People
Itai Yanai
Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Institute for Systems Genetics
New York University, School of Medicine
Itai.Yanai@nyulangone.org
2016-Present: Professor, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
2016-2021: Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
2014-2015: Sabbatical, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
2008-2016: Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Technion Israel Institute of Technology
2004-2008: Postdoctoral fellow, Molecular and Cellular Biology Department, Harvard University
2002-2004: Koshland Scholar, Molecular Genetics Department, Weizmann Institute of Science
1998-2002: PhD in Bioinformatics, Boston University
1997-1998: Post-bac in the Institute Pasteur, Paris
1993-1997: Bachelor of Sciences (Computer Engineering) and Arts (Philosophy of Science), Boston University
Guisheng Zhao, Ph.D., Lab Manager
Guisheng.Zhao@nyulangone.org
I am the lab manager in the Yanai lab. I take on lab administrative duties and conduct research projects. I received my MD degree from Beijing Medical University in China, and earned my PhD degree in Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine from University of Cincinnati.
Gustavo S. França, Postdoctoral Fellow
Gustavo.StarvaggiFranca@nyulangone.org
I joined the Yanai lab in the summer of 2016. I did my undergraduate studies in Biology and obtained M.Sc and PhD degrees in Molecular Biology from the University of Sao Paulo – Brazil. I have been using bioinformatics approaches to understand the transcriptome complexity through evolutionary perspectives.
Maayan Pour, Postdoctoral Fellow
Maayan.Pour@nyulangone.org
I joined the Yanai lab as a postdoctoral fellow, in the fall of 2019. I’m interested in studying cell state transitions in development and disease, at the single-cell level. I did my Ph.D. at Tel Aviv University, focusing on cell fate decisions during stem cell differentiation. I received my BSc in Biotechnology engineering from Ben-Gurion University.
Ayushi Patel, PhD Student
Ayushi.Patel@nyulangone.org
Before joining the graduate program at NYU School of Medicine in 2020, I obtained my undergraduate degree at University of Rochester and a Master’s in Biomedical Science from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During my master’s program I worked in Dr. Hideo Watanabe’s lab where I studied lineage plasticity in lung cancer. Now, as a graduate student in the Yanai and Wong lab interested in studying epigenetic regulation of lung cancer cell states.
Deborah Liberman, PhD Student
deborah.liberman@nyulangone.org
I joined the Yanai lab in the spring of 2021, and I am interested in investigating shifts in cancer cell states during tumorigenesis and in response to therapy. I received my BS in Biological Sciences and Bioethics from DePaul University. Prior to starting the PhD program at NYU, I spent three years studying neuroinflammatory responses to an endocrine disrupting compound at my undergraduate institution.
Peien Jiang, PhD Student
Peien.Jiang@nyulangone.org
I joined the Yanai lab as a PhD student in 2021 and I’m interested in host-pathogen interaction and bacteria heterogeneity. Before joining the Biology PhD Program in NYU, I got my bachelor degree in Biological Science (Poling Class) from Nankai University in 2020. During my summer research in Yale University, I used CRISPR/dCas9 imaging system to study X chromosome interaction in Dr. Inhyun Park’s lab. And I investigated endoplasmic reticulum membrane network dynamics for my undergraduate thesis project in Dr. Junjie Hu’s lab at Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Science.
Jingye Wang, PhD Student
jingye.wang@nyulangone.org
Erica Sadler, MD-PhD Student
erica.sadler@nyulangone.org
I joined the Yanai lab as a PhD student in the summer of 2023 and am interested in studying tumor evolution and response to microenvironment. Prior to starting my MD/PhD at NYU in 2020, I received my BS in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University and worked for two years in the Cunningham lab at the NIDCD studying the transcriptional responses of the inner ear to ototoxic drugs and the protective effects of heat shock using single cell and RiboTag RNA sequencing.
Christopher Langer, MD-PhD Student
christopher.langer@nyulangone.org
I joined the Yanai lab during the summer 2023 as a PhD student. I am broadly interested in cancer evolution and human evolution. I received my BA in Biochemistry from Vassar College in 2019. Before joining NYU in 2022, I worked in Li Zhao’s lab at Rockefeller University studying the dynamics of evolutionary young genes and mutational processes.
Alumni
Dr. Tamar Hashimshony, Lab Manager
thashimi@technion.ac.il
Tamar served as our amazing lab manager at the Technion. She graduated from the Technion’s Biology Faculty in 1996 and later received her MSc and PhD degrees from the Hebrew University’s medical school under the guidance of Prof. Howard Cedar. Her post-doctoral work as a HFSP fellow was done in the lab of Prof. Harinder Singh at the University of Chicago.
PhD students:
Dr. Felicia Kuperwaser
Dr. Bo Xia
Dr. Dalia Barkley
Dr. Reuben Moncada
Dr. Gal Avital
Dr. Maayan Baron
Dr. Vladislav Grishkevich
Dr. Michal Levin
Dr. Harel Zalts
Masters students:
Shay Ben-Elazar
Dr. Florian Wagner
Avital Polsky
Dr. Leon Anavy
Sally Khair
Natalya Mostov
Martin Feder
Naftalie Senderovich
Undergraduate students:
Yun Yan
Rachelly Normand
Katya Kovalev
Dafna Yaron Gurevich
David Silver
Ronny Beer
Postdocs and Research Associates:
Dr. Andrew Pountain
Dr. Anjali Rao
Dr. Gal Avital (both PhD student and Postdoc in the lab)
Dr. Leon Anavy (both MSc student and Postdoc in the lab)
Dr. Florian Wagner (both MSc student and Postdoc in the lab)
Dr. Marta Chiodin, Lab Manager
Dr. Alison G. Cole
Dr. Noa Sher
Dr. Itai Sharon
Dr. Eitan Winter
Dr. Dov Hershkovitz
The Yanai lab began in Israel in 2008 at the Department of Biology in the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The lab moved to NYU in 2016. Below are images of members of the Yanai Lab at the Technion.
yanailab.org 