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PRISM Mentors

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PRISM supports all faculty in recruiting postdocs. The faculty listed on this page have expressed special interest in the PRISM program and may be actively recruiting. This is one of many ways to identify potential postdoc mentors; also review the guidance and links in the PRISM Application Guide for other ways to explore Stanford faculty. As you look for potential postdoc mentors, consider how faculty research interests align with your own.

Faculty: to create a profile, click "Log In" at the top right corner, then the "PRISM Faculty Opt In" button below. To edit an existing profile, click "Log In" at the top right corner, then the "Edit" button under your name/department/URL.

 

PRISM Faculty Opt-In   Displaying 101 - 150 of 568
PRISM mentor Research Interests

Margaret Fuller

Developmental Biology, Genetics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med
Professor
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Developmental Biology, Genetics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med


Last Updated: February 27, 2023

We study the genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate proliferation and differentiation in adult stem cell lineages, using the Drosophila male germ line as a model.  Our current work is focused on the switch from mitosis to meiosis and how the new gene expression program for cell type specific terminal differentiation is turned on.  One emerging surprise is the potential role of alternative processing of nascent mRNAs in setting up the dramatic change in cell state

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Postgraduate Training Program in Epithelial Biology
  • Other

Lauren Goins

Developmental Biology
Assistant Professor
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Developmental Biology


Last Updated: March 13, 2024

The Goins Lab aims to understand how cells make decisions. Our research focuses on how young, immature blood stem cells, with the potential to become many different cell types, choose between these cell fates. Our research elucidates how blood stem cells make these fate decisions by studying the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms that control the decision-making process during homeostasis and in response to stress. We are interested in how intracellular signaling pathways, asymmetric or symmetric cell division, gene regulation, cell cycle control, and stress response pathways are integrated together to influence cell fate choice. 

Dan Jarosz

Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology
Associate Professor
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Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology


Last Updated: June 30, 2022

Protein self-assembly in evolution, disease, and development; Systems biology of aging;  Mutational robustness in cancer and pathogens; Quantitative analysis of evolving genotype-to-phenotoype maps. Epigenetic control of interspecies interactions.

David Kingsley

Developmental Biology
Professor
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Developmental Biology


Last Updated: December 01, 2022

Although the genomes of many organisms have now been sequenced, we still know relatively little about the specific DNA sequence changes that underlie important traits and diseases. My laboratory has developed an innovative combination of genetic and genomic approaches to identify the detailed molecular mechanisms that control key vertebrate traits. We use genetic crosses in mice, stickleback fish, and pluripotent stem cells to identify key chromosome regions controlling phenotypic traits. We use comparative genomics and  gene expression analysis in different populations, species, and hybrids to identify particular genomic changes with these key regions.  And we use transgenic and genome editing approaches to test the phenotypic effect of specific genomic changes, thus providing a direct functional link  between DNA sequence changes and classic phenotypes.  By combining genetics and genomics we have been able to identify the detailed molecular basis of major changes in skeletal structures, limb development, pigmentation, and neural functions across a range of populations and species.  We are currently extending these approaches to genetic and genomic mapping of human traits and diseases using experiments with chimp and human stem cells.    We are still a long way from knowing the genomic mechanisms that have made us human. However, we believe that molecular mechanisms contributing to human  traits can now be studied, and that progress in this area will lead to important new insights into both human health and human disease.

Kyle Loh

Developmental Biology, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med
Assistant Professor
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Developmental Biology, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med


Last Updated: August 18, 2023

How the richly varied cell-types in the human body arise from one embryonic cell is a biological marvel and mystery. We have mapped how human pluripotent stem cells develop into over thirty different human cell-types. This roadmap allowed us to efficiently and rapidly generate human liver, bone, heart and blood vessel progenitors in a Petri dish from pluripotent stem cells. Each of these tissue precursors could regenerate their cognate tissue upon injection into respective mouse models, with relevance to regenerative medicine. In addition to our interests in developmental and stem cell biology, we also harbor an emerging interest in deadly biosafety level 4 viruses, such as Ebola and Nipah viruses.

Nicole Martinez

Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology
Assistant Professor
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Chemical and Systems Biology, Developmental Biology


Last Updated: February 10, 2023

The Martinez lab studies RNA regulatory mechanisms that control gene expression. We focus on mRNA processing, RNA modifications and their roles in development and disease.

Flora Novotny Rutaganira

Biochemistry, Developmental Biology
Assistant Professor
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Biochemistry, Developmental Biology


Last Updated: August 15, 2023

The FUNR Lab, lead by Flora Rutaganira uses choanoflagellates—the closest living single-celled relatives to animals—to study the origin of animal cell communication. We apply chemical, genetic, and cell biological tools to probe choanoflagellate cell-cell communication. We hope that our research has implications for understanding not only animal cell signaling, but also the origin of multicellularity in animals.

