Current Lab Members

Craig received his BS in Biochemistry from Brown University and a PhD in Biology from Harvard University. Before opening his lab at UMass Chan Medical School, he was a post-doc at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Craig loves worms, the ocean, and chocolate.

Deb worked as a senior research assistant for Dr. Kalpana White at Brandeis University for 20 years.  Most of her research involved Drosophila genetics and microscopy, but she also managed the central fly food facility for five research labs. She transitioned to supervising the undergraduate Biology teaching lab at Brandeis and stayed there for 9 years.  In August of 2015, Deb was hired as the lab manager for Craig Mello.

Yue-He received his PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from a joint training program of Peking Union Medical College and National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, where he worked on worm genetics and chemical cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry analysis (CXMS). He joined the Mello lab as a postdoctoral associate in 2016. Yue-He’s research interest is to understand the molecular basis of the RNAe and RNAa processes.

Greg received his B.A. from Cornell University where he first became interested in epigenetics while investigating imprinting in mice. He went on to get his PhD from MIT, where he studied germ cell development and germ cell chromatin dynamics in mice. As a post-doc in the Mello lab, Greg is investigating the connections between small RNAs and genome maintenance in the C. elegans germline.

Krishna obtained his bachelor’s degree from VIT university in India. Before starting his Ph.D. at UMass, he worked at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston investigating the role of mutant IDH proteins in Cholangiocarcinoma. As a graduate student in the Mello Lab, Krishna is investigating the function of CSR-1 interacting proteins during embryonic development in C. elegans.

Takao studied physiological functions of tumor suppressor genes in tumorigenesis and development in Japan before joining the Mello lab in order to learn how to apply genetic approach to study developmental processes. Since then, he has been fascinated by the awesome power of worm genetics in discovering and dissecting novel and important biological phenomena.

Heesun is a native of South Korea. She received her B.S. in Life Sciences from Korea University where she investigated the regulation of oligodendrocyte differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells. Heesun became very interested in the field of epigenetics and decided to pursue a M.S. in Medicine at Seoul National University, where she worked on aberrant DNA methylation in human cancer cells. Her dissertation research in the Mello Lab aims to understand the mechanisms of pie-1 function in C. elegans.

Ahmet is a bioinformatician with molecular biology and genetics background. He obtained his BSc and MSc from Bilkent University, Turkey and his PhD from METU, Turkey. Before joining Mello Lab as Bioinformatician II in 2016, he had several roles in his own company, in a national funding agency, and in academy. His passion is data analysis and visualization, regardless of its nature. He is currently working on C. elegans genome expedition as well as small RNA data analysis and interpretation.

During his Ph.D. training, En-Zhi used C. elegans as a model system to study the role of mitochondria during aging in Dr. Mengqiu Dong’s lab at National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing, China. As a post-doc in the Mello Lab, En-Zhi is investigating the role of the PIWI RNA pathway in genome surveillance in C. elegans.

Ph.D: University of Tokyo, Japan
Title: Research Assistant Professor
Research Themes & Interests: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=shirayama+m

Wen completed his graduate research at the Stowers Institute where he studied biogenesis and regulation of telomerase. In 2013, Wen joined the Mello Lab as a post-doctoral associate and he is interested in understanding how small RNAs and chromatin-modifying enzymes regulate gene expression, and how gene transcription states are maintained over generations.