Alex Barrera – Senior Bioinformatician

alejandro DOT barrera AT duke DOT edu

The experimental assays carried out in the lab typically generate huge amounts of sequencing data that need to be systematically processed. As an IT Analyst, I support lab members with the computational aspects of their research by creating reproducible pipelines to process, analyze, and visually represent their results. I’m interested in the impact that working with and visualizing biological data can have on our understanding of the role of genomics and gene regulation in human health.

Graham Johnson – Research Scientist

graham DOT johnson AT duke DOT edu

I am postdoctoral research fellow in the Reddy lab. I am interested in understanding how our genomes are regulated and how non-coding variation contributes to that regulation. In my research, I use and develop high-throughput sequencing technologies to dissect gene regulatory mechanisms. These approaches allow me to identify how the genome responds to environmental stimuli, such as glucocorticoids, and how that response is altered by non-coding genetic variation. Identifying causal non-coding variants underpinning the perturbed gene regulatory responses associated with heritable human diseases, such as diabetes, is a central component of my research. My work is funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award through the NIDDK. View my publications

Laavanya Sankaranarayanan – Graduate Student

laavanya DOT s AT duke DOT edu

I am from Chennai, India, and I am in the Gentics and Genomics Ph.D. program. I am interested in exploring genome regulation in relation to human health as well as in understanding educational approaches in the context of different communities, gender and language biases that play roles in science education. In the Reddy lab, I hope to work on my interests in the context of PCOS. Outside of research, I enjoy board games, hikes and exploring places and communities through food. 

Schuyler Melore – Graduate Student

schuyler DOT melore AT duke DOT edu

I am a Ph.D. student in the Genetic and Genomics program at Duke. In the Reddy lab, I hope to develop new CRISPR-based screening technologies to investigate the gene regulatory effects of combinations of non-coding genetic variations associated with human disease.

Kuei-Yueh Ko – Graduate Student

kuei DOT yueh DOT ko AT duke DOT edu

I am a Ph.D. student in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics program at Duke. I am interested in statistical modeling and method development to solve biological problems and gain new biological insights from data. My current research focus is to explore and model gene regulatory effects using high-throughput sequencing technologies such as STARR-seq and PRO-cap.

Thomas Cowart – Bioinformatician I

thomas DOT cowart AT duke DOT edu

I’m a software developer in the Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies building a website for accessing the data the Center of Excellence in Genomic Science produces. Additionally I’m collaborating with several labs to help them build better software. My background is entirely commercial software development so I’m excited to help scientists and learn about molecular biology and genomics.

Courtney Williams – Research Technician II

courtney DOT a DOT williams AT duke DOT edu

I am a Research Technician who contributes primarily to the Genomics of Gene Regulation and ENCODE projects. I obtained my B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Chemistry from East Carolina University. I am fascinated by the way our genome regulates our response to environmental stimuli and how variations to the genome can result in disease. This fascination led me to join the Reddy Lab, where I have learned how to perform high-throughput biological assays that allow us to answer interesting biological questions 

Revathy Venukuttan - Bioinformatician I

revathy DOT venukuttan AT duke DOT edu

I am a bioinformatician collaborating with different labs in the Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies. I help researchers analyze problems and design computational strategies for a range of biological research. Constantly amazed by how data can answer all outstanding questions, I enjoy diving deep in the search space that overlaps biology and computation to learn and understand the underlying processes behind any biological condition.

Sarah Cunningham – Graduate Student

sarah DOT cunningham AT duke DOT edu

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Genetics and Genomics program at Duke. My research focuses on gene regulation in pregnancy. I use genomic technologies to understand how noncoding variation can contribute to preterm birth risk. I also study the genomic effects of progesterone in pregnancy relevant cells to understand the role of progesterone in maintaining pregnancy.

Young-Sook Kim – Graduate Student

young DOT sook DOT kim AT duke DOT edu

I am a Ph.D. student in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics program. As a member of Reddy lab, I am working on developing a statistical model to remove experimental biases from sequencing data. Biases from various experimental steps distort sequencing results, and this can often obscure the true biological signals. My research focuses on developing a statistical model that can resolve the true biological signals by modeling the biases. The model will help elucidate regulatory regions with high sensitivity and specificity. 

Kari Strouse – Graduate Student

kari DOT strouse AT duke DOT edu

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Genetics & Genomics program at Duke. I am interested in understanding how noncoding variation affects gene regulation and contributes to human disease. In the Reddy lab, I am using high-throughput sequencing technologies to measure the gene regulatory effects of common and rare variants from diverse human populations. This work is funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award through the NHGRI.

Keith Siklenka – Postdoctoral Associate

keith DOT siklenka AT duke DOT edu

Liqing Li– Research Technician II

liqing DOT li AT duke DOT edu

My work is focused on tissue processing and supporting T-cell studies.

Dr. Karl Guo – Graduate Student

Current position: Investigator at GlaxoSmithKline

Dr. Chris Vockley

Current position: Postdoc at the Broad Institute

Dewran Kocak

Current position: Postdoc, Roth Lab at UNC Chapel Hill

Linda Hong

Current position: Research Scientist at Element Genomics

Dr. Ian McDowell – Graduate Student

Current position: Scientist at Element Genomics

Dr. Tony D'Ippolito - Graduate Student

Current position: Scientist at Syros Pharmaceuticals

Ana Berglind

Current position: Ph.D. Student, Sheikh Lab, UNC Chapel Hill

Jungkyun Seo

Current position: Postdoc at UNC Chapel Hill

Rotation students:

Erez Cohen
Jacob Hoj
Katie Ritz
Kyle Moran

Dr. Bill Majoros – Graduate Student

Current position: Assistant Professor at Duke

Luke Bartelt - Lab Analyst

Current position: Ph.D. Student, Lowe Lab at Duke

Darryl Yan

Current position: Software Engineer for Amazon Web Services

Sarah Leichter

Current position: Ph.D. student, Zhong Lab at the University of Wisconsin - Madison