Anne Villeneuve

Developmental Biology, Genetics
Professor
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Developmental Biology, Genetics


Last Updated: August 15, 2023

Anne Villeneuve’s laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular events underlying the faithful inheritance of chromosomes during meiosis, the specialized cell division program by which diploid organisms generate haploid gametes. These events are crucial for reproduction, since failure to execute them correctly leads to aneuploidy, one of the leading causes of miscarriages and birth defects in humans. One major goal is to understand the mechanisms and regulation of genetic recombination, which is responsible both for reassortment of genetic traits and for promoting segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. An inter-related goal is to understand how meiosis-specific chromosome organization is established, maintained, and remodeled to bring about successful genome inheritance. Dr. Villeneuve approaches these issues using the nematode C. elegans, a simple organism that is especially amenable to combining sophisticated microscopic, genetic and genomic approaches in a single experimental system. Dr. Villeneuve’s research interrogates the process of meiosis at multiple different scales: 1) at the level of the DNA repair complexes that assemble at the sites of meiotic recombination; 2) at the level of the meiosis-specific chromosome structures that promote, regulate and respond to meiotic recombination events and 3) at the level of DNA organization at the whole-chromosome scale.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Noah Diffenbaugh

Earth Energy Env Sciences, Woods Institute
Professor, Senior Fellow
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Earth Energy Env Sciences, Woods Institute


Last Updated: January 12, 2022

The Climate and Earth System Dynamics Group is led by Prof. Noah S. Diffenbaugh. Our research takes an integrated approach to understanding climate dynamics and climate impacts by probing the interface between physical processes and natural and human vulnerabilities. This interface spans a range of spatial and temporal scales, and a number of climate system processes. Much of the group's work has focused on the role of fine-scale processes in shaping climate change impacts, including studies of extreme weather, water resources, agriculture, human health, and poverty vulnerability.

Alexandra Konings

Earth Energy Env Sciences
Assistant Professor

Earth Energy Env Sciences


Last Updated: August 10, 2020

Our group in Stanford's Department of Earth System Science, led by Prof. Alexandra Konings, studies how ecosystems and the carbon cycle respond to variations in water availability at large scales, and how ecosystems will change under future climate. Our research questions principally focus on plant hydraulics, water-carbon coupling in the tropics, and the role of spatial variability in plant traits. In order to answers these questions, we primarily use remote sensing data analysis and model development. In particular, we often use new microwave measurements of vegetation water content. We believe that a deep understanding of remote sensing techniques helps us do better science and therefore also work on developing new remote sensing datasets and their validation.

David Lobell

Earth Energy Env Sciences
Professor

Earth Energy Env Sciences


Last Updated: August 10, 2020

Food security; Agriculture; Data science; Remote Sensing

Simona Onori

Earth Energy Env Sciences
Associate Professor
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Earth Energy Env Sciences


Last Updated: February 23, 2024

Control Systems and Optimization 

Applied Math and Statistics 

Energy Storage Devices

Energy Conversion Devices

 

Paula Welander

Earth Energy Env Sciences
Associate Professor
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Earth Energy Env Sciences


Last Updated: January 31, 2023

Earth’s history is marked by atmospheric and climatic fluctuations that have shaped life and its evolution. Floral and faunal fossils have revealed that these ancient events profoundly changed the abundance and diversity of macroscopic organisms, yet much less is known about how microbial communities responded to these dramatic environmental changes. This is one of the challenges in geomicrobiology - how do we study microorganisms in the context of Earth’s distant past?

While microbes do not readily leave diagnostic morphological fossils, subtle microbial signatures are preserved in sedimentary rocks for billions of years. One such group of biosignatures are well-preserved lipid compounds with specific biological origins, which can be used as biomarkers or "molecular fossils" for the presence of certain microbes or environmental conditions at the time of deposition.

Despite the significant implications biomarker studies have on our interpretation of microbial evolution and Earth’s ancient environment, our understanding of the phylogenetic distribution and physiological function of these molecules in modern bacteria is quite limited. In our lab, we combine techniques from bioinformatics, genetics, physiology and biochemistry to address three general questions that can be applied to any biomarker:

  • What is its phylogenetic distribution in modern bacteria?
  • What are its physiological roles in modern bacteria?
  • What is the evolutionary history of its biosynthetic pathway?

Elliott White Jr.

Earth Energy Env Sciences
Assistant Professor
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Earth Energy Env Sciences


Last Updated: January 26, 2022

The coastal margin is a complex socio-ecological landscape that is experiencing more frequent and stronger hazards from the coasts due to global climate change. Saltwater intrusion and Sea level rise (SWISLR) are placing coastal ecosystems under increasing threat, while humans in the coastal margin are pressured to make critical decisions regarding livelihood and well-being. Assessing, predicting, and mitigating the myriad challenges to the coastal margin requires a holistic approach that can integrate knowledge from different disciplines and work at multiple scales.

