Recent Alumni
Jeanette Baran-Gale
PhD Defense Date: April 4, 2016
Advisor(s): Praveen Sethupathy and Jeremy Purvis
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Dynamics of mRNA and microRNA expression in the estrogen response of breast cancer cells
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Martin Buchkovich
PhD Defense Date: May 7, 2015
Advisor(s): Karen Mohlke and Terry Furey
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Identifying genetic mechanisms of cardiometabolic traits and diseases using quantitative sequence data
Current Position: Manager, Bioinformatics at Q² Solutions
Yanwei Cai
PhD Defense Date: October 7, 2020
Advisor(s): William Valdar
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Analysis of Genetic and Gene-by-Treatment Effects in the Collaborative Cross mice
Current Position: Staff Scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Shengjie Chai
PhD Defense Date: September 18, 2019
Advisor(s): Jonathan S. Serody and Benjamin Vincent
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Bioinformatics Methods for Prediction of Splice Variant Neoantigens
Current Position: Data Scientist at Conversant
Sherry Chao
PhD Defense Date: December 3, 2018
Advisor(s): Jeremy Purvis
Degree Type: MD/PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Modeling Cell Cycle Phase Transitions and Arrest Decisions upon DNA Damage
Current Position: Medical Student
Tom Christy
PhD Defense Date: March 11, 2021
Advisor(s): Kevin Weeks
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: SHAPE-JuMP: Detecting RNA-RNA Interactions via Covalent Linkage and Reverse Transcription
Current Position:
Nicholas Colaianni
PhD Defense Date: April 12, 2021
Advisor(s): Jeff Dangl and Corbin Jones
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: How do plants accommodate immune surveillance and commensal community formation?
Current Position: Post Doctoral Researcher at UNC Chapel Hill
Kyla Collins
PhD Defense Date: April 5, 2017
Advisor(s): Shawn Gomez and Gary Johnson
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Data-Driven Computational Modeling of the State and Architecture of the Breast Cancer Kinome
Current Position: Research Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company
Meredith Corley
PhD Defense Date: December 14, 2016
Advisor(s): Alain Laederach
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: The functional effects of RNA structure: from riboSNitches to translational control
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Ionis Pharmaceuticals
Robert Corty
PhD Defense Date: May 29, 2018
Advisor(s): William Valdar
Degree Type: MD/PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Variance Heterogeneity in Genetic Mapping
Current Position: Clinical Fellow in Rheumatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Wes Crouse
PhD Defense Date: November 13, 2019
Advisor(s): Samir Kelada and William Valdar
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Bayesian Inference of the Allelic Series in Multiparental Populations with Applications
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Chicago
Kevin Currin
PhD Defense Date: October 2, 2020
Advisor(s): Karen Mohlke
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Chromatin accessibility changes and genomic integration identify genetic regulatory mechanisms
Current Position: Research Associate at UNC Chapel Hill
Nate Diehl
PhD Defense Date: April 12, 2021
Advisor(s): Channing Der
Degree Type: BCB Certificate, MD/PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: INVESTIGATION OF THE KINOME IN PANCREATIC DUCTAL ADENOCARCINOMA
Current Position: Medical Student at UNC Chapel Hill
Julia DiFiore
PhD Defense Date: March 13, 2020
Advisor(s): Brian Strahl
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Examining the Role of Histone H3 Lysine 36 Methylation in Preventing Aberrant Transcription
Current Position: Medical Writing Fellow at Impact Pharmaceutical Services
Lauren Donoghue
PhD Defense Date: May 11, 2021
Advisor(s): Samir Kelada
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Using systems genetics to identify regulators of complex traits associated with asthma severity
Current Position: Post Doctoral Fellow at Genentech
Qing Duan
PhD Defense Date: May 5, 2016
Advisor(s): Yun Li
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Imputation-Based Genetic Association Analysis of Complex Traits in Admixed Populations
Current Position: Research Associate at University of Cincinnati Evaluation Services Center
Ozgun Erdogan
PhD Defense Date: April 26, 2016
Advisor(s): Xian Chen
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Biochemistry & Biophysics
