Hannah Pierce-Hoffman, Biomedical Informatics Master Student
Hannah is a master’s degree student in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. She completed her undergraduate degree in computer science at Columbia University, then worked professionally as both a software engineer and a molecular biologist before coming to Harvard.
Benjamin Chang
Benjamin is a junior at Harvard studying Chemical and Physical Biology and Computer Science. He is interested in using machine learning to advance the possibilities of biology. Outside of lab, you can find him skateboarding around campus, shooting astrophotography, or reading about giant pumpkins.
Sunny Eom, visiting from Albany High School
Sunny (Sunwoo) is a high school student engineering de novo proteins using generative models in the Marks lab. She has experience conducting biomedical research utilizing multimodal deep learning and self-supervised learning. Outside of the lab, Sunny enjoys writing poetry and creating art, capturing the musicality and color of life!
Annie Eom, visiting from Albany High school
Annie (Sunmin) is a high school student interested in the intersection of machine learning and proteins, nature’s building blocks of life. She had previously worked on predicting stress using ML. Her current research centers on applying ML to generate novel in silico proteins. In her spare time, Annie likes to create playlists about each of the 27 possible states of human emotion! ## Tessa D. Green, Biophysics
Tessa studied Physics as an undergraduate at MIT, where she spent far too much time in dark rooms trapping ions. After a brief flirtation with molecular biology and some quality time spent pipetting, she decided to reture to her mathematical roots. She is now a Biophysics graduate student interested in how cells and scientists interpret noisy data.
embedding: cool hair, rings, single cell, rare genetic diseases, collaborative, knitting, pink, quantum, reader, union, e-bike, independent, empathetic, tall, RNA, union, activist, Colorado, MIT, physics, biology
Alissa Hummer
Alissa is a visiting Ph.D. student from the Oxford Protein Informatics Group at the University of Oxford. In her research, she is developing machine-learning methods for antibody design and optimization.
Nikki Thadani
Nikki spent her PhD applying synthetic biology principles to the task of engineering viruses for gene therapy. Years of synthesizing and testing capsid mutants inspired her interest in data-driven prtoein engineering and synthetic evolution. Outside of lab, she enjoys taking her mini-schnauzer on pup adventures around Boston.
embedding: virus, leader, apples and peanut butter, Texas, snacks, omnipotent, calming, statistics, reasonable, AAV, reason, math, driven, focused, Lincoln, methodical, reassuring, helpful
Japheth Gado, visiting from National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Japheth’s PhD is in chemical engineering, where he worked on understanding cellulose-degrading enzymes with molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning. Currently, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the BOTTLE consortium, he develops deep-learning models to enable the discovery and engineering of enzymes that deconstruct plastics.
Alan Amin, Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology
Alan is a PhD student in the Systems Biology program in the Marks lab with a background in mathematics and biochemistry.
embedding: funny, Canadian, cnfident, stylish, supportive , Hipster, energetic, math, perplexity, mis-specification, nice, Toronto, loud, passionate, fast, biking, pure math, cicada, chaos, stats, backgammon, Hell Yeah, Let's Go, I'm Back, BEAR
Daniel Kassler, Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics
Daniel used to be a theoretical mathematician, but after a brief stint in public policy research and a bite from a radioactive geneticist he has now fully embraced the life sciences. He’s interested in using statistics and synthetic biology to tackle the most important environmental, health, and climate issues facing the planet. Outside of lab, Daniel is an avid bird lover, board gamer, and nature enthusiast.
embedding: explorer, curious, biking, nature, birds, sustainability, mother earth, outside, Zelda, plants, facts, talkative, careful, cat, energy, trivia, ornithologist, long hair, environment
Rachapun (Gear) Rotrattanadumrong, visiting from Okinawa Insititute of Science and Technology
Gear is a PhD student currently at the Okinawa Insititute of Science and Technology in Japan. He works on high-throughput experimental and computational methods for the study and evaluation of functional RNA. Outside the lab he enjoys scuba diving, ice coffee and recently got into cocktail making!
Srihari Ganesh, Harvard
Srihari is an undergraduate studying Chemical and Physical Biology & Statistics at Harvard College. He's interested in computational approaches to macromolecular structure. Outside (and inside) of lab, you can find him watching an endless stream of YouTube videos and snacking on anything within walking distance.
embedding: undergrad, clout, content, biology, math, Michigan, two pairs of shoes, stats, nba, bananagrams, pyro fanatic, ambitious, puns, kubb, energetic, easy going
Kalyan Palepu, Harvard
Chenzhang (Henry) Zhou, Rotation Student from Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics
Chenzhang (Henry) is a G2 in the Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics program. He is interested in applying machine learning models to accelerate protein designs. When away from the computer, he enjoys playing badminton and watching soccer.
[Email >>][3]
Davy Deng, Rotation Student from MIT
Davy is a PhD student in the Harvard-MIT HST program rotating in the Marks lab. Previously Davy graduated with degrees in Chemistry, Genetics and Psychology from UC Berkeley and conducted research on novel electron transport chain systems in anaerobic pathogens. He is excited about the tremendous potential of forecasting viral evolution and hopes to one day extend such technique to microbial and mammalian cells using machine learning. Outside of the lab, he spends most of his time learning the Boston venture creation ecosystem, volunteering for research efforts for global health and humanitarian response and experimenting cocktail recipes with his roommates and friends.
Ada Fang, Rotation Student from Chemistry
Ada is PhD student in Chemistry at Harvard rotating in the Marks lab, and originally from Sydney, Australia. In her spare time, she enjoys being outdoors and on the water.
Kelly Brock, Associate Research Director
Kelly spent her PhD studying the evolution of protein stress response in the England group at MIT. As a joint postdoc between the Marks and Sander groups, she applies evolutionary couplings analysis both to predict protein structures _de novo_ and to enable better fold and alternate conformation analysis from NMR and X-ray crystallography. Additionally, she works on Pathway Commons biological applications and analysis tools. When not trying to bend computers to do her bidding, she enjoys playing pub trivia and coaching cheerleading.
embedding: hero, lab glue, South Carolina, knowledgable, bioinformatics, Frodo, kind, comedy, , de-stresser, jazz hands, peaceful, queen, friendly, helpful, boss, warm, efficient, loves cute dogs, protein expert, EV Couplings, MIT, proactive, communicative, approachable, kind, sweet, caring, math
Jonathan Frazer
Jonny's background is in theoretical physics. His previous work included developing computational tools for testing theories of the very early universe, as well as pioneering the use of information theory and probabilistic modelling for studying cosmic inflation in string theory. His love of high-dimensional probability and information theory has now brought him to the data-rich world of genomics.
embedding: curly, glasses, kind, supportive, athletic, pet parrot, string theory, pleasant accent, curious, enthusiastic, Luis, EVE, physics, calm, strawberry licorice, runner, strava, high dimensional, plants
Mafalda Dias
Mafalda is a theoretical physicist who recently became interested in computational biology. Before joining Debbie’s lab she worked at the border between cosmology and string theory. She now develops new probabilistic models of sequence data to understand the map from sequence to function and the effect of genetic variation.
embedding: fashionable, EVE, physics, beautiful, math, flowy, massive styles, art, brilliant, mom, plants, Portuguese, cool, outgoing, biology, hobbies, multilingual, honest, paintings, lemon pants, great hair, kind, fashionable, caring, lively, easy going, Luis, funny
Kasper Einarson, Visiting PhD Student
Kasper was a PhD student visiting the lab from Danish Technical University in spring 2022. His background is in computer science and current research focus on applications for biological property prediction using deep learning. In his free time he enjoys playing piano and guitar.
Javier Marchena, Associate Researcher
Javier was an Associate working in the Marks lab for a year. Originally from Spain, he studied his MSc in Bioinformatics in Copenhagen. He loves structural bioinformatics and now works on predicting the effects of mutations in proteins. In his free time, he can be found at the local chess club pushing some wooden pieces.