Subini Annamma

Graduate School of Education
Associate Professor
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Graduate School of Education


Last Updated: August 26, 2022

-education of Youth of Color, particularly focusing on processes of pushout, criminalization, and resistance, and racial and/or disability justice;

-experience with qualitative research in the humanistic social science tradition;

-commitment to the academic mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students as well as students from other groups underrepresented in education research;

-interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work welcome including Black Studies, Ethnic Studies, Disability Studies, Women and Gender Studies, law, criminology, sociology, and Queer Studies.

 

  • Other

Anne Charity Hudley

Graduate School of Education, Linguistics
Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education, Associate Dean of Educational Affairs, Stanford Graduate School of Education
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Graduate School of Education, Linguistics


Last Updated: August 16, 2023

 

The Black Academic Development Lab’s (BAD Lab) mission is to integrate linguistic research with educational praxis and create a model of scholarship for dissemination. Our goal is to create innovative, community-centered scholarly products. As such, the BAD Lab will establish long-term collaborative research partnerships with Black faculty, particularly at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). These collaborations will allow us to research the learning experiences of Black educators and students in education and other disciplines.

You can read about our active NSF grants here: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126405 

 https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1757654

 

 

Anne Charity-Hudley

Graduate School of Education, Linguistics
Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education, Associate Dean of Educational Affairs
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Graduate School of Education, Linguistics


Last Updated: January 27, 2023

The Stanford BAD Lab is dedicated to centering the lives of Black academics and to the study of liberatory linguistics. We are invested in research that provides insight on factors that affect the academic and professional retention and the quality of life of Black people throughout the teaching and learning lifespan. Our current research projects focus on increasing racial diversity in the STEM fields, including the linguistic sciences; supporting teachers in building their knowledge of linguistic variation and its role in student outcomes across subject areas; and survivorship care of Black cancer patients.

Victor Lee

Graduate School of Education
Associate Professor
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Graduate School of Education


Last Updated: February 09, 2024

Data literacy, Data Science Education, and AI Literacy

Our lab focuses on research and design of learning experiences and resources that can provide more critical, humanistic understanding and access to increasingly pervasive STEM topics, specifically those that focus on data and AI. We research what makes these ideas challenging or less accessible and work in collaboration with educators to devise and test solutions that can range from curricula, software, or new technologies.  Work primarily involves K-12 schools although past projects have involved libraries, homes, and museums.

Jason Yeatman

Pediatrics, Graduate School of Education
Assistant Professor
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Pediatrics, Graduate School of Education


Last Updated: August 10, 2020

Mission: Our mission is to both use neuroscience as a tool for improving education, and use education as a tool for furthering our understanding of the brain. On the one hand, advances in non-invasive, quantitative brain imaging technologies are opening a new window into the mechanisms that underlie learning. For children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, we hope to develop personalized intervention programs that are tailored to a child’s unique pattern of brain maturation. On the other hand, interventions provide a powerful tool for understanding how environmental factors shape brain development. Combining neuroimaging with educational interventions we hope to further our understanding of plasticity in the human brain.
The Lab: The Brain Development & Education Lab is located in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University and represents a collaboration between the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics within the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Education and the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute (we recently moved from The University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences). The focus of the lab is understanding the interplay between brain maturation and cognitive development.  The lab is interdisciplinary, drawing on the fields of neuroscience, psychology, education, pediatrics and engineering to answer basic scientific and applied questions.  Current projects focus on understanding how the brain’s reading circuitry develops in response to education and how targeted behavioral interventions prompt changes in the brain’s of children with dyslexia. A major component of this work is the development of software to measure properties of human brain tissue, localize differences and quantify changes over development.

Dan Congreve

Electrical Engineering
Assistant Professor
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Electrical Engineering


Last Updated: August 15, 2023

Nanoscale Materials to Solve Next Generation Challenges
The challenges facing us today are immense, and nanomaterials have shown great promise to aid in their solutions. Yet individual material systems often have significant drawbacks that prevent successful adaptation. We seek to unite material systems to build nanoscale systems where we control the flow of light, energy, and spin. By combining and understanding these material systems, we aim to uncover unique strengths and physics that are unachievable by individual systems alone, finding solutions to the challenging problems facing us.

See congrevelab.stanford.edu for more information!

Chelsea Finn

Computer Science, Electrical Engineering
Assistant Professor
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Computer Science, Electrical Engineering


Last Updated: January 28, 2023

Our lab is interested in the capability of robots and other agents to develop broadly intelligent behavior through learning and interaction. We work on robotics and machine learning, and we are affiliated with SAIL, the ML Group, the Stanford Robotics Center, and CRFM.

