Dr. Amy Caudy conducted her thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon's Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Mechanism and applications of RNAi." Amy was awarded the prestigious Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award and was also the recipient of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship. After completing postdoctoral research with Dr. John Atkinson at Washington University, St. Louis, Amy joined the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University as a Lewis-Sigler Fellow. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada

Dr. Yaniv Erlich conducted his thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon’s Laboratory. His thesis was entitled “Compressed sensing”. Yaniv was the recipient of the IEEE-CS/ACM High Performance Computing Ph.D. Fellowship and the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award.  He is currently the Andria and Paul Heafy Family Fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. 

Dr. Rebecca Ewald conducted her thesis research with Dr. Hollis Cline. Her thesis was entitled "“NMDA receptor subtypes and dendritic arbor morphology.” After completing her studies, Rebecca was accepted into the Management Trainee program at Roche Diagnostics, Europe, where she spent two years in training. She is currently a Manager in Business Development for Ventana Medical Systems in Arizona, a member of the Roche Group.

Dr. Ira Hall conducted his research in Dr. Shiv Grewal's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "A Role for RNA Interfence in Heterochromatic Silencing and Chromosome Dynamics." Ira's research contributed to the prestigious AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize during his time at the Watson School. After completing his studies, Ira was appointed as a Cold Spring Harbor Fellow. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Catherine Cormier, Ph.D.
Scientific Liaison, Arizona State University

Dr. Catherine Cormier conducted her thesis research in Dr. Yuri Lazebnik’s Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Caspase activation in unidentified apoptotic pathways." Catherine was the 2004 recipient of a PEO Scholar's award. Catherine was also awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. After completing her studies, she joined the Harvard Institute of Proteomics as the Scientific Liaison of the Plasmid Repository. She is currently working with Dr. Josh LaBaer's group at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, as the Scientific Liaison for the DNASU Plasmid Repository.

Dr. Patrick Paddison conducted his thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "RNA interference in mammals: the quest for illuminating gene function." During his time at the Watson School, Patrick was the recipient of a US Army Medical Research and Material Comment Breast Cancer Research Program Pre-doctoral Fellowship. After completing his studies, Patrick was appointed as a Cold Spring Harbor Fellow. He is currently an Assistant Member in the Human Biology Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Darren Burgess, Ph.D.
Assistant Editor, Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Genetics, UK

Dr. Darren Burgess conducted his thesis research in Dr. Scott Lowe’s Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "RNAi Genetic Screens for Chemotherapy Response Modifier Genes." Darren is conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Alan Ashworth at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK. He is currently an Assistant Editor, Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Genetics in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Niraj Tolia conducted his thesis research in Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Structural and biochemical studies of the malaria parasite Plasmodim Falciparum protein EBA-175 involved in erythrocyte invasion." He is currently an Assistant Professor, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, where he has secured a National Institutes of Health R01 grant for his laboratory's research.

Dr, Marco Mangone conducted his thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Winship Herr. His thesis was entitled "Analysis of the HCF-1 basic region and its role in sustaining cell proliferation." Marco conducted his postdoctoral research with Dr. Fabio Piano at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University.

Dr. Emiliano Rial Verde conducted his thesis research in Dr. Holly Cline's Laboratory, where he was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Medical Predoctoral Institute Fellowship. His thesis was entitled "The role of the immediate-early gene arc in synaptic transmission." Emilano conducted his postdoctoral research with Dr. Yuste at Columbia University. He is currently an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co. Inc., in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Michelle Cilia conducted her thesis research in Dr. David Jackson's Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Mechanisms of intercellular communication in Arabodopsis thaliana." Michelle conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Stewart Gray at Cornell University, Ithaca. She is currently a Research Molecular Biologist in the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.  Michelle holds joint faculty appointments in The Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Interactions at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Christopher Harvey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Christopher Harvey conducted his thesis research in Dr. Karel Svoboda’s laboratory. His thesis was entitled “Dynamics of Plasticity and Signaling at Individual Synapses.”  Chris conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. David Tank at Princeton University. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Elizabeth Thomas conducted her thesis research in Dr. Michael Wigler's Laboratory where she was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Medical Predoctoral Institute Fellowship. Her thesis was entitled "Exploring repetitive sequences in the human genome." Elizabeth (now Elizabeth Bartom), conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Aviv Regev at Harvard University's Center for Genomic Research. She is currently a Bioinformatician in the Center for Research Informatics at the University of Chicago. There she provides computational genomics and bioinformatics support for cancer researchers.

