Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch Leadership

Short Title
BCBB Leadership
Person List Page Type

Branch Chief

Darrell E. Hurt, Ph.D.

Branch Chief

Contact: darrellh@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2003, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

M.S., 2001, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

B.S., 1998, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

Languages Spoken: French

Dr. Darrell Hurt joined NIAID in 2006 following postdoctoral work using X-ray crystallography at NIDDK. He led BCBB’s data analysis and research support from 2008 to 2015 when he became the Branch Chief. He specializes in structural biology modeling, including protein folding, docking, and molecular dynamics. He also specializes in 3D printing, visualization, and modeling.

Learn more about Darrell E. Hurt, Ph.D.

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Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) & Science Support

Mariam Quiñones, Ph.D.

Head of the Science Support Section
Contract Officer Representative
Molecular Biologist Specialist

Contact: quinonesm@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D, Molecular Microbiology, 2006, Tufts Medical School, Boston, MA

M.S., Biology, 2000, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX

B.S., Biology, 1997, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR

Languages Spoken: Spanish

Mariam Quiñones currently serves as Head of the Science Support Section in Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) and Contract Officer Representative. In addition, she contributes as a subject matter expert to the development of resources for genomics and microbiome research such as METAGENOTE and Nephele, a platform for microbiome analysis. She joined BCBB in 2006 and has...

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Science Support

Kurt R. Wollenberg, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: wollenbergk@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 1997, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

M.E.A., 1986, George Washington University, Washington, DC

B.S., 1981, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

Dr. Wollenberg has been a member of Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) since 2006, serving as the phylogenetics subject matter expert. He has provided evolutionary analysis of genomic sequence data from various pathogens (e.g., hepatitis C, hepatitis D, Ebola virus, Guaroa virus, Cryptococcus sp., Plasmodium spp, M. tuberculosis) and sequence data for host proteins which...

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Eric Karlins, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: karlinser@mail.nih.gov

Education:

M.S. in Computer Science, 2024 (expected), Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA

M.S. in Biotechnology, 2002, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

B.S. in Biology, 1998, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

Eric has been a Computational Genomics Specialist with Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) since 2018, and he’s worked at the NIH since 2000. He works performing bioinformatics analysis for genomics projects ranging from Whole Genome Sequencing to Genome Wide Association Study. He also helps with data engineering projects for the Genomic Research Integration System (GRIS)...

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Software & Database

Michael A. Dolan, Ph.D.

Contact: dolanmi@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 1993, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Ph.D., 2000, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

Historically, Michael Dolan's research interests have centered around using computational approaches to understand protein structure and function. More recently, he has focused on all areas of bioinformatics and computational biology software development and management.

Learn more about Michael A. Dolan, Ph.D.

Lewis Kim, M.P.H.

(Contractor)

Contact: wongyu.kim@nih.gov

Education:

M.P.H, 2012, George Washington University, Washington, DC

Lewis Kim has been with the Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) for 11 years. He manages software development resources in alignment with the branch’s priorities and serves the team as Scrum Master or manages projects as needed. Lewis is inspired by automation, curiosity, and innovative ideas.

Learn more about Lewis Kim, M.P.H.

Communications & Outreach

Operations

Jason Barnett

(Contractor)

Contact: barnettj@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

B.S. in Biological Sciences and Chemistry, 1997, Marshall University, Huntington, WV

Jason Barnett is the Operations Contract Lead for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB). He has provided operational leadership to BCBB for fifteen years as it has grown from a program to a branch within the NIAID OCICB. Jason specializes in research operations, defining processes and workflows, and developing standard operating procedures to drive efficiencies. He manages...

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Administrative Support

Rebecca Shaffon Bryant, BS

Administration Assistant

Contact: rebecca.bryant@nih.gov

Education:

BS, 1993, University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC

Rebecca is an Administrative Assistant in the Bioinformatics Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB). She assists BCBB with daily administration duties including AMBIS requests, property requests, submission of travel arrangements and a host of other tasks to support the operations of BCBB. During Rebecca’s previous employment, she served over 20 years in the social service field addressing the...

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
May 22, 2024

Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship Mentors and Faculty

Short Title
Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellowship Mentors and Faculty
Person List Page Type

Christa S. Zerbe, M.D., M.S.

Director, Infectious Disease Fellowship Program
Medical Director, Clinical Patient Services Unit LCIM
Senior Clinician

Specialty(s): Infectious Disease
Provides direct clinical care to patients at NIH Clinical Center

Education:

M.D., M.S., The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

An alumnus of The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Zerbe completed her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Maryland Hospital before transitioning into the ABIM Research Pathway for Infectious Disease Fellowship at the NIH. Dr. Zerbe serves as Principal Investigator on numerous protocols within NIAID. She is the director of the Infectious Disease training program at the...

Learn more about Christa S. Zerbe, M.D., M.S.

Christa S. Zerbe, M.D., MS Portrait

Jennifer M. Cuellar-Rodriguez, M.D.

Staff Clinician
Director, Transplant Infectious Diseases Consult Service

Specialty(s): Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine
Provides direct clinical care to patients at NIH Clinical Center

Education:

M.D., 1999, Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Mexico

Dr. Cuellar Rodriguez received her medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (Guadalajara, Mexico) in 1999 and her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (London, UK) in 2003. n 2009, she joined NIAID as a clinical fellow (visiting program) where she completed an advanced infectious diseases fellowship (academic/research track) in infections in immunocompromised host. She was later promoted to staff clinician in 2011. In 2014, Dr. Cuellar Rodriguez returned to the INCMNSZ to serve as head of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Section, within the Department of Infectious Disease, where she remained until 2019. She then returned to NIAID in the Division of Intramural Research and is now the director of the Transplant Infectious Diseases Consult Service.

Learn more about Jennifer M. Cuellar-Rodriguez, M.D.

Jennifer M. Cuellar-Rodriguez, M.D.

Mary M. Czech, M.D.

Staff Clinician, Assistant Research Physician 

Education:

Fellowship in Transplant Infectious Diseases, 2022, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD, and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD 
Fellowship in Infectious Diseases, 2021, Stanford University Health Care, Palo Alto, CA 
Residency in Internal Medicine, 2019, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC

Doctor of Medicine, 2016, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC 
Master of Science in Neurobiology, 2012, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, 2008, Villanova University, Villanova, PA

I am a board-certified Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases physician. I completed advanced training in infectious diseases of immunocompromised hosts. I focus on managing infectious diseases complications in patients with malignancy, primary immunodeficiency, and other inflammatory disorders, who are receiving hematopoietic cell transplant or cellular therapy. My interests include host...

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Mary M. Czech

Juan C Gea-Banacloche, M.D.

Senior Infectious Diseases Consultant, Division of Clinical Research, NIAID
Attending, General and Transplant Infectious Diseases Consultation Service, NIH Clinical Center

Education:

M.D., 1986, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Internal Medicine, 1992, Clínica Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Spain

Dr. Gea-Banacloche completed his medical studies and internal medicine training in Madrid, Spain. He came to NIH with a fellowship in allergy and immunology, followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases at NIAID. His focus has been on immune reconstitution and opportunistic infections, initially as a fellow focusing on AIDS and later as an Infectious Diseases physician focusing on infections in...

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Juan Gea-Banacloche, M.D.

Veronique Nussenblatt, M.D, Sc.M., M.H.S

Chief, Infectious Disease Consult Service
Associate Program Director, Infectious Disease Fellowship
Director, NIH Residency Electives Program (REP) and Clinical Electives Program (CEP) for Medical Students
 

Education:

M.D., University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

M.H.S, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Dr. Nussenblatt received her M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed her internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After completing her training, she joined the Infectious Disease faculty at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine until she moved to Belgium where she spent two years providing clinical and scientific expertise for the development and implementation of clinical studies within two European clinical trial networks.

