Current Fellows in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics

Mr. Christensen, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, is characterizing the functional implications of a pancreatic cancer genome-wide association study signal at the promoter of PDX1 on chr13q12.2, and analyzing transcriptomic and epigenomic data of purified cells from normal pancreatic tissue, under the mentorship of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir and Dr. Jason Hoskins.

Dr. Connelly, postdoctoral fellow in LTG, is investigating the functional roles of germline variants, identified by genome-wide association studies, in pancreatic cancer risk. Her mentor is Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D.

Ms. Hullin, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, investigates functional variants at genetic risk loci and the mechanisms by which they influence pancreatic cancer risk, under the mentorship of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, senior investigator, and Katelyn Connelly.

Mr. O'Brien, predoctoral fellow in LTG, studies the functional characterization of susceptibility variants identified through genome-wide association studies and the identification of novel non-coding driver mutations in pancreatic cancer. His mentor is Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D.

Dr. Patel, postdoctoral fellow in LTG, focuses her research on the functional characterization of inherited variants identified through genome-wide association studies and their role in pancreatic cancer risk. Her mentor is Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D.

Dr. Prasad, postdoctoral fellow with a joint appointment to the laboratories of Dr. Laufey Amundadottir, LTG, and Dr. Efsun Arda, CCR. Dr. Prasad focuses her research on understanding the effects of genetic variation on pancreas cancer risk using a systems biology approach that integrates genetic variation with cell-type resolved gene expression, DNA methylation, open chromatin features, and three-dimensional chromatin interactions under the mentorship of Dr. Amundadottir and Dr. Arda.

Dr. Zhong, research fellow in LTG, focuses his research on identifying inherited variants associated with risk of pancreatic cancer using various genome-wide approaches, understanding the biology of germline risk variants using genomic technologies, and identifying non-coding somatic mutations that drive pancreatic carcinogenesis. His mentor is Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D.

Ms. Dennis, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, performs functional characterization of both common sequence variants and familial risk variants associated with melanoma at the 9p21 locus, under the mentorship of Kevin Brown, Ph.D.

Dr. Scales investigates the functional characterization of genomic loci and familial variants associated with melanoma susceptibility under the mentorship of Kevin Brown, Ph.D.

Dr. Thakur, postdoctoral fellow in LTG, performs integrative genomic analyses of melanocyte and melanoma genomic and epigenomic datasets to understand genes, molecular mechanisms, and environmental interactions underlying melanoma susceptibility. His mentors are Kevin M. Brown, Ph.D., and Mitchell Machiela, Sc.D., M.P.H.

Ms. Antony, a postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, investigates the function of genetic risk loci identified in genome-wide association studies that might contribute to lung cancer development. Her mentor is Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D., M.S.

Mr. Kane, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, is working to characterize transcription factors which can effect molecular pathways of IRF4 expression in various cell types associated with lung cancer and melanoma. His mentor is Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D.

Dr. Bolun Li, postdoctoral fellow in LTG, is characterizing the transcript diversity of different cell types and further identify cell-type specific isoform-level sQTLs in human lung tissues using single-cell splice-QTL with long-read sequencing. His mentors are Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D., Head, Jiyeon Choi Laboratory and Haoyu Zhang, Ph.D., both Earl Stadtman investigators.

In LTG, Dr. Luong, postdoctoral fellow, is currently working on characterizing the chromatin landscape in lung cell models to functionally link how genomic variants may lead to lung cancer development. His mentors are Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D., Head, Jiyeon Choi Laboratory and Tongwu Zhang, Ph.D., both Earl Stadtman investigators.

Ms. Sisay, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, is aiding in projects characterizing the role of variants identified by genome-wide associated studies in increasing susceptibility to lung cancer. Her mentors are Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D. and Thong Luong, Ph.D.

Ms. Isabel Rodriguez, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG is working on liver tumor samples from Central America, looking at mutations primarily caused by aflatoxin. She is also analyzing retinoblastoma samples with the goal of spotting mutations across the RB1 gene. Her mentor is Michael Dean, Ph.D., senior investigator, LTG.

Dr. Tulsyan, postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics, is working on projects related to whole-genome sequencing of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tumor samples and breakage bridge fusion events in different cervical cancer cell lines by long-read sequencing, under the mentorship of Michael Dean, Ph.D.

Mr. Adu-Gyamfi, iCURE postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, investigates GWAS signals for childhood Burkitt lymphoma. His mentors are Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D., LTG and Sam Mbulaiteye, M.D., IIB.

Dr. Florez-Vargas, research fellow in LTG, is studying multiple genomic regions that have been associated via genome-wide association studies with increased risk of several cancers. His mentor is Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D.

Ms. Forsythe, postbaccalaureate fellow in LTG, works on a project related to genetics and genomics of bladder cancer. Specifically, she is working on developing primary urothelial cultures and uses them for functional studies. Her mentor is Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D.

Dr. Ho, postdoctoral fellow in LTG, is using CRISPR-based methods to screen genetic risk variants and functionally characterize their relationships to bladder cancer development. Her mentor is Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D.

Mr. Hogshead, postbaccalaureate and iCURE Scholar, is exploring the interplay between genetic variants, environmental exposures and bladder cancer risk, with a special focus on epitranscriptomics and long-read sequencing applications, under the mentorship of Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D.

Dr. Papenberg, postdoctoral fellow in LTG, uses computational and laboratory methods to investigate several genomic regions that are associated with increased risk of bladder cancer. His mentor is Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D.