https://www.liamholtlab.org/research daily 0.75 2022-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564595237753-WYL8VHPXZSL34X20REYC/SynBio-Sarah+Richardson.png Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564595417321-NYMAMV5GNOFUUIQIZY3Q/GP-Write.png Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564067167745-TNRU6ZPZEQNIJ861VTCC/Pretty-Cell.jpeg Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564520315569-Q2LXFQ3WH9DQ8K223PK2/step_by_step_montage_delarue_holt-17-03037.jpg Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564522209230-WWQPNMLKRC0A87IVKR3M/Liam-Research-Image.jpg Research https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1629298407832-GAM857LKYPC66UHZFP4I/NeuronMicrochannels.png Research https://www.liamholtlab.org/news daily 0.75 2019-08-01 https://www.liamholtlab.org/news/2019/7/31/new-website-is-nearing-completion monthly 0.5 2019-08-01 https://www.liamholtlab.org/news/2017/9/20/news-holt-lab-nyu monthly 0.5 2019-08-01 https://www.liamholtlab.org/news/2017/8/25/greg-passed-his-quals monthly 0.5 2017-08-25 https://www.liamholtlab.org/peep daily 0.75 2019-07-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1537970995828-A2KFRKB5H4CHCDQIIHVZ/Srinjoy.jpg peeps - Srinjoy Sil, MSTP student Srinjoy was born and raised in Somerset County, NJ. His potential was recognized early as his premature mastery of the alphabet allowed him to skip kindergarten. As a result of multiple class trips to the Liberty Science Center as well as opportunities to engage in science outside of the classroom, Srinjoy’s academic interests gravitated towards biomedical research, and he went on to major in biochemistry at Columbia University. Having finished undergrad without a clear idea of how he wanted to fit in the biomedical research field in the long term, Srinjoy worked as a research technician in the labs of Drs. David Ting and Daniel Haber at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center to explore the medical side of research. As an NYU MSTP student Srinjoy hopes to integrate research on phase separation and the physical properties of the cell interior with our understanding of cancer on a molecular and cellular level. In his spare time, Srinjoy enjoys jamming on the piano, jamming board games, and jamming in general in all appropriate situations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1537970995828-A2KFRKB5H4CHCDQIIHVZ/Srinjoy.jpg peeps - Srinjoy Sil, MSTP student Srinjoy was born and raised in Somerset County, NJ. His potential was recognized early as his premature mastery of the alphabet allowed him to skip kindergarten. As a result of multiple class trips to the Liberty Science Center as well as opportunities to engage in science outside of the classroom, Srinjoy’s academic interests gravitated towards biomedical research, and he went on to major in biochemistry at Columbia University. Having finished undergrad without a clear idea of how he wanted to fit in the biomedical research field in the long term, Srinjoy worked as a research technician in the labs of Drs. David Ting and Daniel Haber at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center to explore the medical side of research. As an NYU MSTP student Srinjoy hopes to integrate research on phase separation and the physical properties of the cell interior with our understanding of cancer on a molecular and cellular level. In his spare time, Srinjoy enjoys jamming on the piano, jamming board games, and jamming in general in all appropriate situations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503964504472-EKJ09OLBAW5B5DFZI1NA/Sud_fun_pic.jpg peeps - Sudarshan Pinglay, Graduate Student Sudarshan was raised in Bangalore, India and moved to the US for college. He did his undergraduate studies in Biology and Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and is currently a graduate student in the NYU Sackler program. A self described ‘tinkerer’, he took Richard Feynman at his word when he said: “What I cannot create, I do not understand” and is currently trying to engineer biological systems in order to understand their function. Sudarshan is passionate about soccer, heavy metal guitar, food and exposing everyone to the joys of a scientific worldview. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503932308452-E56XN168KV3O1W8JRHOW/Dajun.jpg peeps - Dajun Sang, Post Doc Dajun was born in a small town called Sihong in the middle of South China. He has come a long way to get here. He did his Ph. D. in the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences where he started with crop breeding, then moved on to study plant genetics and development. He did a brief post doc at the Institute for Agricultural Biosciences, Oklahoma State University. He is now studying the deep evolution of protein kinases and the phase separation of biomolecules. He is currently applying these principles for synthetic biology. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503932625665-DSPDXBOODP0E787T273L/Greg+Brittingham.jpg peeps - Greg Brittingham, Graduate Student Greg grew up in Hunterdon County, NJ where his frequent interactions with wild animals such as deer and the population of the Jersey Shore led to an interest in how organisms can evolve to be so weird. He went on to attend Gettysburg College where he majored in Biochemistry and Molecular biology while also interning at Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the cancer research division. Greg is currently a Ph. D. candidate in the NYU Sackler program. Greg is currently interested in how the physical nature of a cell’s interior is controlled and how aberrant signaling changes the physical properties of cells during cancer progression. These questions relate to how cells adapt to mechanical stresses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1537406356735-IJUU6ZJU43ZWKRX5K4DL/20171103_142409_b.jpg peeps - Tamas Szoradi, Post Doc Tamas was born and grew up in Budapest, Hungary. More precisely, on the right bank of the Danube in Buda. After finishing his BSc. and MSc. studies at the ELTE University in Budapest he moved to Heidelberg, Germany to pursue his PhD studies in the group of Sebastian Schuck at the Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH). There he uncovered and characterized SHRED a novel stress response pathway in budding yeast. In July 2018 he joined the lab as a post-doctoral fellow. He has started to investigate the biophysical properties of the nucleus with a particular emphasis on macromolecular crowding. He will use his expertise in molecular biology, biochemistry and yeast genetics (and maybe in guitar playing and climbing) to understand how crowding is mechanistically regulated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504626236206-BA7G3W1DDX2MD9HO7Y8T/Morgan2.png peeps - Copy of Morgan Delarue, Now a powerful Group Leader in Toulouse! Morgan is from Rouen, the mighty capital of Normandy, France. He did his Ph. D. at the Curie Institute in Paris, and a first post doc at UC Berkeley (where he met Liam). He then came to do a post doc with us! Morgan now has a PI position as a CNRS researcher in LAAS, Toulouse, France. His main research is focused on developing micro-devices to study how mechanical stresses and chemical signals couple to drive a specific phenotype. He studies some of these fundamental questions in yeast as a model system, and applies his findings to cancer. We will visit him frequently to collaborate on cassoulet. Don’t hesitate to contact him if you wish to know more! He’s recruiting, and he’s amazing. Check out his website here: https://delarue-research.org mdelarue@laas.fr https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1535121372860-EUK97GFVMYAORX6ICWMM/LiamArt2.png peeps - Liam Holt, coach Liam is from a small village in Blighty, a small Island in the North East Atlantic. He did cancer research in Madrid for a bit then a Ph. D. in the UCSF Tetrad program (highly recommended), was a Bowes Fellow at UC Berkeley and is now an Assistant Professor at NYU in the Institute for Systems Genetics. Liam is interested in biological information processing, which can be thought about using the approaches of systems biology, quantitative cell biology, physics, cell biology, proteomics (and other omics) and science communication. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503993190369-GVLQJY5XWJUB9YQHMRHU/Alumni-3.jpg peeps - Alumni of the Holt lab Here are some great members of the Holt lab from UC Berkeley and NYU https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504626236206-BA7G3W1DDX2MD9HO7Y8T/Morgan2.png peeps - Morgan Delarue, Now a powerful Group Leader in Toulouse! Morgan is from Rouen, the mighty capital of Normandy, France. He did his Ph. D. at the Curie Institute in Paris, and a first post doc at UC Berkeley (where he met Liam). He then came to do a post doc with us! Morgan now has a PI position as a CNRS researcher in LAAS, Toulouse, France. His main research is focused on developing micro-devices to study how mechanical stresses and chemical signals couple to drive a specific phenotype. He studies some of these fundamental questions in yeast as a model system, and applies his findings to cancer. We will visit him frequently to collaborate on cassoulet. Don’t hesitate to contact him if you wish to know more! He’s recruiting, and he’s amazing. Check out his website here: https://delarue-research.org mdelarue@laas.fr https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504540521801-XG94OFRSWCQ38XUOCG6H/Nacho.jpg peeps - Ignacio Gutiérrez, Post Doc at Weill-Cornell Ignacio was raised in Santiago de Chile. In Autumn 2010 he moved to Berkeley where he joined the Holt lab as a technician. A year later he was accepted to the Molecular and Cell Biology PhD program as Liam’s first graduate student. Ignacio is deeply interested in cell biology and transcriptional control, he has now graduated and is a post-doc studying aging in Jessica Tyler’s lab at Weill Cornell. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504337504931-N0UL3PTT0RFQOR5THKGX/Conor.jpg peeps - Conor Howard, Grad Student UCSF Tetrad Conor is from San Diego, California, where a particularly inspiring high school teacher ignited his interests in the physical principles underlying biology. He went on to undergraduate studies in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley where he worked with Liam on poly-glutamine length variation in fungi. He continued in the Holt Lab as a technician, researching the evolutionary plasticity of kinase specificity, work that led to the first big publication from the Holt lab! After a short excursion into cancer proteomics at the University of Copenhagen, he began his Ph. D. in the UCSF Tetrad program. He is now investigating the principles of protein quality control and membrane remodeling. Conor is broadly interested in the study of molecular evolution as a means of understanding the way complex systems arise and function, and how these systems fail in aging and disease. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504219245488-8VLWYKPL2ELX17PWP7Z5/Chris-Renou.jpg peeps - Christophe Renou-Adamore, Nektar Therapeutics Christophe is originally from Aix en Provence in France. He started his Masters of Science at the ENSCBP (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, de Biologie et de Physique) in Bordeaux, France, and finished it at UC Berkeley. Not in a rush to be back in France, he took on research positions in two labs at UC Berkeley, first in the Forte lab, and then he came to join us! He now works in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries, still in the Bay Area where he helps to develop novel anti-cancer therapies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1506653044934-0VFRT1EGV08N7F4QWHQB/Noemie_Chabot.jpg peeps - Noémie Chabot, Master of Genetics, Paris Diderot Noemie grew up in a small city in the South of Paris. She is interested in genetics since her 8th grade. After high school, she get a bachelor's degree in medicine at Paris Descartes University. She then chose to enter a research career. So, she is currently doing a master's degree of genetics at Paris Diderot University. During her time in Holt Lab, she worked in the effects of compressive stresses on the pathogen Candida albicans. She is interested in different (to many) subjects as evolutionary genetics, bioinformatics, genomics, microbiology and cell imaging." https://www.liamholtlab.org/new-gallery-1 daily 0.75 2018-06-06 https://www.liamholtlab.org/home daily 1.0 2021-08-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1563897372343-CAKVOSCRQZ7YXDIP1D6Q/cover.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564004219337-Y2VJE1NQD4ET1T9B6IUF/Pretty-Cell.jpg Home https://www.liamholtlab.org/our-impact daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1462307933447-M3RK3DCCA0RXY4BTQXOZ/img-05.jpg Our Impact https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1458581832673-UZTVQK3KYBRBZJEV2TA9/EmptyName-13.jpg Our Impact https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1459870151243-UM5MND5R89JE6VXSI8T1/img-07.jpg Our Impact https://www.liamholtlab.org/news-1 daily 0.75 2020-08-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564764213598-AFW93BU4Z3WV298VZ6CD/tomo10_snapshot_headlight.jpg News https://www.liamholtlab.org/news-1/2019/9/3/post-doctoral-positions-available monthly 0.5 2019-09-03 https://www.liamholtlab.org/news-1/2019/8/7/test-2 monthly 0.5 2019-08-07 https://www.liamholtlab.org/news-1/2019/8/2/test-post monthly 0.5 2019-08-07 https://www.liamholtlab.org/collaboration daily 0.75 2018-06-06 https://www.liamholtlab.org/about daily 0.75 2018-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1528315863261-JR0C85ZG05BBGDJC0EL2/ScienceSketchesorg_banner_transparent_no_arrows_futura.png Outreach Science Sketches https://www.liamholtlab.org/publications daily 0.75 2023-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564080999720-TC13ZOKEXP2T4E7VRSBI/cell-mtorc1-graphical-abstract.jpg Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504004304415-DYMXW6R74CT1NGRTCIJM/Cdk1-evolution.jpg Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503995432748-3ON3ECQCMMBBSD3A62FW/InstantPressure.jpg Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/e40b70e3-da1f-49ec-8969-0405c3aa4d3f/1-s2.0-S109727652200805X-fx1.jpg Publications - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/e486b0ad-982d-4655-bbce-44ec1a5aff19/paper.jpg Publications - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1504028596211-NZ5LVUY6FJV95IW2L4VY/Anaphase.jpg Publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503995855852-7GU47WQUL8Z5FBXYOP8E/STRIKING-IMAGE-1.png Publications https://www.liamholtlab.org/contact daily 0.75 2022-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1628870993408-Q109KHK03AMREP13NMEQ/image-asset.jpeg Contact/Join https://www.liamholtlab.org/cancer-compression-postdoc-1 daily 0.75 2021-08-13 https://www.liamholtlab.org/aging daily 0.75 2019-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564671777259-I5HLFBNMV9SRRV713DQ5/websitePS1-1.gif Aging Aging yeast cells gif https://www.liamholtlab.org/donate daily 0.75 2019-03-06 https://www.liamholtlab.org/people-1 daily 0.75 2024-11-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564603987521-QL5R230ZGHTIUV3KPJ53/LiamArt.jpg People - Liam Holt, Associate Professor Liam is from a small village in Blighty, a small Island in the North East Atlantic. He did cancer research in Madrid for a bit then a Ph. D. in the UCSF Tetrad program (highly recommended), was a Bowes Fellow at UC Berkeley and is now an Associate Professor at NYU in the Institute for Systems Genetics. Liam is interested in biological information processing, which can be thought about using the approaches of systems biology, quantitative cell biology, physics, cell biology, proteomics (and other omics) and science communication. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1584558877834-E4NL3B6IA22J8ZCQF1J7/Tong.JPG People - Tong Shu, postdoc Tong was born and grew up in Hefei, Anhui Province, in the mid-east part of China. Since childhood, she likes to think about ‘whys’ in everyday life. There were several wow moments that ultimately lead her interests in math and physics. She did her undergraduate studies in physics at University of Science and Technology of China. There, she learned about biophysics and how to apply abstract math tools and top-down physics thinking methods to tackle biological questions. She found this field quite fascinating and yet challenging. She then went to Yale for her Ph.D. studies to further pursue biophysics research. Under the guidance of Prof. Rothman and Prof. Zhang, she discovered the key intermediate state during initial SNARE protein assembly involving Munc13-1 and Munc18-1 (essential for neurotransmitter release afterwards), using optical tweezers. Tong joined the lab as a post doc in February, 2020. She is currently interested in studying the relationship between phase separation and cell crowding quantitatively, and investigating how cells respond to mechanical stress. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1602712643071-CJYE0EZ5R4OK32N230PY/NoraHerzog.JPG People - Nora Herzog, Graduate Student Nora grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and spent her time writing poetry and hiking until she graduated from West High School's International Baccalaureate program. She started college at University of Wisconsin—Madison, where she was part of the 9th cohort of the First Wave Hip Hop & Urban Arts program, and a member of the Russian Flagship program. Though she originally went to college to study nursing, after spending a semester doing research with Dr. Bill Sugden on Epstein-Barr virus, she decided to pursue science research instead. Nora decided to transfer after spending a semester abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, and enrolled in Douglass Women's College at Rutgers University. Working in Dr. Andrew Zloza and Dr. Lisa Denzin's labs, Nora completed a senior honors thesis and eventually graduated with a B.A. in Cell Biology & Neuroscience, with certificates in Comparative Literature and Russian language. after which she started her graduate studies at NYU's Sackler Program. She is currently studying the biophysical changes cells undergo during viral infection, through a co-mentorship with Dr. Ian Mohr. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1597097021295-UBF2SZXYCCQ7EK77VZXA/AndrewB.jpg People - Andrew Bazley, Graduate Student Andrew studies how protein folding chaperones tune biophysical properties of the ER lumen and help defend the ER against stress. Before moving to NYC, Andrew was an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied large subunit ribosome biogenesis and DNA polymerase II kinetics with Dr. Arlen Johnson and Dr. Kenneth Johnson, respectively. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1604004467403-XBOQTNFXO4W8413E7C66/Bio.jpg People - Ying Xie, postdoc Ying was born and raised in a city named Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province, in southern China. Her hometown has beautiful scenery of mountains surrounded by lakes. Since she was young, she enjoyed outdoor activities, such as hiking in beautiful nature. Fascinated by living organisms, she decided to pursue biological sciences and started to appreciate the beauty of molecular biology during her bachelor’s in Jinan University in Guangzhou. Then she moved to Singapore to undertake her Ph.D. studies in Nanyang Technological University. She uncovered the mechanism of a protein complex, the ‘polarisome’, in the regulation of the dynamic assembly of actin filaments in fungi. Surprisingly, she discovered that molecular condensation plays an important role in the regulation of polarisome proteins during stress adaption. Ying joined our lab in early 2021. She is co-mentored by David Gresham at the NYU Washington Square campus. Bridging two labs and two campuses, she is investigating proteomic remodeling and the biophysical properties of quiescent cells in response to different environmental stresses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1575651713268-YXXP9MQ7RVNLZVMYOPMP/Sarah-Keegan.JPG People - Sarah Keegan, Scientific Programmer Sarah grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and ran away to NYC at a young age. There she studied Computer Science and Math at Hunter College, then worked for a few years as a programmer for a small proteomics company. After that she wandered off into various other pursuits but eventually came back to helping scientists with their data and now works in both the Fenyo and Holt labs. Her interests are in image analysis and simulations of biological systems, or anything really! She likes to listen to music while running around the city, especially in Central Park. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1628463582569-K83W9KLZCLRU47VX4Z95/Guru1.JPG People - Gururaj Rao Kidiyoor, postdoc Guru grew up in Udupi, a small coastal city located in the southern part of India. He holds an engineering degree in Biotechnology from NIT Warangal. Inspired by his summer school time in the laboratory of late. Prof. Veronica Rodrigues and Prof. VijayRaghavan, at NCBS, Bangalore, he opted to pursue a career in research and soon after graduation joined the same lab as a junior research fellow. Working in the field of developmental neurobiology, Guru established several behavioral assays to understand the biological significance of neuronal network formation during development. He later joined Prof. Marco Foiani at IFOM Milan to pursue his doctoral degree in molecular oncology. Here, he studied the role of DNA repair kinases in maintaining mechanical properties of cells. By collaborating with mechanobiology and biophysics experts, he established several 2D and 3D migration assays, micro-fabrication set-ups, and microscopy techniques. Guru has a unique combination of expertise including cell biology, biophysics, signaling and microscopy. Running and table tennis are his stress-busters. He enjoys traveling, and mountains are his favorite get-away destinations, both in summer (hiking, trekking and camping) and winter (snowboarding and hiking). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1628464868482-ZFA9E5U2G60NVQFX3NBM/Shivanjali.jpg People - Shivanjali Saxena, postdoc Shivanjali was born in the city of Nawabs “Lucknow”, India. It’s a beautiful city, known for its rich cultural heritage and cuisine. Since childhood, nothing fascinated her more than living organisms. She is a very creative and innovative person, who loves to try new things. She studied Bioinformatics at AMITY University, Lucknow, India, working on diverse projects including “immune related genes of fishes”. This got her hooked on immunology and disease research, so she enrolled in a PhD in cellular and molecular immunology at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India, exploring the role of Nod-like receptors in the tumor microenvironment of Glioblastoma. Her transition from bioinformatician to cellular and molecular biologist was a challenge, but it was an amazing period and transformed her into a better researcher. After defending her PhD in May 2020, she joined us as a postdoc in February 2021. Here she will investigate altered signaling pathways and genomic instabilities associated with the mechanical and chemical alterations in the glioblastoma microenvironment. Shivanjali loves cooking/trying new recipes, hiking and reading fiction during her leisure. She always looks forward to exploring new places and trying adventurous sports like mountain climbing, bungee jumping and rafting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1628465462441-PNYE60R4N0Y709W9U3AD/CindyHernandez.jpeg People - Cindy Hernandez, Research Assistant Cindy is from Long Island, New York. As a former nursing assistant at an OB/GYN clinic, Cindy discovered her interest in pursuing a career in medicine and decided to study Biology and Global Public Health at New York University. Throughout her undergraduate studies, she grew an appreciation for molecular biology and genetics. Shortly thereafter, she joined the lab as a research technician, and is currently working on generating a variety of genetically encoded multimeric nanoparticles (GEMs) which can be used to study the biophysical properties of cells. In her free time, Cindy enjoys going on walks with her dogs, learning to play the ukulele, and cooking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1732338536409-ADGR5CEN3LCJ2D8EHPE3/Farida.jpg People - Farida Ettefa, MSTP student Farida was born in Alexandria, Egypt and moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland when she was 4 years old. She majored in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park (Go Terps!) and conducted research in Antony Jose’s lab looking at transgenerational gene silencing in C. elegans, which was also the basis for her undergraduate thesis. She was also an Emergency Department Scribe in Takoma Park, MD which furthered her interest in medicine and high-pressure environments. Following graduation, Farida took a gap year and continued research and scribing while interviewing for MD/PhD programs. She joined the NYU Medical Scientist Training Program in 2019. She is broadly interested in understanding molecular changes that occur in various disease states and how those translate to changes in physical properties of cells. In her spare time, Farida has always been active in outreach, advocacy, and social policy. During college, she served on the Managing Committee of an NGO called STAND: the student-led movement to end mass atrocities. There, she led the outreach team which was responsible for nationwide grassroots organizing, and she lobbied Congress several times. She carried this passion with her post-graduation, and is now Co-Director of the NYU School of Medicine Asylum Clinic which works with a clinician network to help asylum seekers obtain a medical affidavit often needed to bolster their application for asylum. She also enjoys spending time with her cat, Mish Mish, and learning new languages. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1638908921146-PEQT5I83D89J1KF1RRLS/00Yi-Shuan-Tseng+copy.jpg People - Yi-Shuan Tseng, Graduate Student Yi-Shuan grew up in New Taipei City, Taiwan. She is passionate about science and art and has endless curiosity. After completing 7-year art talent classes in elementary and middle school, she decided to focus more on how life and nature work. Then, she majored in pharmacy at National Taiwan University (NTU). Fascinated by biomedical questions, instead of working as a pharmacist, she did her master’s thesis in Dr. Kai-Chien Yang’s lab at NTU. In Dr. Yang’s lab, she studied the mechanism of cardiac regeneration in mice to find a potential treatment for heart diseases. In 2020, Yi-Shuan crossed the Pacific Ocean during the COVID-19 pandemic to pursue her Ph.D. at NYU Vilcek Program. She is currently exploring the biophysical properties in neurons. In her free time, Yi-Shuan enjoys traveling, going hiking and keeping her art life, such as dancing, drawing, playing music, visiting museums, and watching art performances. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1641415067877-6OBZI5QLLJ578JY3I4F8/LanceDenes.png People - Lance Denes, postdoc Lance was born and raised in South Florida on the edge of the everglades. He began his science career as a child career exploring the mangroves, beaches, and reefs before getting a formal education from a pair of birdwatchers that ran an environmental science program at the local high school. He went on to the University of Florida and lost touch with science briefly but found his way again in the microscopy room of a developmental biology lab. He stayed at UF to keep exploring the insides of cells for his PhD with fellow traveler Dr. Eric Wang. He spent his time gazing at RNA molecules inside of muscle cells until he realized they couldn’t move, which led him to wonder… what was in the way? To find out he decided to move himself to the most crowded place he could find, New York, to study the interactions between crowding and gene regulation with the best labs in each business. He splits his time as a postdoc between the Holt and Lionnet labs in the Institute for Systems Genetics and spends whatever time he has left learning about his strange new ecosystem and finding his way back to the beach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1674240085033-82NXQ1DXEGKBIJA0KZD0/ChaoJiang1.jpg People - Chao Jiang, postdoc Chao is from Yingshan, Hubei Province, in the central part of China, and is famous for green tea. He received his bachelor's degree in physics from Wuhan University, China. Then he pursued Ph.D. in soft condensed matter physics at the Institute of Physics, Chinese academy of sciences. He characterized the spatiotemporal transport dynamics of endocytic cargos and found a correlation between intracellular diffusion of QDs and migrating modes in fish keratocytes. He also studied chromatin dynamics and nuclear invagination. These studies prompted him to think about how mesoscale molecular dynamics affect cell-scale functions. Chao joined the lab as a postdoc in January 2023. He will study macromolecular crowding and cellular behaviors under mechanical regulation. He likes to run, swim, and play basketball in his free time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1732337355991-J9TU97ZNPEXZMOZR4RDR/1713047102723.jpg People - David Duran, postdoc David is from Bucaramanga, Colombia. Since his school years he has found a great fascination for Engineering, Physics and Biology. Trying to combine these interests he studied Mechanical Engineering at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia while taking several courses in Biology and Physics. Then, during a time abroad at the University of Tübingen in Germany he discovered his passion for Biophysics and micro- and Nanosystems. During his undergraduate years, David delved into simulations of fluid dynamics, sparking his interest in microfluidics. Later, during his graduate studies he had the opportunity of deepening his interest in microfluidics and Systems Biology by working at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems and Dr. Johan Paulsons lab at Harvard Medical School. During this time he started working with Dr. Juan Pedraza and pursued a Ph.D. in Physics where he developed a novel microfluidic device for studying aging in yeast cells. The main innovation of this device was the low pressure trapping of yeast by means of the slipstreaming effect (very