Learn more about Veronique Nussenblatt, M.D, Sc.M., M.H.S

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
December 01, 2023

NIAID New Innovators Awards Program and Review Staff

Contact Information

Contact the program staff for more information about scientific and programmatic related questions.

Contact scientific review staff for questions about the application process. 

Short Title
New Innovators Awards Program Review Staff
Person List Page Type

Program and Review Staff

Timothy A. Gondré-Lewis, Ph.D.

Program Officer, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation

Contact: tglewis@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

A.B., Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Ph.D., Medical College of Virginia – Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Dr. Gondré-Lewis received his A.B. from Oberlin College and Ph.D. from the Medical College of Virginia – Virginia Commonwealth University. He completed his training as a post-doctoral fellow at the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, N.Y. After his post-doctoral fellowship Dr. Gondré-Lewis joined the faculty at York College of The City University of New York teaching and maintaining an active...

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Diane Lawrence, Ph.D.

Program Officer, Division of AIDS

Contact: diane.lawrence2@nih.gov

Education:

B.A., Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Ph.D., University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Diane Lawrence, Ph.D., is a Program Officer in the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. She oversees a portfolio of grants and has developed funding opportunities related to basic HIV persistence and immunology research, including the Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research, as well as technology...

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Susana Mendez, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Program Officer, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Contact: susana.mendez@nih.gov

Education:

D.V.M., Ph.D., University Complutense, Madrid, Spain

Susana Mendez, D.V.M., Ph.D. is a Program Officer in the Tuberculosis and other Mycobacteria Diseases section of the Respiratory Diseases Branch (RDB) at the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID). She received a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine degree (D.V.M.) and a Ph.D. degree in veterinary science at the University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Mendez joined the NIH in 1999...

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Vanitha Raman, Ph.D.

Scientific Review Officer, Division of Extramural Activities

Contact: vanitha.raman@nih.gov

Education:

B.Sc., University of Madras, Chennai, India

Masters in Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India

Ph.D. National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India

Vanitha Raman is a Scientific Review Officer at the Immunology Review Branch in the Scientific Review Program at NIAID. Dr. Raman received her B.Sc. degree in Zoology from the University of Madras and her Masters in Life Sciences from Pondicherry University. Her interest in immunology stemmed from an article on the immune response to self vs. non-self and consequently led her to apply for a Ph.D...

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Section
Content Coordinator
October 17, 2023

NIAID New Innovators Awardees

Short Title
New Innovators Awardees
Person List Page Type

Robert K. Abbott, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

Project Title: Revealing the Biophysics of the Germinal Center Microenvironment

Award Year: 2021

Contact: rkabbott@utmb.edu
Dr. Robert Abbott is a B cell immunologist and Assistant Professor is the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

Learn more about Robert K. Abbott, Ph.D.

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Billur Akkaya, M.D., D.Phil.

Department of Neurology, Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Project Title: Deciphering the Specificity and Molecular Mechanisms of Regulatory T Cells Using Novel Approaches

Award Year: 2022

Contact: billur.akkaya@osumc.edu
The primary objective of Dr. Akkaya's laboratory at the Ohio State University is to unravel the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between Tregs and antigen-presenting cells in the context of autoimmunity and cancer.

Learn more about Billur Akkaya, M.D., D.Phil.

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Sean Arayasirikul, Ph.D.

Contact: sean.arayasirikul@uci.edu
Dr. Sean Arayasirikul is a Medical Sociologist in the Department of Health, Society, and Behavior in the Program in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine. They are deeply committed to teaching and mentorship as a community-grounded scholar, having come from the communities they collaborate with and serve in their research.

Learn more about Sean Arayasirikul, Ph.D.

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Samantha L. Bell, Ph.D.

Contact: samantha.l.bell@rutgers.edu
Dr. Samantha Bell’s research program seeks to untangle how macrophage responses to Mtb are initiated and regulated and how Mtb uses secreted effectors to subvert host responses and cause disease.

Learn more about Samantha L. Bell, Ph.D.

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Nicholas Bessman, Ph.D.

Center for Immunity and Inflammation, Department of Medicine, Rutgers Health

Project Title: Immune Regulation of Tissue Iron in Health and Disease

Award Year: 2021

Contact: n.j.bessman@rutgers.edu
Dr. Bessman founded his independent laboratory at Rutgers University in 2021. The goal of the lab is to understand the molecular basis of intestinal health and disease.

Learn more about Nicholas Bessman, Ph.D.

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Cara E. Brook, Ph.D.

University of Chicago

Project Title: Crossing Scales to Predict and Prevent Bat Virus Zoonoses in a Madagascar Ecosystem

Award Year: 2022

Contact: cbrook@uchicago.edu
Cara Brook’s lab studies the ecology and evolution of zoonotic diseases, with a particular interest in viruses that transmit from wild bats to humans.

Learn more about Cara E. Brook, Ph.D.

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Chrysothemis Brown, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Project Title: Acceptance of Non-Self: Decoding Intestinal Immune Tolerance During Early Life

Award Year: 2022

Contact: brownc10@mskcc.org
The goals of Dr. Brown’s research program are to understand how signals from the tissue environment shape the fate and function of immune cells and the mechanisms by which the immune system reciprocally regulates tissue homeostasis and host immunity.

Learn more about Chrysothemis Brown, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.

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Allison Carey, M.D., Ph.D.

University of Utah

Project Title: Parallel Phenotyping to Dissect Genetic Determinants of Bacterial Strain Diversity

Award Year: 2022

Contact: Allison.Carey@path.utah.edu
Allison Carey’s lab at the University of Utah uses advanced genetics and genomics to study clinically relevant phenotypes such as antibiotic resistance, virulence, and vaccine escape in pathogenic mycobacteria.

Learn more about Allison Carey, M.D., Ph.D.

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Iain C. Clark, Ph.D.

Contact: iain.c.clark@berkeley.edu
Iain Clark’s lab combines tools from multiple disciplines - genomics, microfluidics, molecular biology, and engineering - to study infectious diseases, central nervous system inflammation, and cell-cell interactions.

Learn more about Iain C. Clark, Ph.D.

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Kiera Clayton, Ph.D.

Department of Pathology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Project Title: Characterizing Macrophages as "Hide-Outs" for Chronic Pathogens

Award Year: 2021

Contact: kiera.clayton@umassmed.edu
By studying macrophages as “hide outs” for multiple pathogens, the goal of the Dr. Clayton’s lab is to uncover common mechanisms of resistance to killing, which can then be targeted for the development of therapies.

Learn more about Kiera Clayton, Ph.D.

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Jishnu Das, Ph.D.

Contact: jishnu@pitt.edu
Jishnu Das’s computational systems immunology lab focuses on the development and use of novel machine learning approaches to analyze high-dimensional multi-omic datasets to identify molecular phenotypes in immune regulation and dysregulation.

Learn more about Jishnu Das, Ph.D.

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Allison Didychuk, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University

Project Title: Dissecting the Mechanism of Herpesvirus Genome Packaging

Award Year: 2022

Contact: allison.didychuk@yale.edu
Allison Didychuk’s lab in Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry at Yale University uses diverse approaches ranging from structural biology to functional genomics to understand late stages in the herpesvirus lytic cycle.

Learn more about Allison Didychuk, Ph.D.

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Nir Drayman, Ph.D.

Contact: nirdra@uci.edu
Dr. Drayman’s lab focuses on developing new approaches to interrogate virus-host interactions at the single cell level, by combining viral genetics, single-cell RNA-sequencing, microfluidics, live-cell imaging, and machine learning, using Herpes Simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) as a model system.

Learn more about Nir Drayman, Ph.D.

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Kevin Forsberg, Ph.D.

Contact: kevin.forsberg@utsouthwestern.edu
Kevin Forsberg is on the faculty at UT Southwestern in the Department of Microbiology where his lab studies this molecular arms race, perhaps the longest-running evolutionary conflict on Earth.