Thesis Title: Proteomic dissection of LPS-inducible PHF8-dependent secretome reveals novel roles of PHF8 in TLR4-induced acute inflammation and activation of adaptive immunity
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate at Duke University
Andrew Fant
PhD Defense Date: December 13, 2015
Advisor(s): Alex Trophsa
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Medicinal Chemistry
Thesis Title: The effect of data curation on the accuracy of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship models
Current Position: Computational Biologist at Publicis Sapient
Sherif Farag
PhD Defense Date: June 3, 2019
Advisor(s): Alex Tropsha
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Computational Design of Novel Non-Ribosomal Peptides
Current Position: Bioinformatics Scientist at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dayne Filer
PhD Defense Date: November 16, 2020
Advisor(s): Kirk Wilhelmsen
Degree Type: MD/PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Tools and statistical approaches for integrating DNA sequencing into clinical care
Current Position: Medical Student
Ray Haggerty
PhD Defense Date: November 11, 2019
Advisor(s): Jeremy Purvis
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Motif Inference from Single Cell Dynamics
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Brea Hampton
PhD Defense Date: June 30, 2022
Advisor(s): Mark Heise and Martin Ferris
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Genetic regulation of immune homeostasis in the Collaborative Cross
Current Position:
Susanna Harris
PhD Defense Date: May 13, 2020
Advisor(s): Elizabeth Shank and Jeff Dangl
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Microbiology and Immunology
Thesis Title: Building Complex Communities to Promote Individual Members’ Persistence and Affect Behaviors
Current Position: Founder and CEO, PhD Balance
Austin Hepperla
PhD Defense Date: August 7, 2020
Advisor(s): Ian Davis
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Integrative Genomic Analyses of Chromatin and Epigenetic Regulation Across Eukaryotes: A Journey from Yeast Transcription to Human Cancer
Current Position: Bioinformatics Scientist at UNC Neuroscience Center
Sur Herrera Paredes
PhD Defense Date: April 5, 2017
Advisor(s): Jeff Dangl and Corbin Jones
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Understanding the plant microbiome
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University
J Cody Herron
PhD Defense Date: April 12, 2022
Advisor(s): Tim Elston and Klaus Hahn
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Computational Analysis and Modeling of Cytoskeletal Organization During Phagocytosis
Current Position: Senior Quantitative Systems Pharmacologist at Pfizer
Andrew Hinton
PhD Defense Date: January 6, 2022
Advisor(s): Wesley Burks and Peter Mucha
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Supervised learning methods for biomarker discovery and pattern recognition with compositional omics data
Current Position: Principal Data Scientist at CVS Health
Charles Hodgens
PhD Defense Date: July 1, 2020
Advisor(s): Joe Kieber
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Innovations in cloning genes identified in genetic screens and their application to cytokinin signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana
Current Position:
Reed B. Jacob
PhD Defense Date: March 20, 2017
Advisor(s): Nikolay Dokholyan
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Developing a Bioscavenger Against Organophosphate Nerve Agents
Current Position: Computational Biochemist at UPL, Head of In-silico research
Tim Jacobs
PhD Defense Date: October 6, 2015
Advisor(s): Brian Kuhlman
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: De novo proteins designed from evolutionary principles
Current Position: Senior Scientist at AbCellera
Ivan Jimenez-Ruiz
PhD Defense Date: July 30, 2020
Advisor(s): Alain Laederach
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Regulation of SERPINA1 UTR isoforms by Alternative polyadenylation in A1AT
Current Position: Integration Engineer at Medaxion
Shannon Jones
PhD Defense Date: March 21, 2016
Advisor(s): Laura Miller and Ty Hedrick
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: A computational fluid dynamics study of the smallest flying insects
Current Position: Research Associate at North Carolina State University
Lance Jubic
PhD Defense Date: August 20, 2021
Advisor(s): Jeff Dangl
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Arabidopsis Helper NLRs signal both downstream of sensor NLRs and exhibit inter-helper family interactions
Current Position: Scientist at Syngenta