[Email >>][11]
Joe Min, Software Engineer
Joe studied biomedical engineering and computer science during his undergraduate years at Johns Hopkins. After working for four years as a software engineer in industry, he is excited to apply what he has learned to the world of computational biology!
[Email >>][12]
Nathan Rollins
Nathan was a joint student with Debbie and Pam Silver. With Pam, he's modeled enzyme mechanisms and designed anti-cancer proteins. Lately he's been scroungin around in viral genomes with Debbie. Outside the lab, he can be found in the middle of a biking accident, compulsively acquiring more craigslist furniture, or hanging too many things from his ceiling. [Email >>][13]
Eli Weinstein, Biophysics
Eli received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard College. He's interested in Bayesian statistics and machine learning, and is currently focused on generative models of complex mutational processes. [Harvard Biophysics][14] [Email >>][15]
Joshua Rollins, Software Engineer
Joshua studied applied and computational math sciences along with electrical engineering at University of Washington. He now absorbs knowledge of our tiny friends the tardigrades, while creating bioinformatics software. Enticed by candles, bamboo, and coconuts he can often be found drawn into Filipino folk dance.
[Email >>][16]
Mrunali Manjrekar, Undergraduate Intern
Mrunali is a rising sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS). She is intrigued by the interface between computing and biological problems, especially ones involving multi-omics, and hopes to pursue a PhD in a related field upon graduation. When away from the keyboard, Mrunali enjoys reading nonfiction, journaling, exploring new places, and playing the occasional board game.
[Email >>][17]
Jean Disset, Postdoc
Jean has a background in high performance computing with a PhD in Artificial Life. He has a passion for complex systems, evolution theory and well written code. He’s done research on evolutionary computations, cell simulation, synthetic biology, morphogenetics engineering, and the emergence of complex morphologies and behavior. [Email >>][18]
June Jung-Eun Shin, Graduate Student
June is a Systems Biology PhD student in the Marks lab. Broadly, she is interested in the use of computational methods applied to therapeutics-related research and intends to spend her rotation working on computational drug screens. [Harvard Systems Biology][19] [Email >>][20]
David Ding, Graduate Student
Contrary to appearance, David was born and raised in idyllic Austria, and educated in even more idyllic Oxford. David somehow ended up being interested in how protein interactions evolve, and travelled across the pond to work with Debbie. When David is not troubleshooting experiments, he likes to move around even more, preferably on a bike and somewhere in nature. [Email >>][18]
Darius Russell Kish, Rotation Student
Darius attended Boston College where he studied computer science and German studies. At BC, he worked on computational models for chemistry and systems biology. He is excited to continue working at the interface of computer science and biology.
[Email >>][21]
Amy Tam, Lab manager
Amy's zest for learning drives her to study systems biology with an interdisciplinary approach and brought her first pit stop at UCLA, where she studied Computational and Systems Biology. From there, she was inspired to take a more data-driven, computational path. When Amy's not in lab, she can be found wandering the streets of Boston or the pages of a book. [Email >>][22]
Joe Hurley, Rotation Student
Joe is a first-year PhD student in the BBS program rotating in the Marks lab, and he is interested in teasing apart relationships between protein sequences, structures, and functions. Before coming to Harvard, Joe studied biochemistry at Northwestern University, researched bacterial outer membrane proteins at the NIH, and worked in drug discovery at several biotech companies. In his free time, he likes climbing, playing music, and cooking spicy food.
[Email >>][23]
Siranush Babakhanova
Siranush is studying Physics and CS at MIT'20. She is interested in creating new tools to study and augment complex biological systems. Outside of lab she can be found trying to marry physics, neuroscience and art, engaging in work on human enhancement, or spotted dancing or writing in books.
[LinkedIn][25]
Ethan Jones, Graduate Student
Ethan Jones is a first year PhD student in Systems Biology who rotated in the Marks Lab
[Email >>][26][29][26]: mailto:[ethan_jones@g.harvard.edu][27]
Kasia Kready, Graduate Student
Kasia is a first year PhD student in the Systems Biology program rotating in the Marks lab. [Email >>][28]