Learn more about Kevin Forsberg, Ph.D.

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Gaurav D. Gaiha, M.D., D.Phil

Ragon Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Project Title: Exploiting Highly Networked CTL Epitopes to Achieve a Functional HIV Cure

Award Year: 2020

Contact: ggaiha@mgh.harvard.edu
Gaurav D. Gaiha, M.D., D.Phil, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Principal Investigator at the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT and Harvard and Attending Physician in the Division of Gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital. His lab’s work is focused on the development of novel T cell-based vaccines for HIV and other infectious diseases by eliciting responses that target epitopes derived from structurally constrained viral regions.

Learn more about Gaurav D. Gaiha, M.D., D.Phil

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Pascal Geldsetzer, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.

Division of Primary Care and Population Health, Department of Medicine, Stanford University

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub – San Francisco

Project Title: The Impact of Clinical Interventions for Sepsis in Routine Care and Among Detailed Patient Subgroups: A novel approach for causal effect estimation in electronic health record data

Award Year: 2022

Contact: pgeldsetzer@stanford.edu
Pascal Geldsetzer is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University.

Learn more about Pascal Geldsetzer, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.

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Rory Henderson, Ph.D.

Duke Human Vaccine Institute

Project Title: Assessing HIV-1 Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Association Pathways for Vaccine Immunogen Design

Award Year: 2021

Contact: rory.henderson@duke.edu
Rory Henderson’s laboratory uses an integrated structural biology approach to design vaccine antigens.

Learn more about Rory Henderson, Ph.D.

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Sizun Jiang, Ph.D.

Contact: sjiang3@bidmc.harvard.edu
The Jiang lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School focuses on the intersection of host-disease interactions through the development and application of novel spatial technology platforms and computational algorithms.

Learn more about Sizun Jiang, Ph.D.

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Kristin D. Lane, Ph.D., M.S.

Idaho State University 

Project Title: Molecular Analysis of Malaria Mitochondrial Gene Regulation

Award Year: 2022

Contact: kristinlane@isu.edu
The Lane lab studies molecular genetics and fundamental biochemical pathways of non-model human pathogens, using interdisciplinary approaches to identify new targets to exploit for drug development to circumvent antimicrobial resistance.

Learn more about Kristin D. Lane, Ph.D., M.S.

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Nathan C. Lo, M.D., Ph.D.

Contact: Nathan.lo@stanford.edu
Dr Nathan Lo’s research group studies the transmission of infectious diseases with an ultimate goal of informing public health policy.

Learn more about Nathan C. Lo, M.D., Ph.D.

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Leyuan Ma, Ph.D.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Project Title: Engineering Synthetic Cellular Crosstalk for Transplantation Tolerance

Award Year: 2022

Contact: mal5@chop.edu
Dr. Ma is an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Learn more about Leyuan Ma, Ph.D.

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Shuyi Ma, Ph.D.

Seattle Children’s Research Institute; University of Washington 

Project Title: Network Dissection of Host-Pathogen Interactions in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection

Award Year: 2021

Contact: shuyi.ma@seattlechildrens.org
Dr. Shuyi Ma’s current research interests lie in understanding the complex molecular interactions within and between organisms determine infection and treatment fates in hard-to-treat infections including tuberculosis.

Learn more about Shuyi Ma, Ph.D.

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Lauren Ann Metskas, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Joint Appointment in Department of Chemistry, Purdue University

Project Title: Partial Maturation in Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses: Developing new approaches to characterize the role of lattice heterogeneity in fusion, infectivity, and antibody neutralization

Award Year: 2022

Contact: metskas@purdue.edu
Lauren Ann Metskas specializes in the relationship between structure and function in large, imperfect protein assemblies, such as the lattices found in viruses.

Learn more about Lauren Ann Metskas, Ph.D.

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Patrick S. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, HHMI, University of Washington

Project Title: Translation of Evolution-guided Insights for New Models of Human Infectious Disease

Award Year: 2021

Contact: psmitche@uw.edu
Dr. Mitchell is focused on understanding the principles that govern innate immune detection of ‘pathogen-specific activities’ – cues that discriminate pathogens from other harmless or helpful microbes.

Learn more about Patrick S. Mitchell, Ph.D.

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Haik Mkhikian, M.D., Ph.D.

University of California, Irvine
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Project Title: Differential Regulation of T Cell Plasma Membrane Proteins by N-glycan Branching and Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis

Award Year: 2022

Contact: hmkhikia@uci.edu
Haik Mkhikian’s lab focuses on developing new approaches to study glycobiology and in understanding the role of glycans in T cell biology.

Learn more about Haik Mkhikian, M.D., Ph.D.

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Dequina Nicholas, Ph.D.

University of California Irvine, School of Biological Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry

Project Title: Lipid Antigen Presentation as a Driver of T2D Inflammation

Award Year: 2022

Contact: dequinaa@uci.edu
Dr. Dequina Nicholas is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry where her lab studies the intersection of the nutrient environment, the immune system, and metabolic disease using a combination of molecular and cellular biology, transgenic mouse models, cytokine profiling, and flow cytometry.

Learn more about Dequina Nicholas, Ph.D.

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Yuri Pritykin, Ph.D.

Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and Department of Computer Science, Princeton University

Project Title: Regulatory Genomics of T cells in Mouse and Human

Award Year: 2022

Contact: pritykin@princeton.edu
Yuri Pritykin’s lab develops computational methods for design and analysis of high-throughput functional genomic assays and perturbations, with a focus on multi-modal single-cell, spatial and genome editing technologies, and applies these methods to study regulatory genomics of cell function and cell-cell interactions in vivo, with a focus on immunology and cancer.

Learn more about Yuri Pritykin, Ph.D.

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Tania Rozario, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and Department of Genetics, University of Georgia 

Project Title: Tapeworm Stem Cells as Drivers of Regeneration and Reproduction

Award Year: 2021

Contact: tania.rozario@uga.edu
Tania Rozario’s work (re)established the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta, as a non-traditional model to explore the molecular mechanisms that govern how tapeworms grow, regenerate, and reproduce at prolific rates.

Learn more about Tania Rozario, Ph.D.

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Jonas Schluter, D.Phil.

Institute for Systems Genetics, Department of Microbiology, Perlmutter Cancer Center, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University Langone Health

Project Title: The Unleashed Microbiome of Cancer Patients as a Discovery Platform for Rational Microbiome Engineering

Award Year: 2021

Contact: Jonas.Schluter@nyulangone.org
Guided by a vision to develop and leverage a deep theoretical understanding of ecosystems and evolutionary processes in the microbiome, the lab seeks to discover ecological interventions that can turn the microbiome into a central therapeutic target in modern medicine.

Learn more about Jonas Schluter, D.Phil.

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Jhimmy Talbot, Ph.D.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Project Title: Mechanism of Modulation of Intestinal Immune Responses by Dietary Signals

Award Year: 2022

Contact: jhtalbot@fredhutch.org
Dr. Jhimmy Talbot studies how interactions between neurons and immune cells in the gut can help the body balance its immune and metabolic trade-offs.

Learn more about Jhimmy Talbot, Ph.D.

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David Truong, Ph.D.

New York University

Project Title: Programmable Off-the-Shelf Dendritic Cells as an Immunotherapy Discovery Platform

Award Year: 2021

Contact: david.truong@nyu.edu
Dr. David Truong’s lab combines site-specific “bigDNA” genome writing in human iPSCs with cell state programming and synthetic genetic circuits to build universal allogeneic “smart cells” for therapeutics, diagnostics, and modeling.

Learn more about David Truong, Ph.D.

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Travis Wiles, Ph.D.

Contact: travis.wiles@uci.edu
Dr. Travis Wiles' research program aims to piece together a multi-scale view of how host–microbe systems form and function.