popular in Formula 1, Cycling and Running). By investigating how pressure affected growth and aging of cells he found the work of the Holt Lab. After coming to the Holt Lab he started researching how macromolecular crowding changes during aging in yeast cells. In his free time, David enjoys spending time with his wife Karen and two kids Maria and Matias and training for triathlons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1732337384550-GQ8CKTJWN7RG16Y98Q09/Image+from+iOS.jpg People - Pooja Vikraman, Graduate Student Pooja previously worked on developing microfluidic and 3D cell culture methods to recapitulate the tumor microenvironment. This experience led to her fascination in understanding how mechanical cues in the tumor microenvironment influence genome instability. Outside of the lab, she enjoys bouldering, exploring new restaurants and playing the guitar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1732582123833-423IYOSA74T779ID0L4Z/Rashmi.jpg People - Rashmi Mohotti Rashmi Mohotti comes from the vibrant city of Kandy, Sri Lanka, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Peradeniya. During her studies, she discovered a passion for biomedical engineering and biosystems, leading her to pursue research in identifying biomarkers for colorectal cancer—a project aimed at developing a microfluidic diagnostic device. Rashmi also contributed to the field of regenerative medicine, designing a biodegradable material for bone grafting applications as part of her academic work. After graduating, Rashmi briefly served as an instructor at her alma mater before transitioning into the sustainable materials industry. There, she contributed to an innovative project creating eco-friendly road construction materials using recyclable plastics. In September 2024, Rashmi joined the Holt Lab in New York City, where she now collaborates on diverse research projects. Her long-term goal is to make a lasting impact in biomedical engineering, focusing on biological systems, cancer research, and bone cell studies. Outside of the lab, Rashmi channels her creativity through singing, painting, and calligraphy. She also loves exploring new places and experiences with her husband. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564607884912-F1HZZ0ON82KN52C14C96/Morgan.JPG People - Morgan Delarue, Now a powerful Group Leader in Toulouse! Morgan is from Rouen, the mighty capital of Normandy, France. He did his Ph. D. at the Curie Institute in Paris, and a first post doc at UC Berkeley (where he met Liam). He then came to do a post doc with us! Morgan now has a PI position as a CNRS researcher in LAAS, Toulouse, France. His main research is focused on developing micro-devices to study how mechanical stresses and chemical signals couple to drive a specific phenotype. He studies some of these fundamental questions in yeast as a model system, and applies his findings to cancer. We will visit him frequently to collaborate on cassoulet. Don’t hesitate to contact him if you wish to know more! He’s recruiting, and he’s amazing. Check out his website here: https://delarue-research.org mdelarue@laas.fr https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564608390261-KH10OEKBSB9IHA7T5QVL/Noemie_Chabot.jpg People - Noémie Chabot, Master of Genetics, Paris Diderot Noemie grew up in a small city in the South of Paris. She is interested in genetics since her 8th grade. After high school, she get a bachelor's degree in medicine at Paris Descartes University. She then chose to enter a research career. So, she is currently doing a master's degree of genetics at Paris Diderot University. During her time in Holt Lab, she worked in the effects of compressive stresses on the pathogen Candida albicans. She is interested in different (to many) subjects as evolutionary genetics, bioinformatics, genomics, microbiology and cell imaging." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564607906398-O5QM591I7DNYJ99IBT2T/Nacho.jpg People - Ignacio Gutiérrez, Postdoc, Weill-Cornell Ignacio was raised in Santiago de Chile. In Autumn 2010 he moved to Berkeley where he joined the Holt lab as a technician. A year later he was accepted to the Molecular and Cell Biology PhD program as Liam’s first graduate student. Ignacio is deeply interested in cell biology and transcriptional control, he has now graduated and is a post-doc studying aging in Jessica Tyler’s lab at Weill Cornell. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564607914919-F5OFO98QA7ZFZ4VXCZGJ/Conor.jpg People - Conor Howard, Grad Student UCSF Tetrad Conor is from San Diego, California, where a particularly inspiring high school teacher ignited his interests in the physical principles underlying biology. He went on to undergraduate studies in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley where he worked with Liam on poly-glutamine length variation in fungi. He continued in the Holt Lab as a technician, researching the evolutionary plasticity of kinase specificity, work that led to the first big publication from the Holt lab! After a short excursion into cancer proteomics at the University of Copenhagen, he began his Ph. D. in the UCSF Tetrad program. He is now investigating the principles of protein quality control and membrane remodeling. Conor is broadly interested in the study of molecular evolution as a means of understanding the way complex systems arise and function, and how these systems fail in aging and disease. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1628463928158-IWC69LEH70FQHZ7QO211/Sarah-Tsao.jpg People - Sarah Tsao, Senior Scientist, Neochromosome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1564607920654-HRZFSIPZG38EJZZ1MEOE/Chris-Renou.jpg People - Christophe Renou-Adamore, Nektar Therapeutics Christophe is originally from Aix en Provence in France. He started his Masters of Science at the ENSCBP (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, de Biologie et de Physique) in Bordeaux, France, and finished it at UC Berkeley. Not in a rush to be back in France, he took on research positions in two labs at UC Berkeley, first in the Forte lab, and then he came to join us! He now works in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries, still in the Bay Area where he helps to develop novel anti-cancer therapies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1628463232837-UQ4DT2T045GVVO45YK4R/Greg+Brittingham.jpg People - Gregory P Brittingham, PhD, Product Lead, Biologics, Neochromosome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1641414843341-RGIT3HY69JO0OH31FPKV/tamas.jpg People - Tamas Szoradi, PhD, Scientist, Actome, Freiburg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1650306040623-INFNBKFO7CL3ML1NFGAK/Srinjoy.jpg People - Srinjoy Sil, Resident Physician, NYU School of Medicine https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1503964504472-EKJ09OLBAW5B5DFZI1NA/Sud_fun_pic.jpg People - Sudarshan Pinglay, Independent Research Fellow, University of Washington University of Washington https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1674241327934-1IKGS1TPZKP7UMYXUA7R/Dajun.jpg People - Dajun Sang, Yazhouwan National Laboratory, China Dajun was born in a small town called Sihong in the middle of South China. He has come a long way to get here. He did his Ph. D. in the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences where he started with crop breeding, then moved on to study plant genetics and development. He did a brief post doc at the Institute for Agricultural Biosciences, Oklahoma State University. as a postdoc in our lab, he studied the deep evolution of protein kinases and the phase separation of biomolecules. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/1602711789596-K4JWTE0KGEJJ2S0USDFO/photo+lab+website.jpg People - Martina Bonucci, Postdoctoral Affair Officer & Career Specialist, Institut Pasteur Martina was born in Varese, a town in the lake region of the North of Italy. During her MSc in Molecular Biology at Padua University, she decided to cross the Alps to finish her undergraduate studies at the University Diderot in Paris. There she performed an internship in the group of François Rouyer to study the neurobiology of the circadian clock using Drosophila as a model. To avoid losing her vision dissecting too many fruit fly’s brains, she decided to work with bigger animal models. She therefore moved to Mario Pende’s lab at Necker Institute in Paris, to dissect the role of mTORC1 and S6 Kinase, the master regulators of cell growth, in the pathophysiology of the tumor syndrome Tuberous Sclerosis Complex disease, by using murine models. After fighting against Covid-related travel restrictions, Martina finally managed to reach the lab as a postdoctoral fellow in October 2020. By shifting approach, she will investigate the biophysical effects of mTORC1 perturbations on neuronal properties to unravel a link between molecular crowding and neuropathology. https://www.liamholtlab.org/crowding-biophysics-postdoc daily 0.75 2021-08-13 https://www.liamholtlab.org/cancer-compression-postdoc daily 0.75 2021-08-13 https://www.liamholtlab.org/dream-quest daily 0.75 2022-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/599d64b9e9bfdfc700d1b9b2/99bf8052-27dc-4d55-9bb0-87c47a18272c/lyra_stars.jpeg Dream Quest https://www.liamholtlab.org/our-team-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1458588087399-JQOKVAV0Y6T745O8WVT8/image-asset.jpeg Our Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1458588063381-MV9V3U1AXWYHYWKU5MDO/image-asset.jpeg Our Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1458588118102-HOES79BWOVPLIJ4IF9IR/image-asset.jpeg Our Team https://www.liamholtlab.org/impact-quote-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56e049e08a65e26059119cd5/1459879174445-MIOY5PULB1XAW864NVA8/img-06.jpg Quote https://www.liamholtlab.org/faq-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://www.liamholtlab.org/volunteer-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://www.liamholtlab.org/contact-us-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://www.liamholtlab.org/terms-of-service-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://www.liamholtlab.org/privacy-policy-mojave daily 0.75 2025-04-23