Alumni

Bin Zhou, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
In seeking answers to some of the most difficult questions in influenza research, Dr. Zhou has developed techniques for influenza virus genomic sequencing and reverse genetics, now used in labs worldwide. He has also discovered and characterized pathogenic determinants of avian and human influenza viruses; designed and evaluated novel live attenuated influenza vaccines; and rapidly generated viruses and vaccine seeds using synthetic genome technology. Dr. Zhou is now the Team Lead for the Vaccine Preparedness Team as part of the Virology Surveillance and Diagnosis Branch, Influenza Division, of the CDC.

Tao Ding, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Tao’s primary interest in influenza pathogenesis was reflected in his research on microbiome dynamics, bacterial co-infection, and the differential expression of the transcriptome, especially the non-coding RNAs (microRNAs and long-non-coding RNAs) in influenza-infected subjects.

Tim Song, MS
Bioinformatics Analyst
Using next-generation sequencing data, Tim modeled the transmission dynamics of the influenza virus.

Adam Geber
Research Scientist
Adam worked primarily on the FluDyNeMo project, helping to generate the transcriptomic, metatranscriptomic, and metagenomic datasets that enable modeling of disease outcomes in influenza infections. He also studied the co-evolution of microbes and their hosts, the relevance of the virome to human health, the cultural histories of infectious disease and epidemiology, and radical approaches to translational medicine.

Kevin Coppa
Undergraduate
Kevin is now a data scientist at Northwell Health.

Gabrielle Gussin
Master’s, Biology
As a Master’s student, Gabby used genomic approaches to study antibiotic resistance and bacterial co-infection with influenza.  Now, at UC Irvine, Gabby is involved in several clinical studies aimed at reducing the emergence and spread of multi-drug resistant organisms in healthcare settings.          

Hana Husic
Undergraduate, Biochemistry
During her undergraduate career at NYU, Hana researched how viral evolution and host respiratory tract microbiota affect disease severity throughout the course of influenza infection. Hana is now a research technician in NYU’s GenCore.

Dayoon Kwon
MPH, Epidemiology
Dayoon studied the host response to Zika infection. 

Guy Mason
Master’s, Biology
BSc Nottingham University
Guy completed his Master’s on production of high yield influenza vaccines via CRISPR-mediated knockouts of cellular antiviral factors. He also worked on identifying key viral pathways in cells.    

Laura Tipton
PhD, Computational Biology
Carnegie Mellon-University of Pittsburgh
Combining methods from ecology, machine learning, molecular biology and statistics, Laura researched the respiratory microbiome to determine the relationships among bacteria, fungi, and the host.

Alan Twaddle
Bioinformatics Analyst
While in charge of managing all high-throughput sequencing data generated in the lab, Alan also pursued his passion for metagenomics, specifically viral metagenomes. His goal was to improve de novo assembly to uncover known and novel viruses, and features that could not be identified via traditional methods.

Sam Ahmad
Undergraduate
Sam worked on the comparative genomic analysis of myxoma virus (MYXV) strains. He is graduating from NYU in May 2018 and will matriculate at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the August 2018.

Min Lee
Undergraduate
The focus of Min’s research was on Human Rhinovirus (HRV) replication. Viruses under examination included HRV14 and HRV16.

Yixuan Ma
Master’s, Biology

Tzvi Pollock
Undergraduate
Tzvi worked on developing bioinformatic approaches to analyze the viral content of microbiomes. His other academic interests include host-pathogen interaction, evolutionary relationships between humans and microbes, and mechanisms of virulence. Tzvi started his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in September 2015.

Graciela Riera
Master’s, Biology
2013-2015 Fulbright Scholar
Graciela completed her Master’s in the Ghedin lab, investigating neuraminidase deletions in the emergence of drug-resistant Influenza A viruses.

Michelle Volk
Undergraduate
As part of a larger project that looks at how host cell expression affects the severity of infection, Michelle focused her research on influenza evolution, specifically how influenza A and B mutate over a period of infection. Michelle will be attending the University of Maine in the fall of 2018 to pursue a Master’s in Ecology and Environmental Studies. Her research will be focused on the disease ecology of Lyme Disease.

Nick Vulpescu
Undergraduate
Nick is currently in NYU’s Master’s program in the Biology department on the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology track.

Boya Zhao
Master’s