Craig Levin

Radiology, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, Radiology-MIPS, Stanford Cancer Center, Cardiovascular Institute, Neuroscience Institute
Professor
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Radiology, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, Radiology-MIPS, Stanford Cancer Center, Cardiovascular Institute, Neuroscience Institute


Last Updated: March 16, 2022

The research interests of the molecular imaging instrumentation lab are to create novel instrumentation and software algorithms for in vivo imaging of molecular signatures of disease in humans and small laboratory animals. These new cameras efficiently image radiation emissions in the form of positrons, annihilation photons, gamma rays, and/or light emitted from molecular contrast agents that were introduced into the body and distributed in the subject tissues. These contrast agents are designed to target molecular pathways of disease biology and enable imaging of these biological signatures in tissues residing deep within the body using measurements made from outside the body.

The goals of the instrumentation projects are to advance the sensitivity and spatial, spectral, and/or temporal resolutions, and to create new camera geometries for special biomedical applications. The computational modeling and algorithm goals are to understand the physical system comprising the subject tissues, radiation transport, and imaging system, and to provide the best available image quality and quantitative accuracy.

The work involves designing and building instrumentation, including arrays of position sensitive sensors, readout electronics, and data acquisition electronics, signal processing research, including creation of computer models, and image reconstruction, image processing, and data/image analysis algorithms, and incorporating these innovations into practical imaging devices.

The ultimate goal is to introduce these new imaging tools into studies of molecular mechanisms and treatments of disease within living subjects.

  • Cancer-Translational Nanotechnology Training Program (Cancer-TNT)
  • Multi-Disciplinary Training Program in Cardiovascular Imaging at Stanford
  • Stanford Cancer Imaging Training (SCIT) Program
  • Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS)

John Pauly

Electrical Engineering
Professor
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Electrical Engineering


Last Updated: February 23, 2024

My group does medical imaging research.  Particular areas of interest are image guided interventions, image reconstruction, and fast imaging methods. We are particularly interested in the application of machine learning methods for

Ada Poon

Electrical Engineering
Associate Professor
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Electrical Engineering


Last Updated: February 23, 2024

I am interested in how we could use electronics to treat diseases. I am particularly interested in diseases where currently, there is no drug to cure it (Alzheimer's disease), drug has side effects (obesity), and drug is too expensive (diabetes). For the obesity project, I have a hypothesis on the plasticity of white adipose tissue. I am looking for postdoc students to validate the hypothesis and then build the device making use of the hypothesis to treat obesity.

Eric Pop

Electrical Engineering, Materials Sci & Engineering
Professor
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Electrical Engineering, Materials Sci & Engineering


Last Updated: January 27, 2023

The Pop Lab is a research group led by Prof. Eric Pop in Electrical Engineering (EE) and Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at Stanford University. We are located in the Paul Allen Center for Integrated Systems (CIS), working in the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) and the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF). We are affiliated with the Stanford SystemX Alliance and the Non-Volatile Memory Technology Research Initiative (NMTRI).

Our research is at the intersection of nanoelectronics and nanoscale energy conversion, exploring topics such as:

  • Energy-efficient transistors, data storage (memory), and thermoelectrics
  • 2D materials (graphene, h-BN, MoS2, WSe2,...) and phase-change materials (GST, VO2)
  • Fundamental physical limits of current and heat flow, e.g. ballistic electrons and phonons
  • Applications of nanoscale energy transport, conversion and harvesting

Our work includes nanofabrication, characterization, and multiscale simulations. On-campus collaborations include Materials Science, Physics, Chemical and Mechanical Engineering, and off-campus they range from UIUC, UC Davis, Georgia Tech, UT Dallas, Univ. of Tokyo and Singapore (NUS), to TU Wien, Univ. Bologna and Poli Milano.

To learn more about us, please visit http://poplab.stanford.edu

Adam Wang

Radiology, Electrical Engineering
Professor
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Radiology, Electrical Engineering


Last Updated: July 14, 2022

My research interests revolve around the following areas: - Novel systems and methods for x-ray and CT imaging - Applications of x-ray/CT to image-guided interventions and therapy and diagnostic imaging - Dual energy / spectral imaging, including photon counting detectors - Applications of artificial intelligence / machine learning / deep learning to medical imaging - Monte Carlo and Deterministic methods for x-ray imaging and radiation dose - Model-based image reconstruction

  • Stanford Cancer Imaging Training (SCIT) Program

Shan Wang

Materials Sci & Engineering, Electrical Engineering
Professor
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Materials Sci & Engineering, Electrical Engineering


Last Updated: July 14, 2022

Prof. Wang and his group are engaged in the research of magnetic nanotechnologies and information storage in general, including magnetic biochips, in vitro diagnostics, cell sorting, magnetic nanoparticles, nano-patterning, spin electronic materials and sensors, magnetic inductive heads, as well as magnetic integrated inductors and transformers. He uses modern thin-film growth techniques, lithography, and nanofabrication to engineer new electromagnetic materials and devices and to study their behavior at nanoscale and at very high frequencies. His group is investigating magnetic nanoparticles, high saturation soft magnetic materials, giant magnetoresistance spin valves, magnetic tunnel junctions, and spin electronic materials, with applications in cancer nanotechnology, in vitro diagnostics, spin-based information processing, efficient energy conversion and storage, and extremely high-density magnetic recording. His group conducts research in the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials (GLAM), Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) and Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE) hosted at Stanford, and Stanford Cancer Institute. The Center for Magnetic Nanotechnology (formerly CRISM) he directs has close ties with the Information Storage Industry and co-sponsors The Magnetic Recording Conference (TMRC).

  • Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS)

Shan X. Wang

Materials Sci & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Radiology-MIPS
Professor
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Materials Sci & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Radiology-MIPS


Last Updated: March 17, 2022

Prof. Wang directs the Center for Magnetic Nanotechnology and is a leading expert in biosensors, information storage and spintronics. His research and inventions span across a variety of areas including magnetic biochips, in vitro diagnostics, cancer biomarkers, magnetic nanoparticles, magnetic sensors, magnetoresistive random access memory, and magnetic integrated inductors. 

  • Cancer-Translational Nanotechnology Training Program (Cancer-TNT)
  • Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS)
  • Other

Michal Bajdich

SLAC National Accelerator Lab, SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, Energy Science Engineering
SLAC Staff Scientist
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SLAC National Accelerator Lab, SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, Energy Science Engineering


Last Updated: January 27, 2023

Laura Attardi

Radiation Oncology, Genetics
Professor
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Radiation Oncology, Genetics


Last Updated: December 01, 2021

The gene encoding the p53 transcription factor is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer, yet we lack a complete understanding of how its loss promotes cancer and how to target this pathway therapeutically. My lab studies p53 in the context of two very deadly and common cancer, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer, to understand how p53 loss promotes tumor initiation and progression. We are investigating not only how p53 mutation changes tumor cells themselves but also how these changes in tumor cells alter the cells of the tumor microenvironment to promote cancer development. We strive to understand p53 function using varied approaches, including mass spectrometry, CRISPR screening, ATAC-sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and in vivo mouse analyses. Using these combined approaches, we are gaining key new insights into the fundamental functions of p53 in vivo, which will ultimately inform us on how to target this critical pathway therapeutically.

  • Cancer Etiology, Prevention, Detection and Diagnosis
  • Postdoctoral Training in the Radiation Sciences

Le Cong

Pathology, Genetics
Assistant Professor
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Pathology, Genetics


Last Updated: January 31, 2023

Dr. Cong's group is developing novel technology for genome editing and single-cell genomics, leveraging scalable methods inspired by data science and machine learning and artificial intelligence.

His group has a focus on using these gene-editing tools to study immunological and neurological diseases. His work has led to one of the first FDA-approved clinical trials using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing for in vivo gene therapy. More recently, his group invented tools for cleavage-free large gene insertion via mining microbial recombination protein (Wang et al. 2022), and developed single-cell perturbating - tracking approach for studying cancer immunology and neuro-immunology (Hughes et al. 2022). We have also strong interest in using deep learning for predicting and designing gene-editing system and protein function (Hughes et al. 2022 and Yuan et al. 2023). Dr. Cong is a recipient of the NIH/NHGRI Genomic Innovator Award, a Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar, and has been selected by Clarivate Web of Science as a Highly Cited Researcher.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Jesse Engreitz

Genetics
Assistant Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: March 03, 2021

The Engreitz Lab is mapping the regulatory wiring of the genome to understand the genetic basis of heart diseases.  This wiring includes millions of enhancers that tune gene expression in the thousands of cell types in the body. Yet, it has been unclear which enhancers regulate which genes — a massive and complex network that rewires in each cell type. To understand this network, we invent new genomics tools combining CRISPR and single-cell approaches; dissect molecular mechanisms of enhancer-gene communication; build computational models to map genome regulation; and apply these tools to connect human genetic variants to biological mechanisms of disease.

Andrew Fire

Pathology, Genetics
Professor
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Pathology, Genetics


Last Updated: February 23, 2024

Our lab studies the mechanisms by which cells and organisms respond to genetic change. The genetic landscape faced by a living cell is constantly changing. Developmental transitions, environmental shifts, and pathogenic invasions lend a dynamic character to both the genome and its activity pattern.We study a variety of natural mechanisms that are utilized by cells adapting to genetic change. These include mechanisms activated during normal development and systems for detecting and responding to foreign or unwanted genetic activity. At the root of these studies are questions of how a cell can distinguish "self" versus "nonself" and "wanted" versus "unwanted" gene expression. We primarily make use of the nematode C. elegans in our experimental studies. C. elegans is small, easily cultured, and can readily be made to accept foreign DNA or RNA. The results of such experiments have outlined a number of concerted responses that recognize (and in most cases work to silence) the foreign nucleic acid. One such mechanism ("RNAi") responds to double stranded character in RNA: either as introduced experimentally into the organism or as produced from foreign DNA that has not undergone selection to avoid a dsRNA response. Much of the current effort in the lab is directed toward a molecular understanding of the RNAi machinery and its roles in the cell. RNAi is not the only cellular defense against unwanted nucleic acid, and substantial current effort in the lab is also directed at identification of other triggers and mechanisms used in recognition and response to foreign information.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Molecular and Cellular Immunobiology
  • Training in Pediatric Nonmalignant Hematology and Stem Cell Biology