Dr. Zachary Lippman conducted his thesis research in Dr. Robert Martienssen's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Transposons, heterochromatin, and epigenetic landscapes in Arabidopsis thaliana." Zachary was the recipient of the prestigious Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. He conducted his postdoctoral research with Dr. Dani Zamir at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Watson School, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Keisha John, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean, Director- Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards at The Graduate School, Florida State University

Dr. Keisha John conducted her thesis research in Dr. Linda Van Aelst’s Laboratory.  Her thesis was entitled “Characterization of the role of DOCK7 in neuronal development.”  She was a recipient of the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. Keisha conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Mary Beth Hatten at The Rockefeller University. She is currently the Assistant Dean, Director- Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards at The Graduate School, Florida State University.

Dr. Ji-Joon Song conducted his thesis research in Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Structural and biochemical studies of Argonaute reveal the slicing mechanism of RISC-RNAi effector complex." Ji-Joon conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Robert E. Kingston at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University. He is currently an Assistant Professor at KAIST.

Dr. Elena Ezhkova conducted her thesis research in Dr. William Tansey's laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Role of the proteasome in gene control." Elena conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Elaine Fuchs at The Rockefeller University. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Allison Blum, Ph.D.
Laboratory Manager, NYU School of Medicine

Dr. Allison Blum conducted her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Josh Dubnau.  Her thesis was entitled "rutabaga signaling in distinct circuits supports short versus long-term memory in Drosophila."  Allison is currently the Laboratory Manager for Dr. Ruth Lehmann’s laboratory at The Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine.

Francois Bolduc, Ph.D.
Clinician Scientist, University of Alberta, Canada

Dr. Francois Bolduc conducted his thesis research in Dr. Tim Tully’s Laboratory. His thesis was entitled “Role of Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein and the RNAi Pathway in Drosophila Learning and Memory.” Prior to matriculating to WSBS he had completed his medical degree at Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.  He is currently Clinician Scientist in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Wei Wei, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, The University of Chicago

Dr. Wei Wei conducted her thesis research in Dr. Roberto Malinow's Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "The Interplay between Amyloid-beta and Neural Activity." Wei conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Marla Feller at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago.

Elizabeth Murchison, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK

Dr. Elizabeth Murchison conducted her thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon's Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Genetic Studies of Mammalian Dicer." Elizabeth completed postdoctoral research at the Australian National University. She is the recipient of an Australian Government NHMRC Overseas Biomedical Fellowship, which she is using for her postdoctoral studies at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK.

Amy Rappaport, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Genentech

Dr. Amy Rappaport conducted her thesis research in Dr. Scott Lowe's laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Dissecting tumor suppressor and tumor maintenance genes in poor prognosis acute myeloid leukemia". Amy is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Leisa Johnson at Genentech in San Francisco, CA.

Galen Collins, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Galen Collins conducted his thesis research in Dr. William Tansey's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Activator turnover and proteolysis in transcriptional activation". Galen is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Fred Goldberg at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Hiroshi Makino conducted his thesis research in Dr. Roberto Malinow's laboratory. His thesis was entitled "AMPA receptor dynamics and synaptic plasticity at excitatory synapses".  Hiroshi is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Takaki Komiyama at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Katherine McJunkin conducted her thesis research in Dr. Scott Lowe's Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Inducible RNAi targeting essential genes". Katie is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Victor Ambross at UMass Medical Center.

Dr. Oliver Fregoso conducted his thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Adrian Krainer.  His thesis was entitled "Elucidating the functions of splicing regulatory proteins through the use of high-throughput proteomics." Oliver is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Michael Emerman at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Dr. Ahmet Denli conducted his thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon's laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Processing of pri-microRNAs by the Microprocessor Complex." He is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Fred Gage at the Salk Institute in California.

Dr. Colin Malone conducted his thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Hannon where he was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. His thesis was entitled "Evolution, inheritance and specialization of transposon control pathways in Drosophila." Colin is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Ruth Lehmann at The Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine.

Dr. Shraddha Pai conducted her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Carlos Brody. Her thesis was entitled "Neuroanatomical localization of timing-specific brain loci in the rat". Shraddha is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Arturas Petronis at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Canada.

