Lab Members

  • Abbas Rizvi

    Abbas Rizvi is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Maniatis Lab. He received his undergraduate training in molecular biology and physics at the University of California at Berkeley, conducting nonlinear spectroscopic measurements on photosynthetic complexes with Graham Fleming. He continued his graduate work at Harvard University, working with Erin O’Shea, where he focused on molecular events resulting in bifurcating phenotypes in clonal cellular populations. His interests in cellular identity led him to the Maniatis Lab, where he seeks to understand the molecular basis for neuronal identity and circuit level function, using single cell sequencing, high content imaging, and mathematical modeling.

  • Catherine Braine

    Catherine graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2011 with a BA in Biology. As an undergraduate, Cat completed her honors thesis in the Woodard Lab, investigating mitochondrial health in a Drosophila model of sporadic inclusion body myositis. After college, Catherine took a job in the John Lab at The Jackson Laboratory, studying how the classical complement cascade mediates neurodegeneration in a mouse model of glaucoma. She is now a PhD student in the Columbia Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, where she is being co-mentored by Dr. Phatnani and Dr. Maniatis. Her project seeks to uncover the role of TGF-B signaling in ALS.

  • Junqiang Ye

    Junqiang joined the Maniatis Lab after receiving his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Rochester. He is interested in the regulatory mechanisms of transcription and splicing, and their implication in human diseases. Junqiang’s current research focus is the role of innate immunity and autophagy in neurodegenerative diseases.

  • Elena Kandror

    Elena graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a BA in Biology. She then spent two years in Dr. Matthew Layne’s lab at Boston University Medical Center before entering the Integrated Ph.D. program at Columbia University Medical Center in 2011. She is now studying how Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) differentially impacts individual cells throughout disease progression. Using both mouse models and in vitro models of ALS, she is applying single cell RNA-sequencing coupled with computational approaches, immunohistochemistry and in situ sequencing to interrogate the transcriptional dynamics of the disease. Specifically, she is interested in how the transcriptional identity of a cell biases it towards an ALS vulnerable or resistant phenotype. She seeks to dissect the molecular pathways and patterns of gene activation responsible for selective vulnerability observed in subpopulations of motor neurons during ALS disease progression.

  • Valeria Gerbino

    Dr. Gerbino received a M.Sc. in Human Biology and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Her graduate research focused on investigating the functional interactions between SMN1, the causative factor of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and FUS, a major gene implicated in the pathogenesis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Her growing interest in neurodegenerative diseases brought her to join the lab of Dr. Maniatis at Columbia University, where she is currently pursuing the role of autophagy in ALS. Specifically, as a postdoctoral scientist, she is focusing on understanding the mechanisms by which mutations in the protein kinase TBK1, a key autophagy factor, is a cause of both familial and sporadic ALS. The goal of her present and future research is to identify the cellular and biochemical pathways that are disrupted during neurodegeneration and ultimately, define precise and unique molecular targets for treatment.

  • Jin Zhang

    Dr. Zhang received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from New York University. Her graduate studies focused on epigenetics and gene transcription. She used biochemical, biophysical and molecular tools to study the composition, genomic localization, enzymatic activities and transcriptional repression functions of several mammalian Polycomb complexes. She is a joint postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Dr. Charles Zuker and Dr. Tom Maniatis. Her current research focuses on how sensory inputs motivate animal behaviors. She is using single-cell RNA sequencing, live animal calcium imaging and animal behavioral analysis to characterize the functions of taste responding neurons.

  • Lexi Peterson

    Lexi Peterson graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2017 with a BS in Electrical Engineering. At RPI, she was an undergraduate researcher in the Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) Engineering Research Center, where she worked on developing a UV LED/sensor system to detect the intrinsic fluorescence of bioaerosol contaminants in ambient light. She is particularly interested in applications of machine learning to biomedical image processing and the use of nanocomposite metamaterials for use in novel sensing technology. As a technician in the Dr. Maniatis lab, she is currently focused on implementing several in situ single-cell imaging techniques, as well as building and optimizing polymer-based microfluidics devices. Peterson plans to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering.

  • Amy L. Kirner

  • Chiamaka Nwakeze

  • Erin Flaherty

    Erin Flaherty is a Postocdoctoral Research Scientist. She completed her Master’s degree  at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and her PhD at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research in the Maniatis lab involves working towards untangling the downstream signaling mechanisms underlying the protocadherins during neurite repulsion. This work may have implications relevant for neurodevelopment but also for cancer as the protocadherins genes have been implicated in many types of cancer.