BRI BRAZELL
STEPHANIE FELKER
PETER ALLEN
Fifth-year graduate student HudsonAlpha Lab: Dr. Greg Cooper Home Institution: University of Alabama in Huntsville, College of Science, Biotechnology Science and Engineering Program What is your research focus? I focus on how intronic, non-coding variations can affect disease phenotype. These variants are often missed in conventional analysis. What are your hobbies outside of the lab? Outside of lab, I love video games, reading comic books, and putting together lego sets with my kids and husband.
Fifth-year doctoral candidate HudsonAlpha Lab: Drs. Sara Cooper and Richard M. Myers Home Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Graduate Biomedical School, Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics Theme What is your research focus? The main focus of my research is to study the epigenetics of complex, au- toimmune diseases such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Scleroder- ma. Our lab has identified a popu- lation-specific epigenetic signature in Lupus patients that exists inde- pendent of disease status, whether the patient is in an active (flaring) or dormant (quiescent) disease state. One of the goals of my research is to design an assay to test methylation at a few loci in our signature to then screen biobanks for samples to use in downstream analyses to under- stand the origins and consequences of this epigenetic signature. What are your hobbies outside of the lab? One of the things I love to do when I’m not in the lab is to read— mostly historical fiction, but have recently started reading thrillers. Outside of research, I also love to sing and am currently part of the Huntsville Master Chorale as a Tenor.
Fifth-year graduate student HudsonAlpha Lab: Dr. Richard Myers Home Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics Theme What is your research focus? I’m most interested in understanding how genes associated with neurode- generative disease are regulated. I recently completed a project where we used single-cell technologies to identify Alzheimer’s disease-specific regulatory elements and the transcription factors that bind them. I also lead a project focused on the MAPT gene, which encodes for the tau protein that makes up the neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s disease. Using genomic approaches and neural cell culture models, we have identified regulatory elements of MAPT that are proximal to its promoter and some that are over 500,000 bases away. Understanding how MAPT is regulated may point to new strategies to achieve tau
reduction, which could be therapeutically beneficial.
What are your hobbies outside of the lab? In my free time, I enjoy reading, exercising, and (some) gardening. I also enjoy playing pickleball with other members of the Myers Lab!
HUDSONALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY
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