Dr. David Simpson conducted his research in Dr. William Tansey's laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Regulation of Myc-induced apoptosis in the mammary epithelia". David was the recipient of a US Army Medical Research and Material Command Breast Cancer Research Program Predoctoral Fellowship. David is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Alejandro Sweet-Cordero at Stanford.

Dr. Oliver Tam conducted his thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon's laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Characterization of small RNA populations and DNA methylation in mammalian development." Oliver is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Janet Rossant at The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada.

Dr. Masafumi Muratani conducted his thesis research in Dr. William Tansey's laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Regulation of gene expression by the ubiquitin-proteasome system." Masafumi conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. Richard Treisman at the London Research Institute of Cancer Research, UK. He is currently a Research Associate at the Genome Institute of Singapore within Dr. Hui Ng's research group.

Dr. Chuck Kopec conducted his thesis research in Dr. Roberto Malinow's laboratory. His thesis was entitled "AMPA receptor trafficking and their effect on spine enlargement during long-term potentiation." Chuck was the recipient of a National Institutes of Health, NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship at the Watson School. He is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Carlos Brody at Princeton University.

Claudia Feierstein, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme

Dr. Claudia Feierstein conducted her thesis research in Dr. Zachary Mainen's Laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "Representation of Goals, Actions, and Outcomes in Rat Orbitifrontal Cortex." Claudia was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Pierre-Marie Lledo at the Pasteur Institute. She is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Michael Orger at the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Portugal.

Gowan Tervo, Ph.D.
Research Associate, HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus

Dr. Gowan Tervo conducted his thesis research in Dr. Karel Svoboda's Laboratory wherehe was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship. His thesis was entitled "Development of Molecular Systems for the Inactivation of Synaptic Transmission." Gowan is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Alla Karpova at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus.

Tomas Hromadka, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Dr. Tomas Hromadka conducted his thesis research in Dr. Anthony Zador’s Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Representation of Sounds in Auditory Cortex of Awake Rats." Tomas is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Anthony Zador at CSHL.

Hiroki Asari, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

Dr. Hiroki Asari conducted his thesis research in Dr. Anthony Zador's Laboratory. His thesis was entitled "Auditory System Characterization." Hiro is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Markus Meister at California Institute of Technology.

Rebecca Bish, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University

Dr. Rebecca Bish conducted her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Myers. Her thesis was entitled "The Function of the Ubiquitin-Binding Zinc Finger Domain in DNA Repair." Becky was the recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the American Foundation for Aging Research. She performed postdoctoral research with Dr. Eric Holland at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Christine Vogel at New York University.

Monica Dus, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University School of Medicine

Dr. Monica Dus conducted her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Greg Hannon. Her thesis was entitled "Beyond Classical RNAi: towards an understanding of germ cell development and transposon control in the fruitfly D. melanogaster." Monica is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Greg Suh at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, NYU School of Medicine

Daniel Chitwood, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Davis

Dr. Daniel Chitwood conducted his thesis research in Dr. Marja Timmermans' Laboratory.  His thesis was entitled "Patterning in leaves via a cascade of small RNAs." He is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Drs. Neelima Sinha and Julin Maloof at the University of California, Davis.

Angelique Girard, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

Dr. Angelique Girard conducted her thesis research in Dr. Gregory Hannon’s laboratory. Her thesis was entitled “Mammalian Piwi proteins and transposon silencing in the male germline.” She is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Kevin Eggan at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University.

Jeremy Wilusz, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Jeremy Wilusz conducted his thesis research in Dr. David Spector’s Laboratory. His thesis was entitled “3’ end processing of long nuclear-retained non-coding RNAs yields tRNA-like small RNAs.”  Jeremy was the recipient of the 2009 RNA Society/Scaringe Graduate Student Award. He is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Nobel Laureate Phillip Sharp at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Shu-Ling Chiu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Dr. Shu-Ling Chiu conducted her thesis research in Dr. Hollis Cline's laboratory. Her thesis was entitled "The role of insulin receptor in the development of neuronal structure and function." Shu-Ling is currently conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Richard Huganir at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Elizabeth Nakasone, Ph.D.
Medical Student, University of Hawaii

Dr. Elizabeth Nakasone conducted her thesis research in Dr. Mikala Egeblad's laboratory. Her thesis was entitled, "A stromal CCL2/CCR2 signaling axis regulates chemotherapeutic response in a mouse model of breast cancer." Elizabeth is currently a medical student at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii.