Fellows in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics
Meet our Post-baccalaureate Fellows
Abdisamad-Ibrahim (Amundadottir lab)
Wendy Kim (Brown lab)
Joseph Kovacs (Chanock lab)
Brian Muchmore (Prokunina-Olsson lab)
Adam Mumy (Prokunina-Olsson lab)
McAnthony Tarway (Prokunina-Olsson lab)
Abbey Thompson (Amundadottir lab)
Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D.-Postdoctoral Fellow
Jiyeon Choi joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) in October 2011 as a postdoctoral CRTA fellow in the lab of Dr. Kevin M Brown, Tenure Track Investigator. In the lab, Jiyeon is currently working on the functional characterization of common and rare genetic variants contributing to melanoma susceptibility by following up recent genome-wide association studies and family re-sequencing work. Jiyeon has a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where she pursued functional studies of autism-associated common genetic variants with Dr. James Millonig. She also has an M.S. in Molecular Biology from Korea University and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Ewha Womans University, South Korea.
Charles C. Chung, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Charles Chung, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in October 2008. Under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Chanock, Dr. Chung is currently working on the fine-mapping of the chromosome 11 prostate cancer susceptibility loci from the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) genome-wide association studies, and studying evolutionary mechanisms that shaped cancer susceptibility loci in the human genome. Dr. Chung earned his Ph.D. in Human and Molecular Genetics from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in May 2008 under the mentorship of Dr. James E. Hixson focusing on a candidate gene study in association with blood pressure phenotypes. He earned his M.S. in Microbiology and his B.S. in Biology from Konkuk University, in Seoul, Korea.
Yi-Ping Fu, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Yi-Ping Fu, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in June 2009. Dr. Fu received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in May 2009, where she worked with Dr. Craig Hanis focusing on the genetic epidemiology of type 2 diabetes and its complications among Mexican Americans. Dr. Fu received her M.S. in Epidemiology from National Taiwan University and her B.S. in Public Health from Taipei Medical University, both in Taipei, Taiwan. Under the mentorship of Dr. Mila Prokunina-Olsson, Dr. Fu is currently working on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of various cancers such as breast, prostate and pancreas, with special interest on characterization of the molecular phenotypes of strong signals from genome-wide association studies.
Jason Hoskins, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
In February 2011, Dr. Hoskins joined the lab of Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D., where he is studying the molecular mechanism by which common risk variants on chromosome 13q22 confer susceptibility to pancreatic cancer. Dr. Hoskins received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry (2007) and his B.S. in Biochemistry(2002) at the University of Rochester. His thesis work in the lab of Scott Butler, Ph.D., explored the RNA-based mechanism of toxicity caused by the chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU) in S. cerevisiae. Dr. Hoskins went on to conduct postdoctoral research in the lab of Charles Thornton, M.D., where he collaborated with the National Chemical Genomics Center to screen for small molecules able to disrupt the binding of the splicing factor MBNL1 from CUG repeat RNA, which is a key interaction causing type I myotonic dystrophy (DM1). He also explored the endogenous decay pathways potentially involved in the destruction of the toxic CUG repeat expansion RNA.
Abdisamad-Ibrahim, B.S., -Postbaccalaureate Fellow
Abdisamad Ibrahim joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a post-baccalaureate fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, Tenure Track Investigator. Ibrahim graduated from the University of Minnesota with Bachelors of Science Honors in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development in May 2011. At the University of Minnesota, he studied, regulation of steroid hormone production in Drosophila at Dr. Michael O'Connor’s lab. He also studied interactions of T cells with Antigen Presenting Cells at Dr. Yoji Shimizu's Lab. Under the mentorship of Dr. Amundadottir, he will be working on functional characterization of SNPs associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer in chr 13q22.1.
Kim Hye-Kyung, M.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Kim Hye-Kyung, M.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in November 2007. Dr. Kim received her M.D. from the Pusan National University in 1998, did her internship at Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, Korea, followed by two residencies specializing in Family Medicine and Pediatrics at Dong-A University Hospital, Pusan, Korea and Catholic University, Seoul, Korea, respectively. Dr. Kim passed all US Medical Licensing Examinations and is currently studying the mechanisms of microRNA SNPs in cancer susceptibility loci in 8q24, 11q13 and 5p12 under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Chanock.