Polly Fordyce

Bioengineering, Genetics
Assistant Professor
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Bioengineering, Genetics


Last Updated: November 11, 2021

The central focus of our laboratory is to develop novel microfluidic technologies that for high-throughput and quantitative biophysics, biochemistry, and single-cell biology.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Margaret Fuller

Developmental Biology, Genetics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med
Professor
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Developmental Biology, Genetics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med


Last Updated: February 27, 2023

We study the genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate proliferation and differentiation in adult stem cell lineages, using the Drosophila male germ line as a model.  Our current work is focused on the switch from mitosis to meiosis and how the new gene expression program for cell type specific terminal differentiation is turned on.  One emerging surprise is the potential role of alternative processing of nascent mRNAs in setting up the dramatic change in cell state

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Postgraduate Training Program in Epithelial Biology
  • Other

Casey Gifford

Pediatrics, Genetics
Assistant Professor
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Pediatrics, Genetics


Last Updated: April 27, 2021

The Gifford lab is focused on defining the complex genetic and molecular mechanisms that are necessary for faithful cardiovascular development and how perturbation of these mechanisms can lead to disease. We use both stem cell and rodent experimental models to:

  • characterize the cellular interactions involved in cardiovascular development
  • define the oligogenic mechanisms underlying congenital heart diseases, such as hypoplastic left heart syndrome and left ventricular noncompaction
  • explore the link between congenital heart disease and neurodevelopmental delay

We also collaborate closely with clinicians, for example on a project integrating cardiac imaging and genetic data to predict adverse cardiac outcomes. Ultimately, we hope to make personalized medicine a reality for those that suffer from CHD and associated comorbidities, such as autism.

Aaron Gitler

Genetics
Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: January 27, 2023

We study mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. We use a combination of functional genomics (e.g., CRISPR screens), human genetics to discover new disease genes, and validation in patient samples and animal models. We also seek to discover therapeutic targets and to translate these findings into developing novel therapeutics to help treat these devastating diseases. 

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Stanford Training Program in Aging Research

Anna Gloyn

Pediatrics, Genetics
Professor
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Pediatrics, Genetics


Last Updated: January 29, 2022

We aim to understand the genetic basis of diabetes and related metabolic conditions and to use this to leverage a better understanding of what causes diabetes and how we can improve treatment options for patients. Our work is predominantly focused on understanding what causes pancreatic islets to release insufficient insulin to control blood glucose levels after a meal in patients with type 2 diabetes, but often extends to efforts to relate this to metabolic dysfunction in other relevant tissues such as fat and liver.

We are an inter-disciplinary team of basic and clinical scientists with shared interests in using molecular genetics as a tool to uncover novel biology. We use a variety of different approaches to address important challenges in the field, which range from studies that work genome wide to those which are focused on specific genes and even precise nucleotide changes to understand their impact on pancreatic islet biology.

We have developed a series of pipelines that use primary human islets and authentic beta-cell models which allow us to generate and then integrate complex genomic, transcriptomic and cellular datasets. We use state-of-the art genome engineering approaches combined with induced pluripotent stem-cells to study the impact of T2D-associated genetic variants on islet cell development and function. We are also funded to investigate the impact of T2D risk variants on pancreatic beta-cell function in vivo.

We are a highly collaborative team and work with multiple national and international consortia involved in efforts to understand the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes (eg DIAGRAM, NIDDK Funded Accelerated Medicines Partnership) and related glycaemic traits (MAGIC). We are also part of several Innovative Medicines Initiatives (IMIs) efforts including STEMBANCC and RHAPSODY and Horizon 2020 initiatives (eg T2DSYSTEMS), which are working to develop tools and frameworks to capitalize on genetic and genomic data.

We are also part of the NIDDK funded Human Islet Research Network (HIRN) where we play a role in two of their initiatives. The Human Pancreas Atlas Program- T2 (HPAP-T2D) and the Integrated Islet Phenotype Program (IIPP). Our role is to support the genetic and genomic characterization of islets which are distributed for research and to support the genomic characterization of the pancreas’ phenotyped within the HPAP-T2D program.