Learn more about Travis Wiles, Ph.D.

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Scott Wilson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in the Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering Department

Project Title: Tolerance-Programming Biomaterial-Based Intranasal ASIT for the Treatment of Autoimmunity

Award Year: 2021

Contact: scott.wilson@jhmi.edu
Dr. Wilson’s Lab utilizes organic chemistry to synthesize biomaterials-based immunomodulatory therapies that bias the adaptive immune response towards antigen-specific immunity or tolerance.

Learn more about Scott Wilson, Ph.D.

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Xianfang Wu, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.

Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute

Project Title: Developing a Renewable and Dissectible Human Liver for the Study of HBV/HCV Infection

Award Year: 2022

Contact: wux4@ccf.org
Dr. Xianfang Wu’s current research focuses on understanding the intrinsic differences in antiviral resistance between stem cells and terminally differentiated cells and modeling human disease using stem cell-derived multicellular culture systems.

Learn more about Xianfang Wu, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.

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Chen Yao, Ph.D.

Department of Immunology, Kidney Cancer Program, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Project Title: Harnessing Stem-Like CD8 T Cells for Immunotherapies to Eradicate HIV Reservoirs

Award Year: 2021

Contact: chen.yao@utsouthwestern.edu
Leveraging advanced computational and experimental techniques, the Yao lab focuses on uncovering transcriptional, epigenetic, and metabolic pathways that govern T cell differentiation and function during chronic viral infection and cancer.

Learn more about Chen Yao, Ph.D.

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Section
Content Coordinator
October 17, 2023

BCBB Software & Database Development Team

Short Title
Software Database Development Team BCBB
Person List Page Type

Team Leads

Michael A. Dolan, Ph.D.

Contact: dolanmi@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 1993, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Ph.D., 2000, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

Historically, Michael Dolan's research interests have centered around using computational approaches to understand protein structure and function. More recently, he has focused on all areas of bioinformatics and computational biology software development and management.

Learn more about Michael A. Dolan, Ph.D.

Lewis Kim, M.P.H.

(Contractor)

Contact: wongyu.kim@nih.gov

Education:

M.P.H, 2012, George Washington University, Washington, DC

Lewis Kim has been with the Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) for 11 years. He manages software development resources in alignment with the branch’s priorities and serves the team as Scrum Master or manages projects as needed. Lewis is inspired by automation, curiosity, and innovative ideas.

Learn more about Lewis Kim, M.P.H.

Team Members

Jenica L. Abrudan, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: jenica.abrudan@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2013, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

B.S., 2005, Victor Babes University, Timisoara, RO

Jenica Abrudan is a Clinical Data Engineer and part of interdisciplinary team supporting the HGRepo-Labkey application.

Learn more about Jenica L. Abrudan, Ph.D.

Cyrus Afrasiabi

(Contractor)

Contact: cyrus.afrasiabi@nih.gov

Education:

M.Eng. 2011, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

B.S.E.E., 2003, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Cyrus started his career as an Electrical and Computer Engineer focusing on digital system design. While working, he took a course in “radars and remote sensing” that included a section on medical imaging; this was fascinating enough to inspire him to get a degree in biomedical engineering. After graduating, Cyrus worked in a lab specializing in protein structure and function prediction using...

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Jason Barnett

(Contractor)

Contact: barnettj@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

B.S. in Biological Sciences and Chemistry, 1997, Marshall University, Huntington, WV

Jason Barnett is the Operations Contract Lead for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB). He has provided operational leadership to BCBB for fifteen years as it has grown from a program to a branch within the NIAID OCICB. Jason specializes in research operations, defining processes and workflows, and developing standard operating procedures to drive efficiencies. He manages...

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Yamil Boo Irizarry, B.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: yamil.booirizarry@nih.gov

Education:

B.S, 2015, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Yamil is a Senior Lab Application Support Specialist in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) within the Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. His work with BCBB is developing and maintaining several web applications such as NIH 3D, NIAID Bioinformatics Portal, Tuberculosis Regulatory Network...

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Mike Bopf, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: mbopf@mail.nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 1986, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN

M.S., 1991, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Mike Bopf is a Senior Software Engineer, specializing in Python development and data science in various domains of scientific computing. He is currently working on the Image Portal Workflows (pipelines) portion of the Hedwig project which converts raw electron microscopy images into other formats for scientific use and display, using High Performance Computing resources.

Learn more about Mike Bopf, M.S.

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Kristen Browne M.Sc., M.Sc., B.M.C.

(Contractor)

Contact: kristen.browne@nih.gov

Education:

M.Sc., Biomedical Communications, 2015, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

M.Sc., Zoology, 2009, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

B.Sc., Biochemistry, 2005, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

Languages Spoken: French

Kristen’s time is distributed between the management, analysis, design, and development of software products, and the design and construction of 3D objects from scientific data sources (medical imaging, molecular structures, etc.). She is involved with the management, product design, and development of NIH 3D, PathogenAR, TB in 3D, and PaVE 3D. She was also involved in the analysis and product...

Learn more about Kristen Browne M.Sc., M.Sc., B.M.C.

Osy Desmond, M.Sc.

(Contractor)

Contact: osy.desmond@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2018, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK

M.S., 2020, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK

Languages Spoken: French

Osy is a DevOps engineer experienced in modern processes that streamline and speed up development and research. Osy has been involved in Nephele, RAP, NIH 3D, SimpleITK and GRIS seqr.

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Duc Doan, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: duc.doan@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2012, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam

M.S., 2018, University of the District of Columbia, Washington DC

Duc has experience as a Software Engineer across many different industries including outsourcing, academic, non-profit, finance, startup ,nd research institutions. At Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), Duc designs, implements and maintains software applications in support of BCBB products and services. He has a strong involvement in several projects: Nephele, NIH 3D, and...

Learn more about Duc Doan, M.S.

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Jennifer Dommer, M.B.

(Contractor)

Contact: jennifer.dommer@nih.gov

Education:

M.B., 2005, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Jennifer is a software engineer for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB). She began her career at the University of Pennsylvania’s Computational Biology and Informatics Laboratory (CBIL) working on the Apicomplexan databases. She joined BCBB in 2010 as a bioinformatician and has worked on numerous projects focused on providing tools, data, and analytical pipelines to...

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Samuel Ezeji, Jr.

(Contractor)

Contact: ezejisc@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

B.F.A., 2009, Corcoran College of Art, Washington, DC

Samuel Ezeji, Jr. is a User Experience Designer for the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch Software & Database Development Team.

Learn more about Samuel Ezeji, Jr.

Robert A. Gilmore, B.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: robert.gilmore@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2013, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi

Robert received his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Mississippi State University in 2013. As a Biomedical Informatics Data Engineer, he started with the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Branch (BCBB) in 2020. Robert’s primary focus is to maintain and upgrade genomic pipelines for the Genomic Research Integration System (GRIS).

Learn more about Robert A. Gilmore, B.S.

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Poojareddy Gogireddy

Contact: poojareddy.gogireddy@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2016, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India 

Languages Spoken: Telugu

With 6 years of hands-on experience in Manual and Automation testing, Pooja specializes in transitioning from manual to automated testing, achieving significant efficiency gains. She is skilled in writing automation scripts using Java, Selenium, and TestNG framework. As a collaborative team player, she focuses on enhancing product/application quality and driving continuous improvement initiatives.

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Diana Jing

(Contractor)

Contact: diana.jing@nih.gov

Education:

B.A, 2014, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Diana is a former biology lab tech turned front end software developer. She got into biology due to a love of birds and has previously helped rear crane chicks during a USGS internship. She also worked on evolutionary developmental biology research in an insect lab. Much to her relief, code bugs tend to be less wriggly than mealworms.

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David T. Liou, B.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: david.liou@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2006, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

David joined Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) in 2010. He has worked on numerous projects building tools for the biomedical community. David is a technical manager and the technical lead for the NIH 3D project.

