The Carvunis Lab members (July 2, 2024)
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Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Born and raised in Paris, France, she received a BS in Biology/Biochemistry and a Masters in Molecular Neurosciences from Université Paris VI and the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris and a second Masters in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Life Sciences from Université Paris VII. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from Université de Grenoble in 2011, having done most of her graduate research work on the mechanisms and dynamics of protein interaction network evolution in the Center for Cancer Systems Biology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. After a brief postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Carvunis went on to study the evolution of transcriptional networks at the University of California, San Diego. She established an independent research group in Pittsburgh in December 2016 to study the molecular mechanisms of change and innovation in biological systems. In Pittsbugh, Dr Carvunis co-founded the Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine to advance research and education at the interface. Dr. Carvunis has received a number of distinctions including a Medal of honorable doctoral work, the national L’Oreal-Unesco Award for Women in Science, the NIH Pathway to Independence Award, the Searle Scholars award, the Trailblazer award from the Ladies Hospital Aid Society, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the NSF CAREER award, the University of Pittsburgh Chancelor’s Distinguished Award for Research, the NIH Transformative Research Award, and the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) award. anc201[at]pitt[dot]edu | CV |
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Nelson Castilho Coelho is Senior Research Specialist in The Carvunis Lab. Born in Portugal, Nelson has an undergrad in Biochemistry and a Masters in Biotechnology both from University of Algarve. He first worked as research technician at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC) and then as lab manager/research technician at the Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR) in Portugal and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA. Before joining the Carvunis lab he was working as research assistant at the Institute of Genetics and Development of Rennes (IGDR) in France. Nelson likes to dedicate his free time to photography, running and baking. castilho[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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Lin Chou is a Ph.D. student in the Integrative Systems Biology program of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Lin has a broad interest in genomics and evolutionary biology. Lin received an undergraduate degree in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. He worked as an undergraduate researcher and developed a high-throughput genotyping toolkit for crop breeders. After completing his undergraduate degree, he spent two and a half years at the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, where he used next and third-generation sequencing data to study the genome evolution of symbiotic and pathogenic bacteria. He joined the Carvunis Lab in March 2021. Lin’s research is focused on understanding the phenotypic impact of proto-genes and the underlying principles. lic130[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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Catherine Douds, Ph. D., is a postdoctoral fellow in the Carvunis lab. She received her BS in Biochemistry from Juniata College and went on to receive her Ph. D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology from Pennsylvania state University. There she worked on developing experimental and computational methods for improving measurement and prediction of RNA structure in vivo. Outside of lab, Catherine enjoys sewing, quilting, woodworking, and spending time with her dog, Betty. cad400[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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Carly Houghton is a PhD student in the CMU-Pitt Joint Computational Biology program. She received her BS in Biology from George Washington University and then trained as post-baccalaureate research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. She received her MA in Biology from Johns Hopkins University, and conducted her graduate research at the NIH that focused on the regulation of aerobic respiration in a bacterial relative of mammalian mitochondria. Following completion of her masters, she completed a short research fellowship at the NIDDK that concentrated on computational modeling of neural circuit activity in the human visual cortex. She has broad scientific interests and a passion for studying evolution and systems biology. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, traveling, and being outdoors. She joined the Carvunis lab in December, 2018 and obtained funding for her PhD research through a competitive T32 award from NIBIB. cah244[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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Jiwon Lee is a Ph.D. student in the CMU-Pitt Joint Computational Biology PhD program. She received a BS in Biological Sciences with a minor in Science and Technology Policy from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and an MS in Epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. After completing her master’s, she spent three years at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she primarily worked on whole genome sequence association studies of sleep phenotypes in the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program, and harmonized Cleveland Family Study (CFS) data for various TOPMed studies. jil303[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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Emma Lipinski is a bioinformatics research assistant in the Carvunis Lab. She attended the University of Pittsburgh obtaining her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering and her master’s degree in genome bioinformatics. Outside of the lab, she enjoys skiing, watching movies, and discovering new restaurants. Emma joined the Carvunis Lab as a graduate student from May-August of 2023 and again as a staff member in December 2024. ecl112[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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April Rich is a PhD student in the CMU-Pitt Joint Computational Biology program (CPCB). She received a BS in Biology from Fordham University. Her research interests include transcriptional regulation and long read sequencing. Outside of research, April is committed to educational outreach. She has received a number of awards including the NSF GRFP, the 2022 CPCB Commitment to Outreach Award, and the 2024 CPCB Outstanding Research award. aar75[at]pitt[dot]edu | check out her YouTube channel here |
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Nozomu Saeki, Ph.D., is a postdoc in the Carvunis Lab. Nozomu obtained his Ph.D. from Okayama University, Japan. Nozomu majored in Chemistry and conducted theoretical and computational studies on vibronic coupling at Kobe City College of Technology. During his undergraduate studies, Nozomu discovered a passion for systems biology. This led him to the Moriya Lab at Okayama University, where he studied yeast systems biology. Nozomu has an interest in horticulture and enjoys spending time in natural surroundings. He joined the Carvunis Lab in May 2023. nos69[at]pitt[dot]edu |
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Aaron Wacholder, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in The Carvunis Lab. Born in Maryland, he has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Stanford University. He attained his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from University of Colorado Boulder, developing computational methods for evolutionary analysis of transposable elements in the laboratory of Dr. David Pollock at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Aaron joined the Carvunis lab in Februrary 2018. acw87[at]pitt[dot]edu |
| Former Group Members | |
| POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS Branden Van Oss, Ph.D., Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA postdoctoral fellow, 2018 – 2022 |
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GRADUATE STUDENTS |
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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS |
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STAFF |
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