Jia Jinping, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Jia Jinping, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics,(LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2009. Under the guidance of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, Dr. Jia focuses on the molecular phenotypes of association findings and functional characterization of plausible causal variants in order to understand how common sequence variation plays a role in the development of cancer. In 2006, Dr. Jia earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology at the China Agriculture University in China, working on cDNA sequencing and Microarray analysis. Prior to that, she earned her M.S. in Genetics from the Shanxi Agriculture University in China.
Wendy Kim, B.S.-Postbaccalaureate Fellow
Wendy Kim joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) in July 2011 as a post-baccalaureate CRTA fellow under the mentorship of
Dr. Kevin M Brown, Tenure Track Investigator. Wendy is currently investigating novel mutations in low, medium, and high-penetrance genes leading to increased susceptibility to melanoma. Wendy graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a BA in Biology in May 2011. She joins us from Dr. Anthony Fucaloro's lab where she was researching partial molar volumes and how these affect structure-making and structure-breaking hydrogen bonds. She has also worked with Dr. Donald McFarlane studying the effects of diet and body size on basal metabolic rates and respiration.
Indu Kohaar, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Kohaar joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics,(LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in April 2009. Dr. Kohaar received her Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Delhi, India where she studied the role of cytokine gene polymorphism on HPV mediated cervical cancer. She is presently investigating the genetics and genomics of infectious diseases, particularly HCV mediated liver cancer, under the guidance of Dr. Mila Prokunina-Olsson.
Joseph Kovacs, B.A. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Mr. Kovacs joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics,(LTG) as a post-baccalaureate fellow in November 2009 and received his B.A. in Biology with a concentration in Genetics and Development from Cornell University, also in 2009. Under the mentorship ofDr. Stephen Chanock, Mr. Kovacs is currently assessing the variants of the gene NCF4 that associate with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Phoebe Lee, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Phoebe Lee, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translation Genomics,(LTG) as a Postdoctoral Fellow in August, 2010. She received a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the Duke University in May 2010, and a B.S. in Biology from University of Washington 2003. Prior to joining LTG, Dr. Lee’s doctoral research was to study the mechanism underlying reciprocal mitotic recombination using the model organism S. cerevisiae with Dr. Tom Petes at Duke University. As a fellow in LTG, Dr. Lee will be under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Chanock and is conducting functional validation studies for SNPs identified in cancer-specific Genome-Wide-Association.
Brian Muchmore, B.A. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Mr. Muchmore joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a post-baccalaureate fellow in October 2009. Mr. Muchmore received his B.A. in Russian studies from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine in the fall of 2005. He is currently taking night classes at the University of Maryland in order to fulfill the requirements for a B.S. Under the mentorship of Dr. Mila Prokunina-Olsson, Mr. Muchmore is currently investigating the genetic determinants of HCV infection in humans and chimps.
Adam Mumy, B.S. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Adam Mumy, B.A., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a post-baccalaureate fellow in the fall of 2011. Mr. Mumy received his B.A. in Engligh and French studies from Western Michigan University, and continues to take classes in the basic sciences at a local university. In the lab of Dr. Mila Prokunina-Olsson, he is conducting follow-up studies on a SNP found in the Prostate Stem Cell Antigen gene and it's connection with bladder cancer.
Hemang Parikh, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Hemang Parikh, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics(LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, Tenure Track Investigator, in May, 2009. Dr. Parikh is currently performing a bioinformatic analysis of next-generation sequencing data - DNA-sequencing, ChIP-sequencing, RNA-sequencing and micro-RNA sequencing - platforms from different cancer cell-lines. Dr. Parikh also conducts microarray data analysis from Illumina platforms, analysis of genome-wide association studies and expression quantitative trait loci (e-QTL) analysis for pancreatic cancer. In 2009, under the mentorship of Dr. Leif Groop, Lund University (Sweden), Dr. Parikh earned his Ph.D. in Endocrinology and Medical Bioinformatics, focusing on integrating bioinformatics and physiology to describe genetic effects in complex polygenic diseases. He received his M.S. in Software Systems Technology from the University of Sheffield, UK in 2003, and his B.S. in Construction Technology and Management from Gujarat University, India in 2000.
Nilabja Sikdar, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Nilabja Sikdar, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a Research Fellow in August of 2010 after completing his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) under the mentorship of Dr. Kyungjae Myung, Ph.D. While at NHGRI, Dr. Sikdar worked on suppression mechanism of genomic instability in several model organisms. Dr. Sikdar obtained his Ph.D. from the Indian Statistical Institute in 2005. He worked on oral cancer genetics and epidemiology. He is knowledgeable with genomic DNA isolation from human blood tissues, RNA isolation from tissues RT-PCR, transformation, cloning, yeast GCR assay, yeast transformation, human cell line work, mice work and in silico work, to just name a few. His current work is focused on a chromosome 11 project for prostate, renal, and breast cancers under the direction of Dr. Stephen Chanock.