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Bradley C. Lowekamp, B.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: blowekamp@mail.nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2002, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

Bradley C. Lowekamp graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2002 with Computer Sciences and Mathematics majors. His areas of interest include software engineering, open-source software development, biomedical image computing, visualization, parallel computing, algorithms analysis, and deep learning. Mr. Lowekamp is the Technical Lead for SimpleITK, an open-source, cross...

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Philip MacMenamin

(Contractor)

Contact: philip.macmenamin@nih.gov

Education:

B.Sc.(hons), Mathematics and Biology, National University Ireland, Maynooth, 1999

M.Sc., Computer Science, National University Ireland, Maynooth, 2002

Philip Macmenamin is a research software engineer. From 2003 he held a position in New York University Genomics, involved with RNA interference, microRNAs, and 3’ UTRs. Additionally, he purchased and set up a Linux supercomputer for NYU Biology, which went into service in 2008. In 2009, Philip formed a NYC-based startup. Then in 2011, he took a position at the Human Genetics Institute of New...

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Saada Musa, M.S.

Education:

M.S., Biology, 2021, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
B.S., Biology, 2019, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN

Languages Spoken: Arabic

Saada Musa is a Clinical Genomics Project Coordinator supporting the Labkey and GRIS (Genomic Research and Integration System) teams. Her background is in biology and public health with previous work including serving as a project coordinator at CDC for the Monkeypox (mpox) response, an ORISE Fellow at CDC in the Emergency Response Branch, as well as a Case Assigner and Communicable Disease...

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Laurel K. Myers, M.F.A.

(Contractor)

Contact: laurel.myers@nih.gov

Education:

M.F.A .Medical Illustration, 2012, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

B.F.A. Graphic Design, 2004, Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, GA

In working as a User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) designer for Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), Laurel has been involved with the redesign of NIH 3D as well as working on TB Portals, GRIS, and Hedwig 2. She also spearheaded the transition to Figma for the design team and the creation of the BCBB Design System. Her research interests include design trends, user...

Learn more about Laurel K. Myers, M.F.A.

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Huy Nguyen

(Contractor)

Contact: manhhuy.nguyen@nih.gov

Education:

B.A., 2014, Reed College, Portland, OR

Languages Spoken: Vietnamese

Huy is a software engineer with extensive experience developing large-scale, front-end-focused, highly interactive data exploration and visualization platforms. He is passionate about creating beautiful, engaging, high-performance web applications using the latest cloud and web technologies. Before Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), Huy worked in various software...

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Matt Reardon, B.S., M.F.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: matt.reardon@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 1995, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

M.F.S., 1999, The George Washington University, Washington, DC

Matt is the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Administrator for the Integrated Research Facility (IRF) at Fort Detrick facility, supporting a wide range of labs, users, and instrumentation. He enjoys making sure that the users have the tools they need to get their work done, and also developing new tools and pipelines to aid them in their scientific ventures. Using a variety of...

Learn more about Matt Reardon, B.S., M.F.S.

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Smilee Samuel B.D.S, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: smilee.samuel@nih.gov

Education:

B.D.S, 2001, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, India

M.S., Health Informatics, 2014, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Ph.D., Health Services Research, 2021- present, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Languages Spoken: Malayalam , Telugu, Hindi

Smilee currently works as the Project Manager for NIAID research projects providing clinical data expertise in standardizing the integration and analyses of complex biomedical data. Smilee has more than 15 years of experience in health care and research data management. Her previous experience includes working with traumatic brain injury, symptom science and self-management research projects on...

Learn more about Smilee Samuel B.D.S, M.S.

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Menolin Sharma

(Contractor)

Contact: menolin.sharma@nih.gov

Education:

M.S., 2021, University of Delaware, DE

Languages Spoken: Nepali

Menolin is a biomedical informatics data specialist at the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) since 2022. She provides support primarily in genomics data engineering. Her past work includes research projects focused on microbial genomics.

Learn more about Menolin Sharma

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Anish Shrestha

(Contractor)

Contact: anish.shrestha@nih.gov

Education:

M.S., 2023, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Languages Spoken: Nepali, Newari

Anish is an experienced software engineer with several years of experience in web development. He joined BCBB as a Python Software Engineer in 2023. Currently, he is focused on workflows development for projects like Hedwig. His current interests are in web development, large language models, and data visualization.

Learn more about Anish Shrestha

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Conrad Shyu, Ph.D.

(Contract)

Contact: conrad.shyu@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2006, University of Idaho, Idaho, ID

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Conrad is a Computational Genomics Specialist at Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB). He has been working on different projects such as Nephele, METAGENOTE, TB Portal (RAP/GAP), SUNLIT (protein structure viewer), and most recently GRIS and HGRepo. Conrad has a background in Computer Science and Mathematics and earned a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from...

Learn more about Conrad Shyu, Ph.D.

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Victor Starr Kramer

(Contractor)

Contact: victor.starrkramer@nih.gov

Education:

A.A., 2018, Montgomery College Rockville, MD

Victor Starr Kramer is a visualization technology specialist that supports the Biovisualization and 3D printing services. Interests include Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, Augmented reality, high performance computing hardware design, and 3D modeling.

Learn more about Victor Starr Kramer

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Emily Tran

(Contractor)

Contact: thien-huong.tran@nih.gov

Education:

M.S., 2020, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

B.A., 2013, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Languages Spoken: Vietnamese

Emily’s background is in computer science and programming. She has always had a strong interest in biology and bioinformatics. Emily completed her MS in Bioinformatics in 2020 and joined the Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) team in 2021. Emily works on clinical informatics projects as a full stack developer.

Learn more about Emily Tran

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Jun Yu, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: jun.yu@nih.gov

Education:

M.S., 1992, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

B.S., 1990, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

Languages Spoken: Chinese

Jun Yu is a Senior Software Development Engineer for .NET and Java. At Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), he works to support BCBB products and services. He is the main developer for the TB GAP project and is also involved with FERMS, VHICL_IMS, TB RAP, and METAGENOTE.

Learn more about Jun Yu, M.S.

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
March 13, 2025

Structural Biology at BCBB

The Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch's (BCBB) structural biology team develops and applies theoretical and computational methods to biological problems at the molecular level. Our work encompasses a broad range of topics relevant to structural biology, from quantum chemical calculations of small molecules to large-scale simulations of macromolecules and their complexes. Specific topics include the physicochemical modeling of proteins and nucleic acids, mechanism-based design of drugs and image probes, the structure, dynamics, and kinetics of proteins, enzyme mechanisms, molecular recognition, protein-ligand association, and multiprotein complexation. We are also interested in the application of mathematical and statistical methods to data analysis and image reconstruction problems and the integration of molecular and machine learning approaches.

We collaborate with NIAID and NIH investigators to elucidate the molecular basis of disease with the aim of translation. Major projects include the development of anti-tuberculosis drugs and other antimicrobial agents, e.g., against drug-resistant bacteria.

