Leah Matzat, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Leah performed her thesis work on mRNA nuclear export in the laboratory of Dr. Lyne Levesque at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is using her expertise in RNA-protein biochemistry to examine the function of a newly identified insulator-associated RNA-binding protein.
Madoka Chinen, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Madoka identified a novel role for splicing factors in heterochromatin formation in fission yeast during her thesis work in Tokio Tani’s laboratory at Kumamoto University. She is studying the mechanistic relationship between RNAi and chromatin insulators.
Matthew King, B.S., Postbaccalaureate IRTA
Matt was a Biological Sciences and Neuroscience double major at the University of Delaware. He is studying the functions of RNA-binding proteins in chromatin insulator activity.
Su Jun Lim, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
At the University of Rochester Medical Center in the laboratory of Dr. Willis Li, Su Jun’s thesis work focused on mechanisms of heterochromatin formation including characterization of a novel RNAi factor in Drosophila. Su Jun is taking complementary computational and molecular genetics approaches to understand relationships between RNA silencing and chromatin function.
Ezequiel Nazer, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Ezequiel pioneered the study of RNA-binding protein and mRNA localization dynamics in Trypanosomes for his thesis work at the Universidad de San Martin in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Sanchez. Ezequiel is studying the role of chromatin insulators in transcriptional control.
Patrick Boyle, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (alum)
Pat’s thesis work to purify and study DNA replication complexes was carried out at University of Notre Dame under the supervision of Dr. Subhash Basu. He moved to University of Virginia to map and characterize replication origins on a genome wide level as part of the ENCODE project in the laboratory of Dr. Anindya Dutta. He examined enzymatic activities associated with chromatin insulator complexes. He is currently a Scientist at QIAGEN.
Nellie Moshkovich, Ph.D., Ph.D. student (alum)
Nellie was enrolled in the Molecular and Cell Biology Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland and was a member of the Graduate Partnerships Program at NIH. She studied the role of RNA silencing in heterochromatin formation and chromatin insulator function. Nellie went on to teach at Hands on Science, a local non-profit organization that encourages science and mathematics education for children. She is currently a Sallie Rosen Kaplan Postdoctoral Fellow at NCI.
Brandi Thompson, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (alum)
Brandi’s first experience with Drosophila genetics was as an undergraduate in Dr. Sarah Elgin’s lab at Washington University. She went on to characterize the biochemical activity of a chromatin remodeller for her thesis work at the University of Michigan in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Bochar. Brandi studied chromatin insulator-dependent looping interactions. She is currently enrolled in a Clinical Medical Genetics Fellowship at UCSF.
Parul Nisha, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (alum)
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Parul studied molecular mechanisms of heterochromatic gene silencing in Dr. Amy Csink's laboratory. She studied the differential effects of RNA silencing on various chromatin insulators. Parul is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Yatin Vyas at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Matthew Emmett, M.S., Technical IRTA (alum)
Matt obtained both a B.A. in Biology and M.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University. He studied the effects of insulators on the chromatin landscape using a variety of molecular techniques. He is currently enrolled in an M.D./Ph.D. program at University of Pennsylvania.
Patrick Murphy, B.S., Postbaccalaureate IRTA (alum)
Patrick graduated from St. John's University with a B.S. in Biology. He worked on the development of a visual cell based assay for higher order nuclear organization that will be used to perform a high throughput dsRNA knockdown screen. He is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Cornell University.
