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Meet The Team

Tiffany Amariuta, PhD

Principal Investigator

Tiffany started her group at UCSD in July of 2022. For more information about her and the research focus of the group, please see the home, about, and publications pages.

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Michelle Franc Ragsac

Postdoctoral Scholar

Michelle is a Postdoctoral Scholar with a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics & Systems Biology, specializing in genomic regulation during embryonic development. She is passionate about exploring the genetic foundations of developmental and childhood diseases. In her free time, she enjoys discovering new restaurants in San Diego and spending time with her Shiba Inu, Yuuki.

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Ziqi Xu

PhD student

Ziqi is currently a second-year PhD student in the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (BISB) program. Her research interest lies in developing computational and statistical methods to understand genetic contributions to diseases. Her current project focuses on estimating heritability from single cell gene expression data and investigating co-regulation across genes and cell types using GWAS and single-cell RNA-seq data. Ziqi enjoys spending her spare time in dog parks and zoos.

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Krishna Brunton

PhD Student

Krishna is a PhD student in the Bioengineering department. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2021, where he majored in Biochemistry-Molecular Biology. His current research project focuses on developing methods to identify genome-wide contributions to gene expression regulation. Krishna's hobbies include checking out new coffee shops and hiking.

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Ishaan Gupta

PhD Student

Ishaan is a PhD student in the Computer Science department and is driven to improve our ability to predict immune responses and disorders in patients. He is currently using gene expression prediction models to find causal cell types and states in autoimmune disorders and immune cell mechanisms. In his free time, Ishaan loves to try food and recipes from across the globe or go hiking.

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Kai Akamatsu

Undergraduate Volunteer

Kai recently completed his undergraduate degree in Bioinformatics from UCSD and is now a first-year PhD student at UCLA in the Biomathematics program. Kai developed a multi-ancestry gene expression prediction model that maximizes the our ability to perform disease-critical gene inference using limited sample size data from underrepresented populations. His goal is to leverage computer science to democratize high-quality medicine and improve patient care outcomes. In his free time, Kai likes to surf with his friends and cook.

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Xiaoyu Gui

Undergraduate Researcher

Xiaoyu is a third-year undergraduate majoring in Data Science with two minors in General Biology and Mathematics. Her interest lies in leveraging data science techniques to help minimize the gap in health-related discoveries among populations with different ancestry. In her free time, she enjoys taking photos around the city.

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Stephen Golzari

Undergraduate Researcher

Stephen is a third-year undergraduate researcher majoring in Bioengineering/Bioinformatics. He is currently working on incorporating fine-mapping methods to improve multi-ancestry gene expression prediction models. In his free time, Stephen enjoys composing music and playing chess.

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Ieva Sereiva

Undergraduate Researcher

Ieva is a third-year undergraduate student studying bioinformatics at UCSD.  She is currently working on the development of a pangenome browser, which is aimied at providing a user-friendly interface for visualising and analyzing pangenomic data. In her free time, Ieva likes to read and explore the city with friends.

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Nan Huang

Undergraduate Researcher

Nan is a third-year undergraduate student double majoring in Data Science and Math Econ. She is interested in understanding the genetic basis of childhood asthma, aiming to develop clinical risk models that integrate genetic, transcriptomic, and non-genetic risk factors to enhance early asthma detection and personalized treatment strategies. Outside the lab, Nan enjoys exploring new restaurants, cooking recipes, and different types of music.

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We are hiring!
We are looking to recruit talented graduate students and postdoctoral researchers! 

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Alumni

High School Researchers

Pablo Correa Bocardo, ENLACE (Summer 2024)

Keya Patel, ENLACE (Summer 2024) 

Frida Valeria Rivera Lopez, ENLACE (Summer 2024) 

Miranda Cuervo, ENLACE (Summer 2024

Undergraduate Researchers

Ciby Lin, Chemistry (Winter 2023 - Spring 2023)

Sivani Vedula, Bioinformatics (Winter 2023 - Winter 2024)

Sujana Sreenivasan, Bioinformatics (Winter 2023 - Winter 2024) 

Paulina Montserrath, ENLACE (Summer 2023)

Nicole Gonzalez, ENLACE (Summer 2023) 

Brandon Fuller (DBMI and STARS summer program 2024)

Kai Akamatsu (Fall 2022 - Summer 2024)

PhD Rotation Students 

Benjamin Pham, Data Science (Spring 2023, ongoing collaborations)

Giorgia Nicolaou, Data Science (Spring 2023) 

Anna Qi, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (Summer 2023)

Hyrum Eddington, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (Winter 2024)

Nicholas Chan, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (Spring 2024)

Staff Researchers

Alona Khorzhakova, Computational Data Science Researcher (Summer 2023 - Winter 2024)

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