Technologies

Publications

H. Zhao, D. Wu, S. A. Hassan, A. Nguyen, J. Chen, G. Piszczek, and P. Schuck. A Conserved Oligomerization Domain in the Disordered Linker of Betacoronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins. Science Adv. (2023, accepted)

F. G. Frost, M. Morimoto, P. Sharma, L. Ruaud, N. Belnap, D. G. Calame, Y. Uchiyama, N. Matsumoto, M. M. Oud, E. A. Ferreira, V. Narayanan, S. Rangasamy, M. Huentelman, L. T. Emrick, I. Sato-Shirai, S. Kumada, N. I. Wolf, P. J. Steinbach, Y. Huang, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, B. N. Pusey, S. Passemard, J. Levy, S. Drunat, M. Vincent, A. Guet, E. Agolini, A. Novelli, M. C. Digilio, J. A. Rosenfeld, J. L. Murphy, J. R. Lupski, G. Vezina, E. F. Macnamara, D. R. Adams, M. T. Acosta, C. J. Tifft, W. A. Gahl, and M. C. V. Malicdan. Bi-Allelic SNAPC4 Variants Dysregulate Global Alternative Splicing and Lead to Neuroregression and Progressive Spastic Paraparesis. Am. J. Hum. Genet. (2023, in press)

A. Ricciardi, S. A. Hassan, O. Kamenyeva, S. Bennuru, J. Andersen, and T. B. Nutman. A Parasite-encoded Human IL-10 Receptor Antagonist Reveals a Novel Strategy Used to Modulate the Host Response in Filarial Infections. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) Nexus 4, 1 (2022)

S. Batzios, G. Tal, A.T. DiStasio, Y. Peng, C. Charalambous, P. Nicolaides, E.-J. Kamsteeg, S.H. Korman, H. Mandel, P.J. Steinbach, L. Yi, S.R. Fair, M.E. Hester, A. Drousiotou, and S.G. Kaler. Newly Identified Disorder of Copper Metabolism Caused by Variants in CTR1, a High-Affinity Copper Transporter. Hum. Mol. Genet. 31, 4121 (2022)

V. Vishwesh, T. H. Colligan, G. T. Lesica, D. R. Olson, J. Gaiser, C. J. Copeland, T. J. Wheeler, and A. Roy. Drugsniffer: An Open Source Workflow for Virtually Screening Billions of Molecules for Binding Affinity to Protein Targets. Front. Pharmacol. 13, 1 (2022)

H. Zhao, A. Nguyen, D. Wu, Y. Li, S. A. Hassan, J. Chen, H. Shroff, G. Piszczek, and P. Schuck. Plasticity in Structure and Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) Nexus 1, 1 (2022)

S. A. Hassan and P. J. Steinbach. Modulation of Free Energy Landscapes as a Strategy for the Design of Antimicrobial Peptides. J. Biol. Phys. 48, 151 (2022)

M. R. Iyer, R. Cinar, C. Wood, C. N. Zawatsky, N. J. Coffey, K. A. Kim, Z. Liu, A. Katz, S. A. Hassan, and Y. S. Lee. Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Molecular Modeling Studies of 3,4-Diarylpyrazoline series of Compounds as Potent, Non-Brain Penetrant Antagonists of Cannabinoid-1 Receptor with Reduced Lipophilicity. J. Med. Chem. 65, 2374 (2022)

See a more complete list.

Short Title
Structural Biology Bioinformatics Computational Biosciences Branch
Person List Page Type

Research Team

Team Lead

Peter J. Steinbach, Ph.D.

Contact: steinbac@exchange.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., Physics, 1990, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Steinbach came to the NIH in 1990 as a postdoctoral researcher, led the Center for Information Technology's (CIT) Center for Molecular Modeling for 23 years, and joined the NIAID’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) in 2021. He studies protein structure and dynamics with computational methods, including machine learning, homology modeling, and molecular dynamics and...

Learn more about Peter J. Steinbach, Ph.D.

Team Members

Phillip Cruz, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: phil.cruz@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 1983, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

B.S., 1977, California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA

As a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Phil performs structural biology computations in collaboration with NIH intramural researchers. Before joining the NIH, he was on the faculty of Wright State University School of Medicine, and then worked in industry at the molecular modeling company Tripos. His research utilizes molecular modeling, simulation, and advanced...

Learn more about Phillip Cruz, Ph.D.

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Sergio A. Hassan, Ph.D.

Contact: hassan@mail.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D. 1997, University of São Paulo, Campinas, Brazil

Languages Spoken: Spanish, Portuguese

Sergio A. Hassan, Ph.D. uses computers to study the structure, dynamics, kinetics, and thermodynamics of proteins and their complexes. His work integrates research and development. His research interests include: Macromolecular interfaces and molecular recognition Protein-ligand interactions and multiprotein complexation Methods development Current projects include: Modular workflow to integrate...

Learn more about Sergio A. Hassan, Ph.D.

Yong-Sok Lee, Ph.D.

Contact: leeys@mail.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 1988, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Languages Spoken: Korean

Dr. Lee collaborates with NIAID and NIH investigators to elucidate the molecular basis of diseases with the aim of drug discovery. In this endeavor, computer simulations are being carried out to investigate the reaction mechanism of small molecules, enzyme mechanisms, and protein-ligand interactions. His major projects include the discovery of new drugs for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other...

Learn more about Yong-Sok Lee, Ph.D.

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
January 10, 2025

Microbial Genomics at BCBB

Genomics has become a mainstream tool, yet the amount of data produced by sequencing instruments or available on public databases presents challenges and opportunities for discovery. Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) has expertise in many types of genomics methods applied to metagenomics, microbial genomics, transcriptomics, phylogenomics and others. Areas of collaboration include:

  • Assembly of viral, bacterial and eukaryotic genomes
  • Structural and functional annotation of genomic and transcriptomics datasets
  • Comparative genomics, identification and characterization of gene families and mobile genetic elements
  • Genome diversity studies, including identification, annotation, and analysis of single and multiple nucleotide polymorphisms
  • Phylogenetic analysis and molecular evolution
  • Single-cell and bulk RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and ATAC-seq analysis and integration using longitudinal and cross-sectional experimental designs
  • Gene ontology and gene enrichment analyses, functional gene clustering and network studies
  • Host-pathogen interaction studies
  • Development of custom bioinformatic analysis pipelines

Technologies

*METAGENOTE WILL BE RETIRED on May 1, 2025. After this date, you will no longer have access to the application or your data through the interface. Following its retirement, the METAGENOTE code, documentation, and more information will be available at https://github.com/niaid/metagenote.

Publications

Beare, P. A., Jeffrey, B. M., Long, C. M., Martens, C. M. and Heinzen, R. A. Genetic mechanisms of Coxiella burnetii lipopolysaccharide phase variation. PLoS Pathog, 14, 3 (Mar 2018), e1006922. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006922. PMID: 29481553 

Cooper, K. G., Chong, A., Kari, L., Jeffrey, B., Starr, T., Martens, C., McClurg, M., Posada, V. R., Laughlin, R. C., Whitfield-Cargile, C., Garry Adams, L., Bryan, L. K., Little, S. V., Krath, M., Lawhon, S. D. and Steele-Mortimer, O. Regulatory protein HilD stimulates Salmonella Typhimurium invasiveness by promoting smooth swimming via the methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein McpC. Nat Commun, 12, 1 (Jan 13 2021), 348. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20558-6. PMID: 33441540.

Larson, C. L., Martinez, E., Beare, P. A., Jeffrey, B. M., Heinzen, R. A. and Bonazzi, M. Right on Q: genetics begin to unravel Coxiella burnetii host cell interactions. Future Microbiol, 11 (Jul 2016), 919-939. https://doi.org/10.2217/fmb-2016-0044. PMID: 27418426

Schureck, M. A., Darling, J. E., Merk, A., Shao, J., Daggupati, G., Srinivasan, P., Olinares, P. D. B., Rout, M. P., Chait, B. T., Wollenberg, K., Subramaniam, S. and Desai, S. A. Malaria parasites use a soluble RhopH complex for erythrocyte invasion and an integral form for nutrient uptake. Elife, 10 (Jan 4 2021). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.65282. PMID: 33393463

Srivastava, K., Wollenberg, K. R. and Flegel, W. A. The phylogeny of 48 alleles, experimentally verified at 21 kb, and its application to clinical allele detection. J Transl Med, 17, 1 (Feb 11 2019), 43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-019-1791-9. PMID: 30744658.

Wollenberg, K., Harris, M., Gabrielian, A., Ciobanu, N., Chesov, D., Long, A., Taaffe, J., Hurt, D., Rosenthal, A., Tartakovsky, M. and Crudu, V. A retrospective genomic analysis of drug-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis in a high-burden setting, with an emphasis on comparative diagnostics and reactivation and reinfection status. BMC Infect Dis, 20, 1 (Jan 7 2020), 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4739-z. PMID: 31910804.