Our work extends to playing a role in the interpretation of genetic variants identified in genes with known roles in monogenic forms of diabetes. We are part of the Clin Gen Expert Review Panel for Monogenic Diabetes where are expertise contributes to interpretation of coding alleles in glucokinase (GCK) and Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1 alpha (HNF1A). We are a number of on-going projects which are supporting efforts to better understand how to use exome-sequencing data in a diagnostic setting.

  • Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism
  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez

Genetics, Bioengineering
Assistant Professor
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Genetics, Bioengineering


Last Updated: July 08, 2022

The Hernandez-Lopez Lab works at the interface of mechanistic, synthetic, and systems biology to understand and program cellular recognition, communication, and organization. We are currently interested in engineering biomedical relevant cellular behaviors for cancer immunotherapy. We are also launching new multidisciplinary projects.

We are looking for outstanding, motivated graduate students and physician-scientists from diverse fields who are interested in joining our interdisciplinary research program. Postdoctoral candidates with expertise (or an interest in learning) preclinical animal models of disease or structural biology (cryo-EM) are particularly encouraged.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Jin Billy Li

Genetics
Associate Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: February 23, 2024

Li Lab studies RNA editing mediated by ADAR enzymes. The laboratory currently focuses on two fascinating aspects of ADAR. One is the major biological function that is to evade MDA5-mediated dsRNA sensing to suppress autoimmunity. This has led to therapeutic applications in cancer, autoimmune diseases and viral infection. The other is to harness the endogenous ADAR enzyme for transcriptome engineering that holds great potential for RNA-based therapeutics. This approach overcomes challenges faced by CRISPR-based genome engineering technologies.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Stephen Montgomery

Pathology, Genetics
Associate Professor
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Pathology, Genetics


Last Updated: April 15, 2021

We are looking for postdoctoral researchers interested in understanding the impact of rare variants on human diseases. Projects in the lab are either computational and experimental (or both!). We are particularly interested in establishing new research directions for using genomics data to interpret undiagnosed rare diseases. We are also interested in helping to improve the use of genetic data in diverse populations. Great opportunities for networking also as many of the projects in our lab are often part of major genomics research consortium like the UDN, Mendelian Genomics Research Centres, MoTrPAC, GTEx, TOPMED, ENCODE and more!

Please check out our website and our recent list of papers on Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=117h3CAAAAAJ&hl=en

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Stanford Training Program in Aging Research

Julien Sage

Ped: Cancer Biology, Genetics
Professor
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Ped: Cancer Biology, Genetics


Last Updated: August 07, 2020

We are generally interested in the mechanisms that drive the proliferation of cells under physiological and pathological conditions. We work on a wide range on projects from fundamental cell cycle mechanisms related to the RB pathway to pre-clinical cancer studies. We leverage publicly-available cancer genomics data and generate our own set of genetic, epigenetic, and proteomic data sets to identify novel regulators of cancer growth. We also develop novel genetic approaches in mice to conclusively determine the function of these candidate genes and pathways in tumorigenesis in vivo. Finally, we team up with pharmaceutical companies and clinicians in academic centers to translate our discoveries into the clinic as rapidly as possible.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Postdoctoral Training in the Radiation Sciences
  • Stanford Training Program in Aging Research
  • Stanford Training Program in Lung Biology
  • Training in Pediatric Nonmalignant Hematology and Stem Cell Biology

serena sanulli

Genetics
Assistant Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: February 03, 2023

We study the organizing principles of the genome and how these principles regulate cell identity and developmental switches. We combine Biochemistry and Biophysical methods such as NMR and Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange-MS with Cell Biology, and Genetics to explore genome organization across length and time scales and understand how cells leverage the diverse biophysical properties of chromatin to regulate genome function.

Gavin Sherlock

Genetics
Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: December 01, 2021

The Sherlock lab uses experimental approaches to understand the evolutionary process, specifically interested in i) the beneficial mutation rate, ii) the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of beneficial mutations, iii) the identities of beneficial mutations (are they gain or loss of function, are they recessive, dominant or overdominant, are the genic or regulatory?) and iv) how do each of these change as a function of genotype, ploidy and environment. We are also interested in how mutations that are beneficial in one environment fare in others (pleiotropy), and we are interested in exploring at what level experimental evolution can be deterministic, and at what level it is stochastic. We typically use serial batch culture experiments in conjunction with lineage tracking and high throughput sequencing to understand the adaptive changes that occur in yeast in response to selective pressures as they evolve in vitro.