Greg Keele
PhD Defense Date: March 16, 2018
Advisor(s): William Valdar
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Handling uncertainty in haplotype descent for QTL mapping and other adventures with multiparental populations
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate at The Jackson Laboratory
Benjamin Keith
PhD Defense Date: April 1, 2020
Advisor(s): Terry Furey, Shehzad Sheikh, and Praveen Sethupathy
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Molecular stratification and prognostic determinants of adult and pediatric Crohn’s disease
Current Position: Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at AstraZeneca
Patrick Kimes
PhD Defense Date: May 5, 2015
Advisor(s): Yufeng Liu, Steve Marron and D. Neil Hayes
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Statistics & Operations Research
Thesis Title: New Statistical Learning Approaches with Applications to RNA-seq Data
Current Position: Principal Scientist I, Bioinformatics at Roche Sequencing
Jessime Kirk
PhD Defense Date: March 29, 2019
Advisor(s): Mauro Calabrese
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Functional classification of long non-coding RNAs by k-mer content
Current Position: Bioinformatics Engineer at Invitae
Jayashree Kumar
PhD Defense Date: November 12, 2021
Advisor(s): Alain Laederach
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Studying the effects of variants on alternative splicing through the lens of pre-messenger RNA structure
Current Position: Post Doctoral Researcher at UNC Chapel Hill
Katrina Kutchko
PhD Defense Date: April 5, 2017
Advisor(s): Alain Laederach
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Viruses and the evolution of RNA structure
Current Position: Data Scientist at Verizon
Mike Lafferty
PhD Defense Date: March 22, 2022
Advisor(s): Jason Stein
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Genetic Variants Regulating MicroRNA Expression in the Developing Human Neocortex
Current Position: Post Doctoral Researcher at UNC Chapel Hill
Vinal Lakhani
PhD Defense Date: November 11, 2015
Advisor(s): Timothy Elston
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Testing the Theoretical Limit of Gradient Sensing in Yeast
Current Position: Scientist at DILIsym Services Inc
Nicole Lama
PhD Defense Date: April 29, 2020
Advisor(s): Alain Laederach and Kevin Weeks
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Detection of Ligandable Pockets in RNA
Current Position: Senior Consultant/Data Scientist at SickleSoft Inc.
Gen Li
PhD Defense Date: August 4, 2015
Advisor(s): Haipeng Shen and Andrew Nobel
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Statistics & Operations Research
Thesis Title: Integrated analysis of multiple data sets with biomedical applications
Current Position: Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia University
Jin Li
PhD Defense Date: May 12, 2015
Advisor(s): Ethan Lange
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Genetic Association Studies: Application in the Investigation of Biomarkers Related to Cardiovascular Diseases and Study Design
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University
Dan Liang
PhD Defense Date: January 12, 2021
Advisor(s): Jason Stein
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Genetic and parent-of-origin effects on cell-type specific chromatin accessibility during human neuronal differentiation
Current Position: Post Doctoral Researcher at Yale University
Siyao Liu
PhD Defense Date: March 24, 2022
Advisor(s): Charles Perou
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Objective class discovery and feature selection in single cell RNA-seq data
Current Position: Bioinformatics Scientist at UNC Chapel Hill
Jack Maguire
PhD Defense Date: January 24, 2020
Advisor(s): Brian Kuhlman
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Improving Computational Methods for Designing Polar Protein-Protein Interfaces
Current Position: Senior Computational Scientist at Menten AI
Shelsa Marcel
PhD Defense Date: April 7, 2022
Advisor(s): Ian Davis & Joel Parker
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: IDENTIFICATION OF GENOME-WIDE CANCER-SPECIFIC CHROMATIN PATTERNS AND EXPLORATION OF THE EFFECT OF SETD2 ON TRANSCRIPTION AND HISTONE METHYLATION IN THE CONTEXT OF CCRCC
Current Position: Bioinformaticist at Q² Solutions
Paul Maurizio
PhD Defense Date: January 9, 2018
Advisor(s): William Valdar and Mark Heise
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Uncovering the Genetic Architecture of the Host Response to Influenza Virus in Mice
Current Position: Bioinformatics Scientist, Vaccine Research Center, NIAID.
