February 27th, 2023
JXTX + CSHL 2023 Biology of Genomes Awardees
JXTX: The James P. Taylor Foundation for Open Science is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 JXTX+CSHL Biology of Genomes Scholarships. The JXTX Foundation provides support for students to attend conferences in computational biology and data science, where they can present their work and form connections with other researchers in the field.
Six genomics and data sciences graduate students from around the globe were awarded this set of JXTX+CSHL scholarships. These awardees will present their work at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Biology of Genomes Conference being held May 9-13. Awardees represent six institutions and are presenting a wide range of research at the meeting.
Robin Aguilar
UW
Robin Aguilar is a PhD candidate and technology developer at the University of Washington in the Department of Genome Sciences. Through their research in the Beliveau and Noble labs, they develop tools and microscopy techniques that will allow researchers to understand the contributions of highly repetitive DNA in the context of global 3D genome organization, human and model organism evolution, and human disease. As they navigate their experiences in science as a queer and trans, first-gen, Latinx researcher, they are passionate about making STEM spaces more accessible and equitable for marginalized trainees. Separately, they also develop science communication workshops, curricula, and art centered on research and diverse storytelling within and beyond STEM.
Katarzyna Kedzierska
Oxford
Kasia Kedzierska is a computational biologist specializing in data science and machine learning for biological research. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Oxford, where she studies the role of chromatin organization in the progression of endometrial cancer. In addition to her academic work, Kasia enjoys teaching and is also an active member of the NGSchool Society, which promotes science and bioinformatics research in Eastern Europe.
Laura Luebbert
CalTech
Laura is a German-Catalan Biology Ph.D. candidate at Caltech. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology and biotechnology at Leiden University in The Netherlands, she followed her passion for genetics and entered the world of computational biology. Currently, she is developing a pipeline for the detection of viral sequences in next-generation sequencing data in the laboratory of Prof. Lior Pachter. She is passionate about bridging the gap between biology and bioinformatics, having worked in both wet lab and computer science roles. Her most recently published program ‘gget’ facilitates access to large genomic databases and has been downloaded over 30,000 times. When she is not busy detecting bugs, you can find her hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Brianah Mccoy
ASU
Brianah (Bri) McCoy is a 3rd year Molecular and Cellular Biology PhD Candidate at Arizona State University in the lab of Dr. Noah Snyder-Mackler. Bri is a trainee at The Dog Aging Project where her research is focused on understanding social environmental effects on gene regulation and aging in companion dogs.
Dongyuan Song
UCLA
Dongyuan is a Ph.D. candidate in Bioinformatics, UCLA, under the supervision of Dr. Jingyi Jessica Li. He obtained his B.S. in Biological Sciences, from Fudan University and his M.S. in Computational Biology, from Harvard HSPH. He is currently visiting the Harvard Department of Statistics. Dongyuan is interested in developing statistical methods in single-cell and spatial genomics.
Chang Su
Yale
Chang Su is a Ph.D. candidate in Biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. She is co-advised by Dr. Hongyu Zhao and Dr. Zhou Fan. Her research interests lie in developing statistical methods for high-dimensional data from genomics and genetics. Her recent work focuses on statistical inference of cell-type-specific co-expression networks using single cell and bulk transcriptomics data, and the advancement of principal component analysis in high-dimensional settings with Empirical Bayes ideas.
About JXTX: The James P. Taylor Foundation for Open Science
“The most important job of senior faculty is to mentor junior faculty and students.” These are the words that Professor James P. Taylor, the Ralph S. O’Connor Professor at the Departments of Biology and Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University said and lived by. This, he believed, was imperative to advance science, and in a way that facilitated diversity and inclusion. The mission of this foundation is to continue his legacy, through a multifaceted approach which will be unrolled across several stages.
Towards the goal of advancing mentorship, the JXTX Foundation will organize and host mentoring sessions between senior and junior faculty members at select high-profile meetings. The Foundation also aims to attract new scholars, including high school and undergrad students, to computational biology and data science, and to form connections and opportunities for members of underrepresented minority populations.
According to his colleagues, James hated self-promotion. But the community would be done a grave disservice if the seeds planted by Dr.Taylor were not nourished to grow and flourish. Thank you to those who have generously contributed.
Please consider making a donation to support James Taylor’s legacy.