Short Title
Microbial Genomics Bioinformatics Computational Biosciences Branch
Person List Page Type

Research Team

Team Lead

Kurt R. Wollenberg, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: wollenbergk@niaid.nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 1997, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

M.E.A., 1986, George Washington University, Washington, DC

B.S., 1981, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

Dr. Wollenberg has been a member of Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) since 2006, serving as the phylogenetics subject matter expert. He has provided evolutionary analysis of genomic sequence data from various pathogens (e.g., hepatitis C, hepatitis D, Ebola virus, Guaroa virus, Cryptococcus sp., Plasmodium spp, M. tuberculosis) and sequence data for host proteins which...

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Team Members

Madeline R. Galac, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: madeline.galac@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2004, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY

Ph.D, 2012, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Dr. Madeline R. Galac started her career doing molecular biology research of microbes at the bench before adding more bioinformatic questions to her interests. She has been involved in many genomic projects examining the ways that bacterial genomes evolve and how they are related to one another. Additionally, she has experience with genome assemblies using a variety of sequencing technologies.

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Brendan M. Jeffrey, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: brendan.jeffrey@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 1998, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

Ph.D., 2011, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Brendan is a microbial genomics specialist within the Science Support Section of Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), where he provides expertise in genome sequencing, comparative genomics, and analysis of other ‘omics data. He was trained as a Cell Biologist with a focus in computational biology.

Learn more about Brendan M. Jeffrey, Ph.D.

Colton M. McNinch, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: colton.mcninch@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2014, Southwestern College, Winfield, KS

Ph.D, 2020, Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Colton McNinch is a transcriptomics specialist within the Science Support Section of Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB). He provides analytical and training support to NIAID researchers on projects involving RNA-Sequencing data (e.g. Bulk RNA-Seq, scRNA-Seq, and spatial transcriptomics). He was trained as a molecular biologist and currently leverages that expertise in his...

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Margaret C.W. Ho, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: margaret.ho@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., 2008, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA

Ph.D., 2015, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

Languages Spoken: Cantonese

Margaret is a functional genomics specialist on the Microbial Genomics team at Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), providing expertise in analyzing ‘omics data from diverse eukaryotic organisms. Her scientific training includes research in genetics, cis-regulatory elements, noncoding DNA and functional genomics.

Learn more about Margaret C.W. Ho, Ph.D.

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
February 28, 2025

Metagenomics at BCBB

The microbiome and meta-omics team at the Bioinformatics Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) focuses on analyses of microbes and microbial ecology including metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and integrations of other 'omics data. We collaborate on research directly with investigators in NIAID labs, as well as through the NIAID Microbiome Program. Some of these collaborations have led to the development of bioinformatic pipelines for public use - see a list of these tools below.

We are available for research collaborations, support sessions to answer questions, one-on-one or group trainings, and pipeline development. See below for examples and selected publications.

Areas of expertise include:

  • Amplicon metagenomics (16S, 18S, ITS, etc.)
  • Shotgun metagenomics including assembly, compositional and functional analyses of multi-kingdom mixed communities using short and long read data.
  • Community and diversity analyses.
  • Metabolomics
  • Viral and microbial meta-transcriptomics.
  • Viral genome assembly and variant calling.
  • Comparative genomics.
  • Viral phylodynamics and molecular evolution.
  • Integration of other omics data with microbiome data.
  • Pathogen detection.

Development of custom pipelines and scripts for individual labs, including general bioinformatics processing, optimization for small and large-scale computation on microbiome datasets and databases in specific environments (HPC, containerization, cloud, etc.)

Publications

Kupritz, J; Angelova, A; Nutman, T; Gazzinelli-Guimaraes, P. Helminth-induced human gastrointestinal dysbiosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis reveals insights into altered taxa diversity and microbial gradient collapse. mBio. 2021 Dec 21;12(6):e0289021.

Ozen, A.; Kasap, N.; Vujkovic-Cvijin, I.; Apps, R.; Cheung, F.; Karakoc-Aydiner, E.; Akkelle, B.; Sari, S.; Tutar, E.; Ozcay, F.; Uygun, D. K.; Islek, A.; Akgun, G.; Selcuk, M.; Sezer, O. B.; Zhang, Y.; Kutluk, G.; Topal, E.; Sayar, E.; Celikel, C.; Houwen, R. H. J.; Bingol, A.; Ogulur, I.; Eltan, S. B.; Snow, A. L.; Lake, C.; Fantoni, G.; Alba, C.; Sellers, B.; Chauvin, S. D.; Dalgard, C. L.; Harari, O.; Ni, Y. G.; Wang, M.-D.; Devalaraja-Narashimha, K.; Subramanian, P.; Ergelen, R.; Artan, R.; Guner, S. N.; Dalgic, B.; Tsang, J.; Belkaid, Y.; Ertem, D.; Baris, S.; Lenardo, M. J., Broadly Effective Metabolic and Immune Recovery with C5 Inhibition in CHAPLE Disease. Nature Immunology. 2021, 22 (2), 128–139. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-020-00830-z.

Stern, D. B.; Castro Nallar, E.; Rathod, J.; Crandall, K. A., DNA Barcoding Analysis of Seafood Accuracy in Washington, D.C. Restaurants. PeerJ. 2017, 5, e3234. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3234.

Sortino, O.; Phanuphak, N.; Schuetz, A.; Ortiz, A. M.; Chomchey, N.; Belkaid, Y.; Davis, J.; Mystakelis, H. A.; Quiñones, M.; Deleage, C.; Ingram, B.; Rerknimitr, R.; Pinyakorn, S.; Rupert, A.; Robb, M. L.; Ananworanich, J.; Brenchley, J.; Sereti, I.; RV254/SEARCH010 Study Group. Impact of Acute HIV Infection and Early Antiretroviral Therapy on the Human Gut Microbiome Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2020, 7 (12).https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz367.

Chascsa, D. M.; Ferré, E. M. N.; Hadjiyannis, Y.; Alao, H.; Natarajan, M.; Quiñones, M.; Kleiner, D. E.; Simcox, T. L.; Chitsaz, E.; Rose, S. R.; Hallgren, A.; Kampe, O.; Marko, J.; Ali, R. O.; Auh, S.; Koh, C.; Belkaid, Y.; Lionakis, M. S.; Heller, T. APECED-Associated Hepatitis: Clinical, Biochemical, Histological and Treatment Data From a Large, Predominantly American Cohort. Hepatology 2021, 73 (3), 1088–1104. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.31421.

Short Title
Metagenomics at the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch
Person List Page Type

Research Team

Team Lead

Poorani Subramanian, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: poorani.subramanian@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computing, 2010, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

B.A., Applied Mathematics in Economics, 2002, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Poorani collaborates with NIAID investigators on analysis of microbiome data and integrating it with other multi-omics data to explore research questions. She is also the lead for the Nephele project, which is a NIAID web application for microbial genomics and metagenomics analysis.

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Team Members

Angelina G. Angelova, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: angelina.angelova@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland

M.Sc., University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

B.Sc., University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Dr. Angelina Angelova is a molecular and microbiologist turned bioinformatician and metagenomics analyst. She earned her Ph.D. in Marine Microbial Ecology from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. She received her M.Sc. in Soil, Water, and Environmental Science and B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Arizona. Angelina was involved in genomic library constructions...

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Lauren E. Krausfeldt, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: lauren.krausfeldt@nih.gov

Education:

B.Sc., Biology, 2012, Elmhurst University

Ph.D., Microbiology, 2018, University of Tennessee Knoxville

Dr. Lauren Krausfeldt is a microbiologist with expertise in microbial and viral ecology and bioinformatics. She applies multi-omics approaches to study both human and environmental health problems through the lens of microbial biodiversity and genomics. In her position as a Metagenomics Specialist in the Science Support section of Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) at NIAID...