Patrick McCarter
PhD Defense Date: July 7, 2017
Advisor(s): Timothy Elston and Henrik Dohlman
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Decoding the yeast osmotic stress response through comprehensive mathematical modeling
Current Position: Data Scientist at Cone Health
Kimiko McGirr
PhD Defense Date: June 19, 2020
Advisor(s): Tim Elston and Henrik Dohlman
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Identifying signaling pathway architecture using model-driven experimental design
Current Position: Senior Scientist -- Mathematical Modeler at Applied BioMath
Duncan McPherson
PhD Defense Date: May 8, 2016
Advisor(s): Joe Kieber
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Using FAIRE in Arabidopsis and Rice to study change of chromatin conformation in response to cytokinin
Current Position: Application Support Engineer at Metabolon, Inc.
John Mellnik
PhD Defense Date: April 30, 2015
Advisor(s): M. Greg Forest
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Microrheology and Heterogeneity in Biological Fluids: Approaches, Models and Applications
Current Position: CTO, Path BioAnalytics, Inc.
Katie Metz Reed
PhD Defense Date: April 8, 2022
Advisor(s): Douglas Phanstiel
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Gene Regulation in Time and Space
Current Position: CRTA Postdoctoral Fellow at National Cancer Institute, Misteli Lab (NIH)
Andrew P. Morgan
PhD Defense Date: November 30, 2016
Advisor(s): Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena
Degree Type: MD/PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Structural variation and the evolution of the mouse genome
Current Position: Medical Student
Daniel Oreper
PhD Defense Date: March 23, 2018
Advisor(s): William Valdar
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Computational methods for studying parent-of-origin effects via reciprocal mouse crosses
Current Position: Bioinformatician at Genentech
Amy Pomeroy
PhD Defense Date: June 16, 2020
Advisor(s): Tim Elston and Henrik Dohlman
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Mechanistic models of interactions within and between MAPK pathways
Current Position:
Bryan Quach
PhD Defense Date: July 21, 2017
Advisor(s): Terry Furey
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Computational approaches to studying gene regulation using chromatin accessibility and gene expression assays
Current Position: Bioinformatics Scientist at RTI International
Chelsea K Raulerson
PhD Defense Date: November 6, 2019
Advisor(s): Karen Mohlke and Terry Furey
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Effects of adipose tissue transcriptome on cardiometabolic traits in RNA-sequencing data
Current Position: Computational Biologist II at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Sara Selitsky
PhD Defense Date: August 20, 2015
Advisor(s): Praveen Sethupathy and Stanley M. Lemon
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Small RNA transcriptomic analysis during chronic viral hepatitis and associated cancer
Current Position: Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Data Driven Bioscience
Michael Senter
PhD Defense Date: May 16, 2021
Advisor(s): Laura Miller
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title:
Current Position:
Joseph J. Shaffer Jr.
