Principal Investigator

Andy is an undergraduate student at Yale majoring in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. His research focuses on understanding how genetic factors influence metabolic function in autoimmune diseases and how these mechanisms intersect with neuropsychiatric outcomes.

He finds music to be a creative counterbalance to his academic and scientific pursuits and enjoys playing Afrobeats and gospel music on the piano.

Gwendolyn earned her BS in Biology from New York University, graduating summa cum laude. Her research focuses on understanding how metabolic traits, such as obesity and diabetes, influence hematopoietic function and somatic evolution. She combines population-scale human genetics with functional experimental approaches, including CRISPR genome editing and cellular models, to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms linking metabolic traits to hematopoietic biology and complex traits and diseases.

Pengyu obtained his PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research focuses on integrating population-scale genetics, single-cell and multi-omic datasets, and machine learning approaches to decipher the regulatory architecture of the human genome. He is interested in developing analytical frameworks to identify the molecular mechanisms linking genetic variation to complex traits and diseases, with a particular interest in diabetes and cardiometabolic disease.

Pengyu enjoys walking, exploring new places, and spending time outdoors.

Campbell is a Yale College undergraduate majoring in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Campbell is investigating the neuroimmune genetics of cardiovascular disease, especially in type 1 diabetes.

Outside his academic pursuits, he enjoys playing piano and running.

Michelle is a PhD candidate in the Yale BBS (TMMPP/PTB Track) program. Her research interests are in genetic control of mRNA translation or protein synthesis in hematopoiesis, neurocognitive function, neurodegeneration, and autoimmunity.

She likes jogging, croqueting, caring for plants, drawing, watching films and attending concerts in her free time.

Zehra is interested in applying statistical genetics, computational biology, and single-cell genomics to understand how genetic variation influences hematopoietic function and autoimmune disease. Her research focuses on identifying regulatory pathways and therapeutic targets that contribute to type 1 diabetes and related complex traits. She is passionate about learning new computational and bioinformatics tools.

Zehra loves to cook food and watch movies with her daughter in her free time.

Leonor earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami, where she developed biomaterial- and stromal cell-based strategies to restore immune tolerance in type 1 diabetes. Her current research focuses on understanding how hematopoietic function and neuroimmune interactions influence type 1 diabetes and neurocognitive outcomes. She is particularly interested in the bidirectional communication between the hematopoietic and nervous systems and how these interactions contribute to disease susceptibility, heterogeneity, and resilience.

Outside the laboratory, Leonor enjoys running, hiking, and attending concerts.

Skel Yeung is a master’s student in Health Informatics at the Yale School of Public Health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Medical Biosciences from Imperial College London. Skel is interested in identifying pleiotropic genetic variants and the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which they influence type 1 diabetes and neurocognitive outcomes. Her research focuses on uncovering genetic markers that may enable prediction and precision treatment of neurocognitive comorbidities in type 1 diabetes.

Outside of research, Skel enjoys cooking different recipes, creating graphic design projects, and exploring new places