: investigating the interplay between cellular mechanics and gene expression
Lance.Denes@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

Poppy Aeron Gould, PhD—Yanai Lab
Research interests: the role of transposable elements in mammalian neural development and evolution
Poppy.Gould@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

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

Joseph Mays, PhD—Davoli Lab
Research interests: research interests: developing tools to study aneuploidy in single cells in tumors and other tissues
Joseph.Mays@NYULangone.org

Wilson McKerrow, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research interests: bioinformatic analysis of transposable elements broadly and LINE-1 specifically
Wilson.Mckerrow@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

Raquel Ordonez Ciriza, PhD—Maurano Lab
Research interests: deciphering genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that generate cellular identities and pathological phenotypes
Raquel.Ordonezciriza@NYULangone.org

Andrew Pountain, PhD—Yanai Lab
Research interests: applying single-cell transcriptomics methods to understand bacterial gene expression dynamics and infection
Andrew.Pountain@NYULangone.org

Maayan Pour, PhD—Yanai Lab
Research interests: maintenance of cancer cell state heterogeneity by microenvironment interactions
Maayan.Pour@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

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

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

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

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

Ran Brosh, PhD
Assistant Program Director, Center for Synthetic Regulatory Genomics, The Dark Matter Project (SyRGe)
Ran.Brosh@NYULangone.org

Ze Chen—Ruggles Lab
Research Associate
Ze.Chen@NYULangone.org

Finnegan Clark—Lionnet Lab
Senior Research Technician
Finnegan.Clark@NYULangone.org

April Ettington, PhD—Shenhav Lab
Data Science Analyst/Engineer
April.Ettington@NYULangone.org

Sergei German, MS
Senior Architect, Solution Development
Sergei.German@NYULangone.org

Samuel Greene—Yanai Lab
Assistant Research Tech
Samuel.Greene@NYULangone.org

Mark Grivainis—Fenyö Lab
Data Science Analyst/Engineer
Mark.Grivainis@NYULangone.org

Arthur Hamilton—Noyes Lab
Research Associate
Arthur.Hamilton@NYULangone.org

Cindy Hernandez—Boeke Lab
Senior Research Technician
Cindy.Hernandez@NYULangone.org

Sarah Keegan—Fenyö Lab
Scientific Programmer
Sarah.Keegan@NYULangone.org

Tanya Kosheleva—Davoli Lab
Research Associate
Tanya.Kosheleva@NYULangone.org

Wenke Liu, PhD—Fenyö Lab
Research Scientist
Wenke.Liu@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

Chloe Palumbo—Maurano Lab
Research Associate
Chloe.Palumbo@NYULangone.org

Nestor Saiz, PhD—Lionnet Lab
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

Oliver Tam, PhD—Gale Hammell Lab
Research Scientist
Oliver.Tam@NYULangone.org

Antonio Vela Gartner—Boeke Lab
Research Associate
Antonio.Velagartner@NYULangone.org

Adam Walker—Ruggles Lab
Research Analyst
Adam.Walker@NYULangone.org

Nongyun Wang—Holt Lab
Research Associate
Nongyun.Wang@NYULangone.org

Yufeng Wang, PhD—Davoli Lab
Research Scientist
Yufeng.Wang@NYULangone.org

Siddhesh Warke
Student Intern—Davoli Lab
Siddhesh.Warke@NYULangone.org

Aleksandra Wudzinska, MPhil—Boeke Lab
Lab Supervisor
Aleksandra.Wudzinska@NYULangone.org

Nishara Yapa
Student Intern—Davoli Lab
Nishara.Yapa@NYULangone.org

Guisheng Zhao, MD, PhD—Yanai Lab
Lab Manager
Guisheng.Zhao@NYULangone.org

Yu Zhao, PhD—Boeke Lab
Research Scientist
Yu.Zhao@NYULangone.org

Yinan (Florrie) Zhu—Boeke Lab
Research Associate
Yinan.Zhu@NYULangone.org

Angelina Ziarno—Lionnet Lab
Research Associate
Angelina.Ziarno@NYULangone.org