Wei Tang, Ph.D. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Wei Tang, Ph.D., joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics(LTG) as a postdoctoral fellow in February 2009. Under the guidance of Dr. Mila Prokunina-Olsson, Dr. Tang currently focuses on cancer association study by fine-mapping susceptibility loci from genome-wide association studies. One of Dr. Tang's on-going projects is to fine-map the region containing JAZF1, which harbors a prostate cancer susceptibility loci. Dr. Tang's other major work is applying next generation sequencing methods (454 and Illumina) to analyze DNA, RNA-seq and ChIP-seq to detect SNPs, splicing forms and novel transcripts that might be associated with cancer. Dr. Tang earned his Ph.D. at the Bio-X center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University under the mentorship of Dr Lin He, focusing on genetics of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other complex diseases.
McAnthony Tarway, B.S. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Mr. Tarway received his bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, in 2008 where he majored in biology. He joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics(LTG) in May 2009 as a post-baccalaureate fellow. Currently Mr. Tarway works under the mentorship of
Dr. Mila Prokunina-Olsson focusing on prostate cancer association studies. He is particularly interested in fine-mapping the JAZF1 region on chromosome 7, which harbors a prostate cancer susceptibility locus identified from CGEMS (Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility) genome-wide association studies. Ultimately, Mr. Tarway aspires to pursue a career as a clinical scientist with a concentration in pediatric oncology.
Abbey Thompson, B.A. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Ms. Thompson joined the Laboratory of Translational Genetics (LTG) as a post-baccalaureate CRTA in July, 2011, under the mentorship of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, Tenure Track Investigator. She received her B.A. in Biology with a concentration in Genetics and Molecular from Northwestern University in June 2011. As an undergraduate, Ms. Thompson studied the dynamic organization of the yeast nucleus in Dr. Jason Brickner’s lab. In LTG, she is working on genomic and functional characterization of the NR5A2 gene, identified by PanScan, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of pancreatic cancer conducted within the NCI Cohort Consortium and the PanC4 Consortium.
Kelly Bolton, M.Phil. -Predoctoral Fellow
Kelly Bolton is a 2007 NIH-Cambridge Scholar, pursuing her doctoral studies as a combined M.D./ Ph.D. student, working with Paul Pharoah, Cancer Research UK Senior Clinical Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge and Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Senior Investigator, Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch. Ms. Bolton is studying germline genetic polymorphisms associated with survival after diagnosis of ovarian cancer and methodological questions about the immunohistochemical analysis of breast cancer tissue microarrays. In 2004, Ms. Bolton graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a B.S. in Biology. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and won an American Heart Association senior research award. At Cornell, she carried out both bench research on a common plant insecticide and epidemiological research on the impact of social assistance programs on human behavior. She then matriculated to the University of California at Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine. As a medical student, she was awarded a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship to study in the Cloister Program at NIH. She has co-authored two publications and presented her research at several national scientific meetings, winning the Claude C. Lardinois Award for best presentation at the Western States Medical Research Forum in 2006.
Naomi Frank, B.A. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Naomi Frank joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) under the mentorship of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, Tenure Track Investigator, as a post-baccalaureate fellow after obtaining her Bachelor’s of Art in Biology from the University of Maryland in 2010. Her research interest is in the field of genetics and molecular biology, in relation to human disease. In LTG, Ms. Frank is working on genomic and functional characterization of the NR5A2 gene, identified by PanScan, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of pancreatic cancer conducted within the NCI Cohort Consortium and the PanC4 Consortium. Ms. Frank hopes to use her NCI experience to help choose an area of continued education to pursue her Ph.D.
Jane Kim, B.A. -Post-baccalaureate Fellow
In November 2010, Jane Kim joined the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) as a post-baccalaureate fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, Tenure Track Investigator. Miss Kim obtained her Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology in 2010 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA, Miss Kim studied activated signaling pathways in prostate cancer stem cells and evaluated methods to pharmacologically target them. She also worked at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center, investigating the role of an acinar protein in the development of pancreatic cancer. Currently, Miss Kim is working on the genomic and functional characterization of genes in the chr13 susceptibility locus identified by PanScan, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of pancreatic cancer conducted within the NCI Cohort Consortium and the PanC4 Consortium.