PhD Defense Date: March 25, 2015
Advisor(s): Aysenil Belger
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Neurobiology
Thesis Title: Title: Functional MRI Correlates of Schizophrenia Negative Symptoms during Auditory Oddball Task and Resting State
Current Position: Assistant Research Scientist at University of Iowa
Nur M. Shahir
PhD Defense Date: March 31, 2020
Advisor(s): Terry Furey and Shehzad Sheikh
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: IBD Differentially Affects Region Specific Composition and Aerotolerance Profiles of Mucosally-Adherent Bacteria
Current Position:
Andy Shapiro
PhD Defense Date:
Advisor(s): Ivan Rusyn
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Public Health
Thesis Title:
Current Position: Data Scientist at National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Jenny Shi
PhD Defense Date: June 23, 2015
Advisor(s): Jan Hannig and Corbin Jones
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Statistics & Operations Research
Thesis Title: Bayesian modeling for viral sequencing data and covariance estimation via fiducial inference
Current Position: Quantitative Strategist at MassMutual
Grace Silva
PhD Defense Date: June 2, 2015
Advisor(s): Charles Perou
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Comprehensive Characterization of DNA Copy Number Alterations in Mouse and Human Breast Tumors
Current Position: Associate Director, Computational Biology at Tessera Therapeutics
Mariesa Slaughter
PhD Defense Date: September 26, 2018
Advisor(s): Ian Davis
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Thesis Title: Understanding the relationship between histone acetylation and bromodomain targeting
Current Position: Review Analyst at GeneDx
Jeff Snell
PhD Defense Date:
Advisor(s): Ned Sharpless and Tim Elston
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title:
Current Position: Principal Physician Data Scientist at Rad AI
Natalie Stanley
PhD Defense Date: March 19, 2018
Advisor(s): Peter Mucha
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Adapting community detection approaches to large, attributed, and multilayer networks
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University
Hang Su
PhD Defense Date: June 28, 2022
Advisor(s): Leonard McMillan
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Collaborative Cross Graphical Genome
Current Position:
Kathie Sun
PhD Defense Date: March 24, 2021
Advisor(s): Will Valdar
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title:
Current Position: Associate Scientist in Bioinformatics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Anne Talkington
PhD Defense Date: April 8, 2021
Advisor(s): Greg Forest and Sam Lai
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: A Physiologically-Based, Pharmacokinetic Model for the Clearance of PEGylated Nanomedicines
Current Position: Post Doctoral Research Associate at University of Virginia
Frank Teets
PhD Defense Date: November 1, 2019
Advisor(s): Klaus Hahn and Brian Kuhlman
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Function-Driven Approaches to the Design of Optogenetic Tools
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Protein Innovation, Harvard University
Chanin Tolson Woods
PhD Defense Date: March 27, 2017
Advisor(s): Alain Laederach
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Computational tools for exploring RNA structure change in experimental data
Current Position: Machine Learning Engineer at Apple
Yi-hsuan Tsai
PhD Defense Date: March 4, 2015
Advisor(s): Zefeng Wang and Shawn Gomez
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Transcriptome-wide study of alternative splicing across multiple cancer types
Current Position: Bioinformatician at Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
William Weir
PhD Defense Date: March 26, 2020
Advisor(s): Peter Mucha
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: MD/PhD
Thesis Title: Modularity-Based Approaches To Community Detection In Multilayer Networks With Applications Toward Precision Medicine
Current Position: Medical Student
Matt Weiser
PhD Defense Date: August 4, 2015
Advisor(s): Terry Furey
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Probing the architecture of complex traits: functional genomics methods and applications
Current Position: Bioinformatician, Equinome/PlusVital
Joshua Welch
PhD Defense Date: May 12, 2017
Advisor(s): Jan Prins
Degree Type: BCB Certificate,
PhD Program: Computer Science
Thesis Title: Computational Methods for Inferring Transcriptome Dynamics
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Michigan
Youli Xia
PhD Defense Date: August 26, 2020
Advisor(s): Charles Perou
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Integrative Genomics Approaches to Identify Genetic Drivers of Human Breast Cancer
Current Position: Computational Biology Scientist at Cellarity
Scott Yourstone
PhD Defense Date: September 17, 2018
Advisor(s): Jeff Dangl and Corbin Jones
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: The taxonomic and functional nature of plant-associated microbiomes
Current Position: Bioinformaticist at Q² Solutions
Guosheng Zhang
PhD Defense Date: April 7, 2016
Advisor(s): Yun Li
Degree Type: PhD Curriculum,
PhD Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Thesis Title: Bioinformatics Tools for Exploring Regulatory Mechanisms
Current Position: Software Engineer at Google