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Kathryn McCauley, M.P.H.

(Contractor)

Contact: kathryn.mccauley@nih.gov

Education:

M.P.H., 2015, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

B.A., 2012, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Katie joined Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) as a Metagenomics Specialist in December 2022 and works remotely in California. She received her Master's of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from University of California, Berkeley where she studied associations between childhood leukemia, early-life exposures, and genetics. During her studies, she became...

Learn more about Kathryn McCauley, M.P.H.

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
March 10, 2025

Imaging at BCBB

The Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch's (BCBB) imaging team aims to understand the structure and distribution of components and processes at the sub-cellular, cellular, or gross anatomical levels. Areas of collaboration include:

  • Image classification and segmentation (deep learning)
  • Image registration
  • Workflow development

Technologies

Publications

Collaborator: Ronald Germain (LISB). IBEX: an iterative immunolabeling and chemical bleaching method for high-content imaging of diverse tissues. Nat Protoc, 2022. 17(2): 378-401.

Collaborator: Ronald Germain (LISB). IBEX: A versatile multiplex optical imaging approach for deep phenotyping and spatial analysis of cells in complex tissues. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2020.

Collaborator: Stefan Jaeger (NLM). Generalization Challenges in Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Detection from Chest X-rays. Diagnostics 12(1). 2022.

Collaborator: Stefan Jaeger (NLM). Differentiating between drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis with machine learning for clinical and radiological features. Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2022. Surg, 12(1): 675-687.

Short Title
Imaging Bioinformatics Computational Biosciences Branch
Person List Page Type

Research Team

Team Lead

Ziv Yaniv, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: zivrafael.yaniv@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2004, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Languages Spoken: Hebrew

Ziv Yaniv is a senior imaging scientist. His expertise is in image-guided surgical interventions and bio-medical image analysis. He believes in the curative power of open research and has been involved in development and leadership of free open source software, including the Image-Guided Surgery Toolkit, the Insight Registration and Segmentation Toolkit and SimpleITK.

Learn more about Ziv Yaniv, Ph.D.

Team Members

David T. Chen, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: dchen@mail.nih.gov

Education:

B.A., 1988, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

M.S., 1991, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Ph.D., 1998, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

David Chen is a senior visualization scientist. His background is in interactive 3D computer graphics and 3D medical image analysis. He is a core developer of the SimpleITK software toolkit for medical image segmentation and registration.

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Karthik Kantipudi, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: karthik.kantipudi@nih.gov

Education:

B.S., Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

M.S., University of St. Thomas, St Paul, MN

Languages Spoken: Hindi, Telugu

Karthik Kantipudi is an imaging specialist working primarily with the NIAID TB Portals Program. He received his master's degree in data science from the University of St. Thomas and a Bachelor's degree from IIT Kharagpur. At Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB), he conducts research in deep learning and machine learning involving medical images and clinical information.

Learn more about Karthik Kantipudi, M.S.

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
May 16, 2023

Data Science, Biostatistics, and Informatics at BCBB

Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch’s (BCBB) Data Science, Biostatistics, and Informatics team focuses on maximizing the value and knowledge contained in your data to identify patterns, prioritize experimental variables, and perform predictive modeling.

Our data analysis methods include:

  • Identifying patterns and outliers within numerical, text, or sequence-based data sets
  • Using AI/ML algorithms and experimental design
  • Data processing (e.g. feature engineering, transformation, normalization, and imputation)
  • Developing and evaluating supervised and unsupervised machine learning models
  • Variable ranking and prioritization
  • Deep learning and AI approaches
  • Reproducible data science workflows
  • Statistical testing and power analysis

Major Areas of Focus

  • Data Science
  • Biostatistics
  • Informatics

Publications

Gabriel Rosenfeld (BCBB), et al. Radiologist observations of computed tomography (CT) images predict treatment outcome in TB Portals, a real-world database of tuberculosis (TB) cases. PLOS ONE. 2021. 16(3), e0247906. 

Collaborator: Zhiyung Lu (NCBI). PhenoTagger: a hybrid method for phenotype concept recognition using human phenotype ontology. Bioinformatics. 2021. 37(13), 1884-1890. 

Gabriel Rosenfeld (BCBB), et al. Current challenges in microbiome metadata collection. bioRxiv 2021.05.05.442781.

Collaborator: Patrick Duffy (LMIV). 2020. Structure and function of a malaria transmission blocking vaccine targeting Pfs230 and Pfs230-Pfs48/45 proteins. Communications Biology 3 (395), 1-12.

D. Veltri (BCBB), et al. 2018. Deep Learning Improves Antimicrobial Peptide Recognition. Bioinformatics 34 (16), 2740–2747.

Short Title
Data Science Biostatistics Bioinformatics Computational Biosciences Branch
Person List Page Type

Research Team

Team Leads

Gabriel Rosenfeld, Ph.D.

Contact: gabriel.rosenfeld@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2013, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York, NY

M.S., Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

B.S., Biology, 2005, SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, NY

Gabriel Rosenfeld serves as Lead of Data Science in the Science Support Section in Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB). He also contributes as subject matter expert to the TB Portals program, a trans-national partnership to use real-world data to study drug-resistant tuberculosis. He joined NIAID as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) in 2013, spent several years in...

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Daniel Veltri, Ph.D.

Contact: daniel.veltri@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2015, George Mason University, Manassas, VA

M.S., 2013, George Mason University, Manassas, VA

B.A., 2006, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO

Daniel Veltri is a bioinformatics data scientist and the federal lead for BCBB’s Clinical and Laboratory Informatics Systems group and co-lead of the Data Science, Biostatistics, and Informatics Support Team. He specializes in applying machine learning to clinical, genomic, and proteomic data and has the authored popular tools AMP Scanner for predicting antimicrobial peptides and SimpleSynteny for...

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Team Members

Jingwen Gu, M.S.

(Contractor)

Contact: jingwen.gu@nih.gov

Education:

M.S., 2015, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

Languages Spoken: Chinese

Jingwen primarily provides statistical support to NIAID researchers. She has experience in statistical genomics, machine learning, clinical trials, experimental design, causal inference, etc. While at BCBB, her work has focused on TB Portals and COVID-related research.

Learn more about Jingwen Gu, M.S.

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Mariam Namawejje, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: mariam.namawejje@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2020, George Mason University, Manassas, VA

M.S., 2009, Makerere University, Kampala, UG

B.S., 2004, Makerere University, Kampala, UG

Mariam is a proficient data scientist specializing in bioinformatics and computational biology. With a strong background in statistics and information systems, she brings a comprehensive understanding of data analysis and programming to her work. Joining the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) in 2020, she has a keen interest in leveraging this expertise to analyze complex...

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Mina Peyton, Ph.D.

(Contractor)

Contact: mina.peyton@nih.gov

Education:

Ph.D., 2022, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

M.S., 2022, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Mina is a bioinformatics and computational biology specialist. She joined Bioinformatics and Computational Bioscience Branch (BCBB) in 2022. Her previous research experience was in proteomics, phosphoproteomics, aging, estrogen, and skeletal muscle. In her current role, she provides analytical support to NIAID researchers and ACE students on projects involving machine learning and biostatistical...

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Yuyan Yi, Ph.D.

Education:

B.S., 2018, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China

Ph.D., 2023, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Languages Spoken: Chinese

With a background in statistics and data science, Yuyan applies machine learning and statistical methodologies across biomedical data. Ms. Yi provides analytical support to NIAID researchers, specializing in projects integrating machine learning and biostatistics. She also actively contributes to tuberculosis (TB) research, utilizing diverse real-world data for comprehensive biological and public...

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Section
Content Manager
Content Coordinator
April 11, 2024