Department URL:
https://med.stanford.edu/genetics.html

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Gavin Sherlock

Genetics
Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: February 01, 2023

The Sherlock lab uses experimental approaches to understand the evolutionary process, specifically interested in i) what's the rate of beneficial mutation, ii) what is the distribution of fitness effects of beneficial mutations, iii) what are the identities of beneficial mutations (and are they gain or loss of function, are they recessive, dominant or overdominant, are the genic or regulatory?) and iv) how do each of these change as a function of genotype, ploidy and environment. We are also interested in how mutations that are beneficial in one environment fare in others, to explore the trade-offs that inevitably occur when fitness increases in a specific environment, and we are interested in exploring at what level experimental evolution can be deterministic, and at what level it is stochastic. We typically use short-term continuous (chemostat) and serial batch culture experiments in conjunction with lineage tracking and high throughput sequencing to understand the adaptive changes that occur in yeast in response to selective pressures as they evolve in vitro.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Other

Lars Steinmetz

Genetics
Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: November 11, 2021

The Steinmetz group develops experimental approaches to read, edit and write entire genomes across scales. By applying these technologies, members of the lab aim at understanding the genetic basis of complex phenotypes, the mechanisms of transcription, and the molecular systems underpinning disease. One of the most daunting obstacles in biomedicine is the complex nature of most phenotypes (including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and several rare diseases) due to epistatic interactions between multiple genetic variants and environmental influences. Our aim is to transform the way we approach biomedical research, eventually by assigning a function to every nucleotide in the human genome. Along the way, we continually innovate and improve novel genomics technologies, enabling us to achieve our goals faster and more efficiently. For example, we will develop novel tools for precision genome editing, increase the scale and complexity of functional genomics screens, learn how to write genomes with unique traits from scratch, and apply long-read sequencing methods to understand disease mechanisms. Ultimately, we are working towards an era in which we can predict phenotypic traits from genetic and environmental information. Achieving this ambitious goal would have far-reaching implications, from facilitating precision medicine for everyone, and to predicting how natural populations will respond to changing environments.

Alice Ting

Genetics
Professor
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Genetics


Last Updated: July 14, 2022

The goal of our laboratory is to develop molecular technologies for mapping cells and functional circuits. At the sub-cellular scale, maps document the spatial organization of proteins, RNA, DNA, and metabolites with nanometer precision and temporal acuity on the order of seconds. Maps also chart the connectivity between these molecules, elucidating the circuits and signaling processes that give rise to function. Beyond the single cell, we also strive to map cellular ensembles, such as brain tissue. Can we create tools that contribute to the construction of cell and tissue atlases, and can we map the cellular circuits that give rise to function and behavior? To achieve these goals, our laboratory employs a wide variety of approaches, including directed evolution, protein engineering, organic synthesis, computational design, mass spec proteomics, and single-cell RNA seq. Our work lies at the interface between chemical biology, genetics, biophysics, cell biology, and neuroscience.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
  • Molecular and Cellular Immunobiology
  • Stanford Cancer Imaging Training (SCIT) Program

Alice Ting

Biology, Genetics, Chemistry
Professor
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Biology, Genetics, Chemistry


Last Updated: January 12, 2022

We are a chemical biology laboratory focused on the development of technologies to map molecules, cells, and functional circuits. We apply the technologies to understand signaling in the mitochondria and in the mammalian brain.

Our technologies probe molecules and functional networks at both the sub-cellular and multi-cellular level, leveraging our laboratory’s unique strengths in chemical synthesis, protein engineering, directed evolution, proteomics, and microscopy. While we strive to develop technologies that are broadly applicable across biology, we also pursue applications of our methods to neuroscience and mitochondrial biology in our own laboratory and through collaborations.

Our research program is broadly divided into three areas: (1) molecular recorders for scalable, single-cell recording of past cellular events; (2) molecular editors for the precise manipulation of cellular biomolecules, pathways, and organelles; and (3) proximity labeling for unbiased discovery of functional molecules.

 

Anne Villeneuve

Developmental Biology, Genetics
Professor
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Developmental Biology, Genetics


Last Updated: August 15, 2023

Anne Villeneuve’s laboratory investigates the molecular and cellular events underlying the faithful inheritance of chromosomes during meiosis, the specialized cell division program by which diploid organisms generate haploid gametes. These events are crucial for reproduction, since failure to execute them correctly leads to aneuploidy, one of the leading causes of miscarriages and birth defects in humans. One major goal is to understand the mechanisms and regulation of genetic recombination, which is responsible both for reassortment of genetic traits and for promoting segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. An inter-related goal is to understand how meiosis-specific chromosome organization is established, maintained, and remodeled to bring about successful genome inheritance. Dr. Villeneuve approaches these issues using the nematode C. elegans, a simple organism that is especially amenable to combining sophisticated microscopic, genetic and genomic approaches in a single experimental system. Dr. Villeneuve’s research interrogates the process of meiosis at multiple different scales: 1) at the level of the DNA repair complexes that assemble at the sites of meiotic recombination; 2) at the level of the meiosis-specific chromosome structures that promote, regulate and respond to meiotic recombination events and 3) at the level of DNA organization at the whole-chromosome scale.

  • Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science

Simon Klemperer

Geophysics, Earth & Planetary Sciences
Professor
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Geophysics, Earth & Planetary Sciences


Last Updated: September 09, 2020

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