Neurogenomics Laboratory
Andreas Pfenning
- Principal InvestigatorAndreas Pfenning is a tenure track Assistant Professor in the Computational Biology Department in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Additionally, he has a courtesy appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences and is a member of Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint venture between CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, and the Neuroscience Institute, a CMU program drawing from diverse group of scientists investigating the brain in health and disease.
Ghada Abdelhady
- PhD StudentGhada Abdelhady is a PhD student in the Program in Systems Neuroscience (PSN), Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. She is working at the intersection of computational genomics and neurobiology. Her research is focused on profiling cell-type specificity, pushing towards the prioritization of candidate markers to be targeted for gene therapy.
Ziheng (Calvin) Chen
- PhD StudentZiheng (Calvin) Chen is a PhD Candidate in the Biological Sciences program. His research focuses on combining high-throughput experimental methods and machine learning models to understand the impacts of Alzheimer's disease associated genetic variations on enhancer functions.
GitHub
Rajee Ganesan
- PhD StudentRajee Ganesan (she/her) is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Biological Sciences department focused on using computational approaches and methods to study vocal learning at a cellular level. Her research interests include functional genomics, statistical applications and effective science communication.
Website
Mike Leone
- PhD StudentMike Leone (he/him) is an MD/PhD student through the PhD program in Computational Biology at Carnegie Mellon and medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. He is broadly interested in integrating scientific advances in regulatory genomics into medical practice, with a current focus on the genetic and cell-type specific basis of chronic pain disorders.
BaDoi Phan
- Research AssociateBaDoi Phan (he/him) completed the Pitt-CMU Medical Scientist Training Program studying the intersection of human genetics of addiction, molecular neuroscience, and computational genomics. He received his Ph.D. in computational biology from the Joint CMU-Pitt Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology. He completed his medical degree at Pitt and plans to enter further training in anesthesiology. In the lab, he investigates the mechanisms that genetic risk for substance use disorder affects gene regulatory processes in the reward neural circuit.
Chaitanya Srinivasan
- PhD StudentChaitanya Srinivasan is a PhD student in Computational Biology interested in developing integrative computational and experimental approaches to study cell type-specific epigenomic mechanisms underlying complex neural traits.
Yaxuan Liu
- Undergraduate ResearcherYaxuan Liu is an undergraduate researcher in the Pfenning lab. She is working with her mentor Ziheng Chen to investigate and validate the impact of genetic variants on enhancer functionality in Alzheimer’s disease via both experimental and computational approaches.
Emmett Meyers
- Undergraduate Researcher
Andrew Wang
- Undergraduate ResearcherAndrew Wang (he/him) is an undergraduate researcher in the Pfenning lab. His research involves examining cross-species regulatory mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders at the cell-type level.
Ashley Brown
- Project Scientist/EngineerAshley Brown is a Project Scientist in the Pfenning lab. She has extensive experience in molecular biology, AAV, lentivirus, mammalian cell culture, and high-throughput next generation sequencing experiments. She uses these experiences to advance the methods and experiments in the lab to address critical questions in brain genomics. She oversees ongoing projects and manages the daily operations of the wet lab.
Lahari Gadey
- Research Associate / Lab ManagerLahari Gadey is a Research Associate / Lab Manager with a master’s degree in biology from the University of Colorado, Denver. She plays a vital role in assisting in all projects in the lab, focusing on molecular biology and cell culture.
Robert van de Weerd
- Project ScientistRobert van de Weerd is a Senior Project Scientist in the Pfenning lab, where he leverages his extensive expertise in biochemistry, medical microbiology, molecular cell biology, genetic engineering, and biotechnology. His work focuses on developing and advancing technologies in the wet lab to tackle critical questions in neuroscience. Additionally, he is the president, co-founder, and Chief Scientific Officer of the spinoff biotech company Biocognon.
Heather Harper Sestili
- Research ProgrammerHeather Harper Sestili (she/her) is a research programmer in the Pfenning lab. She creates computational resources that the lab uses to train and interpret machine learning models, and maintains this website c:
Vijay Cherupally
- Research AssociateVijay Cherupally graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in April 2022 and is now a Research Associate in the Computational Biology Department. His work involves analyzing single cell epigenomics data as part of a collective effort to use knowledge of enhancers to create cell-type specific effects.