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Lab Members

		Zhiping Weng, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Genomics and Computational Biology With two engineering degrees (BS in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Biomedical Engineering), I love to make things work better. I spend all my time writing grants and papers, teaching, and running Zlab. I am confident that one day I will figure out how to write a computer program to do all of the above. AS5-1069 Tel: 508-856-8866
		Greg Andrews, Ph.D. Senior Bioinformatician I received my B.A.s in Chemistry and Mathematics from Boston University in 2012, and I received my Ph.D. from UMass Chan in 2024. I am currently interested in the application of machine learning, particularly deep learning, to study transcription factor binding. AS5-1077
		Shaimae Elhajjajy Ph.D. Candidate I received my B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with minors in Computer Science and Bioinformatics & Computational Biology. My research focuses on the application of machine learning to better understand various aspects of RNA regulation, including RNA-binding proteins, RNA structure, and rates of transcription elongation. I am also interested in the study of RNA as a molecular target in therapeutics. AS5-1075
		Alyssa Funk, Ph.D. PostDoc I earned my PhD in Computational Biology from Brown University, my MS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from UMass Boston, and my BS in Chemical Biology from UC Berkeley. I joined ZLab in 2024. I love diving into deep sequencing data to explore how human genome variation impacts gene regulation and function. AS5-1079
		Mingshi Gao, Ph.D. PostDoc I received my BS in Biotechnology from Sun Yat-sen University and my Ph.D. from UMass Chan in 2024. My current research interests include characterizing mammal open-chromatin landscapes and understanding the regulatory role of transcription factors in the human genome. AS5-1075
		Ben Kresge Bioinformatician I received my B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2024 and joined ZLab later that year. I'm passionate about leveraging computer science to tackle biological challenges and have a (mostly) healthy obsession with uncovering how things work. AS5-1081
		Jair Meza Software Engineer Associate I graduated in 2024 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Computer Science, and joined the ZLab that same year. I am responsible for developing websites to go along with our research, such as our in-house genome browser. As a developer, I aim to provide a great user experience while providing the user with top tier functionality. AS5-1065
		Abigail Miller Executive Assistant to the Chair I graduated in 1998 from the University of Connecticut with a B.S. in Animal Science and 2007 from Auburn University with a M.S. in Biomedical Sciences. I worked as a scientist in many different labs for over 20 years on projects in Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Influenza, and a plethora of animal diseases, but then decided to change my focus to research administration. I graduated in 2018 from Emmanuel College with a graduate certificate in Research Administration. I help make sure GCB runs as smoothly as possible. AS5-1067 Tel: 508-856-6112
		Nishigandha Phalke Senior Bioinformatician I have been working as a bioinformatician in ZLab since 2018. I received my BE in Computer Science from Pune University, India. I work on developing computational workflows, various application programming interfaces for many lab projects. AS5-1065
		Huong Phan Bioinformatician I received my B.S. in Mathematics from Earlham College in 2020, and M.S. in Statistics from University of Washington in 2023. I’m currently working on developing a pipeline for analyzing single-cell ATAC sequencing data to better understand cellular regulatory variations in the human genome. AS5-1075
		Christian Samuel Ramirez PREP student I received my BSc in 2024 with a major in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry and a minor in Mathematics. I’m currently apart of in the PREP post-baccalaureate program at UMass. I am researching transcription factor binding patterns and regulatory mechanisms using advanced computational methods and high-throughput sequencing data analysis. AS5-1081
		Nicole Shedd Ph.D. Candidate I received B.S.s in bioinformatics and biology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2021. I first joined the lab in 2020 as an undergraduate. Now, my research focuses on understanding the complex genetic changes underlying human disease and development. I am interested in using chromatin, epigenetic, and transcriptomic data to better characterize the regulatory landscape of the brain. AS5-1077
		Ross Swofford Senior Bioinformatician I graduated in 2007 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I spent the next 16 years at the Broad Institute, then joined the Weng Lab as a bioinformatician in 2024. A reformed lab rat with a broad range of interests, I work on a variety of projects. AS5-1065
		Tianxiong Yu, Ph.D. PostDoc Graduated from Tongji University of China in 2020, I received my B.S. degree in Bioinformatics and a Ph.D. degree in Biology. I have been a member of Zlab since 2017, when I was a visiting student. My research mainly focuses on mining small RNAs' treasures, particularly piRNAs', across multiple species, including human, mouse, koala, and fruit fly. I am also interested in studying genome variations using single-cell genomic sequencing data. AS5-1079