Graduate Students

Maria is a PhD student in Dr. Liza Konnikova's lab where she studies early-life intestinal homeostasis and disease in the context of infant nutrition.

Born and raised in London, UK, Kerri came to the United States in 2015 to pursue further education. She graduated from Princeton University in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and certificate in Global Health Policy. After college, she spent two years as a Research Technician in the lab of Dr. Susan Parkhurst at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer research center where she studied the mechanism of Nuclear Envelope Budding using the Drosophila system.

Melanie earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology at Nova Southeastern University in sunny South Florida. After that she lived and worked in the concrete jungle of New York City where she explored the fields of cancer immunotherapy and genomics. Melanie completed her first year of graduate school at UT Southwestern Medical Center where she discovered the Mu Lab! Now at Yale, she is excited to understand how changes in ubiquitination programs can contribute to androgen targeted therapy resistance. Outside the lab, you can find Melanie taking care of her plants or finding new arts and crafts to do!

Sam Greenspun is a fourth-year PhD Candidate in the lab of Dr. Emily Olfson in the Program of Translational Biomedicine. She received her B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University. Sam is interested in using computational genomic tools to identify genetic factors and their combinations that influence risk for psychiatric disorders, with a focus on obsessive compulsive and related disorders. Before attending Yale, Sam studied the underlying genetic mechanisms and physiology of infertility in both translational and basic contexts. She is also a YCCI and Gruber Fellow.

Michele is an MD-PhD student interested in studying gene expression regulation and genomic based therapies for disease. She grew up in Philadelphia, PA where she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022 studying Biochemistry and Biophysics. While at Penn, she worked on researching the structure and function of Integrator subunits 15 and 6 in the labs of Dr. Gardini and Dr. Wilusz respectively. Additionally she investigated the functions and structures of circular RNAs during her time in the Wilusz lab. michele.meline@yale.edu

Ifunanya graduated with distinction from Scripps College in 2019, earning a degree in Biochemistry.

Michelle is a PhD student in the Yale BBS (TMMPP/PTB Track) program. Her research interests are in genetic control of mRNA translation or protein synthesis in hematopoiesis, neurofunction and neurodegeneration, and autoimmunity. She likes jogging, croqueting, caring for plants, drawing, watching films and attending concerts in her free time.