Our team
Maria Gutierrez-Arcelus, PhD (she/her)
Assistant Professor
Maria obtained her bachelor's degree in Genomic Sciences at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). She completed her PhD at the University of Geneva, in the Dermitzakis lab, and her postdoctoral training at the Raychaudhuri lab at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is now Assistant Professor in the Division of Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and an affiliate member of the Broad Institute.
mgutierr@broadinstitute.org
Daniela Fernandez Salinas, BSc (she/her)
Research Assistant
Daniela obtained a BSc in Genomics at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). She is interested in the use of experimental techniques, bioinformatics and machine learning approaches for the improvement of human health.
daniela.fernandez@childrens.harvard.edu
Marcella Franco, MSc (she/her)
Research Assistant
Marcella obtained her bachelor and master degrees in Biotechnology at the University of Milano Bicocca. After completing her master thesis in the Zanoni lab at Harvard Medical School, she decided to deepen her knowledge by studying bioinformatics and data analysis. To apply some of the new skills acquired with online courses, she joined the Diss lab, at the Friedrich Miescher Institute of Biomedical Research in Basel. She is interested in the combination of computational and experimental techniques to uncover the complexity of the immune system.
marcella.franco@childrens.harvard.edu
Vitor Aguiar, PhD (he/him)
Instructor
Vitor obtained a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences at UFES (Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil). He completed his Ph.D. in Biotechnology at the same university, including a 1-year exchange program at the Nielsen lab, UC Berkeley. He did his postdoctoral training at the Diogo Meyer group at the University of São Paulo, including 1 year as a visiting scholar at the Dermitzakis lab at the University of Geneva.
vitor.aguiar@childrens.harvard.edu
Nicolaj Hackert (he/him)
Research Intern
Nicolaj is a 4th year medical student at Heidelberg University where he has been working in the group of Dr. Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer. He joined the Gutierrez-Arcelus Lab to work on his MD thesis under the supervision of Dr. Gutierrez-Arcelus and Dr. Grieshaber-Bouyer. His research interest is focused on combining computational and experimental methods to shed light on T cell pathobiology in the context of autoimmune diseases.
Nicolaj.Hackert@childrens.harvard.edu
Mariasilvia Colantuoni, PhD (she/her)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Mariasilvia is a junior post-doc from Italy. After completing her bachelor's degree in Biotechnology in Benevento, her hometown, she pursued further education at the University of Pavia to expand her knowledge in molecular biology and genetics. Recently, she successfully obtained her Ph.D. from the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (Sr-Tiget) in Milan. During her time at Sr-Tiget, Mariasilvia focused her research on molecular immunology, specifically investigating immune-mediated diseases and exploring cutting-edge gene therapy techniques for potential therapeutic applications. Presently, Mariasilvia is leveraging on her expertise to unravel the impact of genetics on autoimmune conditions while expanding her knowledge of bioinformatics tools.
Mariasilvia.Colantuoni@childrens.harvard.edu
Nada Abdel Aziz, PhD (she/her)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Nada obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in biotechnology at the Faculty of Science, Cairo University. She completed her Ph.D. and Post-doctoral training in Clinical Sciences and Immunology at Brombacher’s Lab in the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town. Nada built immense expertise in molecular immunology and immune regulation against helminth infection and now she is widening her knowledge about autoimmune diseases and developing new bioinformatics skills.
nada.ahmed@childrens.harvard.edu
Rodrigo Cervantes-Diaz, PhD (he/him)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Rodrigo obtained a bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemical Biology at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). He has a master’s degree in Immunology Science from IPN (Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México). He completed his Ph.D. in Science at UNAM in Maravillas-Montero Lab. He is interested in applying his knowledge of experimental techniques in B cell biology and combining them with computational techniques to deepen the perception of novel B cell subpopulations in autoimmune diseases.
rodrigo.cervantes-diaz@childrens.harvard.edu
Leetah Senkpeil, PhD (they/them)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Leetah obtained their bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences at Purdue University. They completed their Ph.D. in Immunology with a minor in Bioinformatics at Indiana University School of Medicine. Leetah combines their expertise in immunology, statistics, and programming to model the complex interactions between biological systems and pursue a more complete understanding of immunological processes.
Leetah.senkpeil@childrens.harvard.edu
Liyoung Kim, MD (she/her)
Clinical Fellow
Liyoung is a clinical fellow in the Pediatric Rheumatology department at Boston Children’s Hospital. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology and Science Education, as well as her MD degree, at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea. Previously, she worked in the Theresa Lu lab at Weill Cornell Medical Center/Hospital for Special Surgery. Additionally, she completed her pediatric residency training and served as a chief resident at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Her primary research interest lies in exploring the genetics of pediatric patients with lupus and employing bioinformatic techniques to better classify pediatric lupus patients.
Liyoung.Kim@childrens.harvard.edu
Gonzalo Villanueva Martin, PhD (he/him)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Gonzalo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, another in Biochemistry from the University of Granada, and a Master’s degree in Genetics and Genomics from the University of Barcelona. He completed his Ph.D. in Javier Martin’s Lab at the Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina López-Neyra (CSIC). His Ph.D research primarily focused on applying new genomic and transcriptomic bioinformatic approaches such as Single Cell RNA-seq, to elucidate the genetic basis of Systemic Sclerosis. In addition, Gonzalo has a background in benchwork complemented by clinical experience as a nurse.
Gonzalo.VillanuevaMartin@childrens.harvard.edu
Qian Xiao, MSc (she/her)
PhD student
Qian is a PhD candidate in the BBS program at Harvard University. She holds a BSc in Immunology and Pharmacology from the University of Toronto, and a MSc in Computational Biology and Quantitative Genetics from the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to her doctoral studies, Qian worked as a bioinformatics analyst in the Raychaudhuri Lab. Her research focuses on utilizing single-cell omics to explore the role of B cells in autoimmune diseases.
Qian.Xiao@childrens.harvard.edu
You?
We are looking for talented people interested in genomics, immunology, transcriptomics, epigenomics, computational biology, statistics, and/or molecular biology.
Alumni
Victor Nieto, MSc. Research Intern from August 2021 to April 2022. Enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology.
Sarah Djeddi, PhD. Postdoctoral fellow from 2022 to 2024. Started a job as Scientist in Computational Biology at Immunitas.
Vaishali Prahalad. Highschool research Intern during the summer of 2023. Enrolled in undergrad program in Georgia Tech.
Marcos Chiñas, BSc. Research Assistant from 2021 to 2024. Enrolled in PhD program at Oxford University.
Gonzalo Borrego Yaniz, MSc. Visiting PhD student from February to July 2024. Went back to Spain to finish his graduate work.