Our systems biology research program meets at the interface of molecular parasitology, microbiology, and genomics and focuses on the molecular basis of macroparasite (nematodes) adaptation to niches in their human hosts, and microparasite (virus and bacteria) diversity and interaction in transmission and virulence. The overarching question is: How do pathogens adapt to their hosts, and what is the evolutionary basis of this adaptation?
Systems Genomics Section, May 2022: Front Row (left to right) Wei Wang, Biologist; Michael Frimpong, Postdoc; Anil Chakravorty, Postbac; Brent Edwards, Postbac; Yin-Ting Yeh, Visiting Scientist; Second Row (left to right) Sasha Mushegian, Postdoc; Stephanie Banakis, Lab Manager; Back Row (left to right): Abdoulie Bojang, Postdoc; Alliosn Roder, Computational Biologist; Matt Chung, Bioinformatics Scientist; Elodie Ghedin, PI; Denis Voronin, Staff Scientist; Allie Kreitman, Postbac; Daniela Chow, Postbac. (missing) RyeAnne Ricker, Graduate Student; Joe Koussa, Visiting Scientist.
Elodie Ghedin, Ph.D.
Chief, Systems Genomics Section
Education:
Ph.D., McGill University’s Institute of Parasitology, Montreal, Canada
Dr. Elodie Ghedin obtained her Ph.D. from McGill University’s Institute of Parasitology in Montreal, Canada. In May 2020, Dr. Ghedin joined NIAID’s Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases as a senior investigator. She also holds an affiliated position with New York University. Dr. Ghedin is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2011), a Kavli Frontier of Science Fellow (2012), and an American Academy of Microbiology Fellow (2017).
Stephanie Banakis, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Lab Manager and Biologist
Education:
M.S., Biology, New York University
B.S., Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Languages Spoken: Greek, Spanish
Stephanie studies the evolution of the Influenza virus and of SARS-CoV-2 in populations at risk.
Abdoulie Bojang, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Post-doctoral Visiting IRTA (APTI)
Education:
Ph.D., Open University, UK
M.Sc., Biomedical science, University of Hull, UK
B.Sc., Bioscience and Health, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Abdoulie is a Higher scientific officer of the Medical Research Council unit in The Gambia. His project in the SGS is to assess by metagenomics the impact of intrapartum oral azithromycin on the nasopharyngeal microbiome of Gambian infants.
Anil Chakravorty, B.S. (He/Him/His)
Post-bac Fellow
Education:
B.S., Integrative Biology Honors program, minor in Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
Anil investigates the gene expression profiles of host cells in response to infection with Influenza A and B. He will be going to Medical School in the Fall.
Daniela Chow, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Post-bac IRTA (INRO)
Education:
B.S., Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, TX
Languages Spoken: Spanish
Daniela is studying the interplay of Brugia malayi with human lymphatic endothelial cells and its contribution in pathogenesis. She is also determining the role of Brugia malayi Galectin-2 (lec-2) in host-parasite interactions.
Matthew Chung, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Bioinformatics Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Institute for Genome Sciences
B.S., Microbiology, G.H. Cook Scholar, Rutgers University
Languages Spoken: Cantonese
Matt specializes in the computational analysis of genomics, metagenomics, and transcriptomics data sets. For his doctorate, Matt conducted a multi-species RNA-Seq analysis across the entire life cycle of the filarial nematode Brugia malayi, its Wolbachia endosymbiont, and its vector host Aedes aegypti.
Brent Edwards, B.S. (He/Him/His)
Post-bac Fellow
Education:
B.A., Biology, Middlebury College, VT
Brent studies the endosymbiotic relationship between the intracellular bacteria, Wolbachia, and its filarial nematode host. Another project investigates the interactions between Wolbachia and Zika virus in mosquitos.
Michael Frimpong, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Post-doctoral Visiting IRTA (APTI)
Education:
Ph.D., Immunity and Infectious Diseases, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
B.Sc., Medical Laboratory Technology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Languages Spoken: Twi
Michael’s research is focused on using metagenomics to understand the pathogenesis of skin neglected tropical diseases, particularly Buruli ulcer and how that information can be used to improve treatment outcomes. He is also working on profiling the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in the respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients on ventilation.
Joseph Koussa, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Visiting Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., Biology, New York University, USA
M.Sc., Molecular Biology, Lebanese American University, Lebanon
B.Sc. in Biology, University of Ottawa, Canada
Languages Spoken: French, Arabic
Joe is an Associate Professor at Montgomery Community College in Maryland. He is interested in the parasitism of filarial nematodes and uses Brugia malayi as a model filarial parasite to investigate the host-parasite interface tackling glycomic, proteomic and immune-relevant interactions between the parasite and its human host.
Allie Kreitman, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Post-bac IRTA (INRO)
Education:
B.A., Molecular Biology, minor in Math, Colorado College, CO
Allie’s project is to characterize the genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. She is also comparing samples collected from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Alexandra (Sasha) Mushegian, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Biology, Universität Basel
B.A., Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
Languages Spoken: Russian
Sasha is working on projects examining SARS-Cov-2 diversity and evolution. She is broadly interested in genomics and microbiomes in the context of disease ecology.
RyeAnne Ricker, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Ph.D. Candidate
Education:
B.S., Biological Engineering and B.S., Medical Laboratory Science, Montana State University, MT
Allison Roder, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Computational Biologist
Education:
Ph.D., Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University
B.S., Biotechnology and Molecular Bioscience, and Computer Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
Allison uses a combination of molecular biology and computational methods to analyze virus dynamics and the host response to viral infection.
Denis Voronin, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Staff Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk, Russia
M.S., Biology, Novosibirsk State University, Russia
Languages Spoken: Russian
Dr. Denis Voronin obtained his Ph.D. in 2005 from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia. In May 2020, Dr. Voronin joined NIAID’s Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, Systems Genomics Section as a Staff Scientist.
Wei Wang, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Biologist
Education:
M.S., Microbiology, North Dakota State University
Bachelor of Medicine, Tongji Medical University, Wuhan, China
Languages Spoken: Mandarin
Wei has over 20 years of experience in cell culture with expertise in molecular virology and vaccine research.
Yin-Ting (Tim) Yeh, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Visiting Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
M.S., Chemical and Biochemical Engineering University of Notre Dame
B.S., Engineering and System Science & Material Science Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
Languages Spoken: Mandarin, Japanese
Yin-Ting’s research focuses on developing microdevices for capture and enrichment of viruses from clinical samples using carbon nanotubes, and rapid detection by Raman spectroscopy.
Former Research Group Members
Christopher Mederos, B.S.; previous Post-bac Fellow. Chris is going to Medical School at University of Florida