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Current Members

 

Jessie Chappel is a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics at NC State University. She received her B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Greenville University. Her research focuses on methods for multi-omic integration of lipidomic data for evaluating disease risk (Joint mentorship with Erin Baker at UNC Chapel Hill). 

 

 

Nnamdi Osakwe is a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics at NC State University. He received his B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. His research focuses on integrative data analysis to model and predict environmental integrity outcomes within specific localities. 

 

 

Jonathon Fleming is a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics at NC State University. He received a B.S. in Biochemistry and in Mathematics from SUNY Brockport. His research focuses on using geospatial analysis to model risk factors and generate new software applications for various subjects, including disease spread and chemical toxicity. 

 

 

 


 

Alumni (NC State University, 2013 - Present)

 

Preethi Thunga is a Computational Genomics Research Scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. She obtained her Ph.D. in Bioinformatics at NC State University in 2022, where she also obtained a M.S. in Functional Genomics. She received her B.S. in Biotechnology from Anna University (India). Her research integrates data from zebrafish behavioral studies and genetically-diverse cell line experiments to understand population responses to chemical exposure, with emphasis on statistical/informatic methods for characterizing GxE. 

 

 

 

altAldo Carmona-Baez is a Teaching Postdoc at NC State University. He obtained his Ph.D. student in Genetics at NC State University in 2022. Aldo received B.S. in Genomic Sciences from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). His research integrates a variety of genomic data sets to understand evolution of trophic specialization in East African cichlids and characterize effects of environmental exposures (Primary mentor Reade Roberts). 

 

 

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Dr. Skylar Marvel is a Bioinformatics Scientist in the NIEHS Division of Translational Toxicology / Predictive Toxicology Branch. He previously worked with the Reif Lab as a Research Associate in the Bioinformatics Research Center at NC State University. He received his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering (focus: tissue engineering), and M.S. in Electrical Engineering (focus: systems biology) from NC State University. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering (minor: mathematics) from Colorado State University. His research focus is on developing statistical and machine learning techniques for the analysis of genomic and high-throughput screening data. He is the principal developer for ToxPi software. 

 

Dr. Adrian Green is a Senior Computational Toxicologist at Sciome. He completed his postdoc in the Bioinformatics Research Center at NC State University in 2022. He received his Ph.D. in Toxicology at NC State University and his M.S. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of California, Davis. He received his B.S. in Microbiology (plus a Chemistry minor) from California State University, Chico. His research focuses on identifying genes that are susceptible to environmental disturbance and play a vital role in neurobehavioral development through the application of whole genome sequencing and deep learning analysis. 

 

altDr. Dylan Wallis is currently a postdoc at the U.S. EPA Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment with Dr. Jeffrey Minucci. Dylan obtained their Ph.D. student in Toxicology at NC State University in 2022. Dylan received their B.S. in Chemistry and their B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of South Florida. Their research models gene-environment interaction (GxE) effects related to complex chemical exposures and human epidemiological modeling of PFAS. 

 

 

Melody Hancock is currently a Ph.D. student in Bioinformatics at NC State University with Prof. Kurt Marsden. She obtained her Master's in Bioinformatics at NC State University with the Reif Lab, where her research focus was on Machine Learning models for neurobehavioral data. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with a double major in Spanish, from Mercer University in Macon, GA

 

 

Dr.  Marissa Kosnik is currently a postdoc in Quantitative Sustainability Assessment at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). She obtained her Ph.D. in Toxicology at NC State University in 2019. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry and her B.A. in Chemistry from NC State University. Her research focuses on generation of novel hypotheses by creative recombinations of existing datasets.

 

 

altDr. Kimberly To is currently an Informatician with Inotiv (supporting NICEATM). She obtained her Ph.D. in Bioinformatics at NC State University in 2019. She received her Master's in Statistics and B.S. in Statistics from NC State University. Kim's research involved chemical profiling and prioritization for risk assessment, with a focus on nanomaterials, as well as epigenetic effects of environmental stressors.

 

 

altDr. Kyle Roell is currently a Data Analyst Project Manager with the Institute for Environmental Health Solutions at UNC Chapel Hill. He obtained his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics at NC State University in 2018 (co-mentored by Dr. Alison Motsinger-Reif) and his Master's in Statistics in 2017. He received his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan. Kyle's research involves the quantification of synergistic interactions among anticancer drugs, potential heritability of synergy and application of these methods to chemical mixtures.

 

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Dr. Michele Balik-Meisner is currently a Biostatistician at Sciome. She obtained her Ph.D. in Bioinformatics with the Reif Lab at NC State University in 2017. Her training was supported by the NIH/NIEHS training grant in Bioinformatics and by a NSF graduate fellowship. She received her M.S. in Statistics (concentration: Statistical Genetics) from NC State University and B.A. in Statistics from The College of New Jersey. Her research focuses on characterizing genetic variance underlying phenotypic variability between individuals in outbred model organism populations exposed to varying chemical environments. 

 

Dr. Guozhu "Dale" Zhang is currently a Biostatistician at Calico (a subsidiary of Google).  He obtained his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics with the Reif Lab at NC State University in 2016. He received his M.S. in Statistics from the University of Idaho and B.S. in Mathematics from Dalian Maritime University (China). His research involves developing analytical methods for high-dimensional environmental health data. 

 

altDr. Galen Collier was a Bioinformatics Research Scholar in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University. He received postdoctoral training in Chemical Engineering at Columbia University, his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at Clemson University, and his M.S. in Biophysical Chemistry at Georgia State University. Prior to joining the bioinformatics community at NC State University, Dr. Collier worked as a computational scientist at Clemson University where he supported informatics and modeling activities within a range of life sciences projects. He is currently on active duty in the U.S. Navy.

 


 

Alumni (U.S. EPA, 2008-2012)

 

Cory Strope, PhD (EPA post-doctoral fellow)
Biologist 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Lisa Truong, PhD (EPA post-doctoral fellow)
Assistant Professor & Deputy Director of Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory
Oregon State University

Sean Watford, PhD (EPA post-bac research assistant)
Environmental Health Data Scientist
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Dayne Filer, MD/PhD (EPA post-bac research assistant)
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ander Wilson, PhD (EPA graduate research assistant)
Assistant Professor of Statistics
Colorado State University

Parth Kothiya (EPA post-bac research assistant)
PhD Student
University of Indiana