People | Flannick Lab

Jason Flannick – Principal Investigator

The Flannick Lab develops computational approaches to use human genetic and broader genomic data to understand or better treat human diseases, with a current focus on diabetes. Jason’s research has spanned pure computer science, comparative genomics, and finally human genetics, with a current focus on using computational and statistical methods to impact human health. Prior to starting the Flannick Lab, Jason was a postdoctoral research fellow in David Altshuler’s lab at Mass Gen Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He received his PhD and MS in computer science from Stanford University.

Seid Miad Zandavi – Research Scientist

Miad joined Flannick Lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral research fellow before transitioning into the research scientist role. To Miad, computational genomics is all about understanding the complex genetic code that shapes life using computer methods. What excites him the most is how it uncovers the secrets of DNA, teaching us about evolution, diseases, and the essence of life itself. Beyond genomics research, he finds meaning in coming up with out-of-the-box solutions to help other people and appreciating the beauty in the world, whether through learning, contributing, or simply experiencing joyful moments of life. His creativity and compassion has indeed radiated all around the lab. Miad got his PhD in computer science from the University of Sydney.

Edgar Alejandro Llamas Mejia – Postdoctoral Researcher

Holding a PhD in electrical engineering, Alex had extensive experience in various areas, including data science, software engineering and teaching before becoming a member of Flannick Lab in 2021. His current project is to formalize intuitive analysis of genetic and genomic data into a mathematical, probabilistic model using Bayesian inference to infer gene/trait associations. Not only being an inquisitive and knowledgeable scientist, Alex is also an adventurous and kind person who loves tackling challenges head-on and helping others. His passion for innovation, problem solving and human connection is well reflected in his work as well as his relationships with other members of the lab.

Kyuryung Kim – Postdoctoral Researcher

Having been in the lab since late 2022, Kyuryung has dedicated her research to human genomics in rare diseases. With an MS in chemical and biomedical engineering and a PhD in biomedical informatics, she has a wide range of experience in both experimental and computational genomics. Kyuryung finds great comfort in the company of her family, friends, music and of course, an aromatic cup of coffee! The tranquility of books and nature also helps her relax and recharge after a long day of work.

Steven Gage – Postdoctoral Researcher

Steven has had over a decade of working in life science investigation with a PhD in biochemistry and molecular pharmacology from University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Fueled by tremendous curiosity and creativity, he takes great pride in the ability to learn new techniques and adapt them to specific problems. His diverse skill set in biology, biochemistry and electrophysiology has helped him excel when venturing into a new, related field – genomics research. With the same conscientiousness for work, Steven explores the world through constant practice in a variety of activities, ranging from painting and music to crafting and cinematography. Therefore, traveling, food and nature are inevitably his sources of both entertainment and inspiration.

Satoshi Yoshiji – Research Fellow

Having joined Flannick Lab in early 2023, Satoshi has contributed his expertise as a human geneticist and endocrinologist to various projects. Satoshi got his MD from Keio University and his PhD from McGill University. Throughout his career, he cares deeply about leveraging genomics and proteomics for drug target discovery. He is passionate about travel, music, and food. Fun fact, his favorite food is arguably steak as he eats it almost every day!

Sumit Narain – Visiting Scholar

Sumit is a computational health informatics data manager at Flannick Lab. Having a BS in computer science and currently finishing up medical school, Sumit finds genomics to be the perfect field to apply his analytical skills and medical knowledge. He enjoys seeing genomic research translated to clinical settings. In his free time, he loves to go to pubs and travel. Being a laid-back and spontaneous spirit, one time he went on a random hike on Mt. Fuji and got immersed in an onsen afterwards!

Ryan Koesterer – Senior Computational Associate

With a BS and MA in mathematics, Ryan is an expert in using, developing, and adapting any methods or tools related to computational biology with the goal of providing some tangible improvement to human health. He is also a great mentor to junior researchers who are still fresh on their journey in genomics research. Ryan’s hobbies include making things, playing music and participating in outdoor recreational activities.

Trang Nguyen – Computational Associate I and PhD student

Trang graduated from Minerva University with a BS in mathematics and computer science. She is a computational associate at Flannick Lab and a PhD student at University of Amsterdam. She is interested in developing statistical methods to model biological and genetic processes. The north star in her academic journey has always been learning about the world and applying what she has learned to make it a better place, whether through scientific research or conversations with strangers. As such, when she’s not working with data, she gets lost in reading, writing, and hiking, all of which teach her to be humbled and grateful. Humbled towards the everlasting beauty and power of Mother Earth, and grateful for the stories that have echoed humankind’s joys and sorrows for thousands of years.

Ahmet Sayici – Undergraduate Research Intern

Ahmet is an undergraduate research intern, currently attending Abdullah Gül University.

Furkan Buyukgol – Undergraduate Research Intern

Furkan's main interests are in the use of genome wide analysis to detect novel disease-related genes. He joined the Flannick Lab as a summer student intern in 2019. Currently, Furkan is studying at Abdullah Gul University in Turkey with a focus on molecular biology and genetics.

Prakash Shekhar – High School Research Intern

Prakash is a high school student at Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center who is passionate about applying mathematics to real world problems. Being one of the youngest members of the lab with an inquisitive mind and an ambitious heart, Prakash has contributed to the lab’s research as much as he has learned. In addition to being a math enthusiast, he is also an avid reader, a multi-language learner and a jazz saxophonist!

Marc Duby – Principal Software Engineer

Marc has worked at the Broad Institute for more than eight years, attributing his long-term commitment to the diverse and equitable environments where continuous education and research are done. His background in mechanical engineering (MS) and finances (MLA) is quite complementary to his software engineering expertise. Marc enjoys working on cutting edge computer systems and methods such as machine learning with the mission of finding better ways to treat diseases. In his free time, he loves being outdoors with his wife and four dogs, reading, keeping up with finance news and listening to electronic music.

Quy Hoang – Principal Software Engineer

Quy is a result-driven full-stack software developer/solutions architect with over 20 years of experience in architecting, deploying and maintaining robust web applications for multiple organizations. He is an empathetic, mission-driven individual with keen focus on providing the best user experiences through intuitive designs, insightful data visualization and robust software solutions. Quy has a BS in computer engineering from Northeastern University.

Oliver Ruebenacker – Senior Software Engineer

Oliver is a senior software engineer with more than 30 years of experience in coding. What brings joy to his work is to create software that other people want to use, and solve tough problems. He is a curious, contemplative and optimistic person who enjoys parenting, visiting relatives, music and hiking. Oliver got his PhD in physics from UMass Amherst.

Patrick Smadbeck – Senior Software Engineer

Patrick is a senior software engineer at Flannick Lab. Throughout his career, he has been particularly interested in understanding and adapting third party software and probabilistic models. His curiosity extends beyond work and is reflected in his rigorous study of television listings from the 90s. Additionally, he likes to run, watch bad movies and play with his dog as ways to clear his mind and regain focus. Patrick got his BS in chemical engineering from MIT and his PhD in the same field from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.

Drew Hite – Senior Software Engineer

Drew obtained his BA in geology from Pomona College; however, he took a turn in his career later by getting his MS in computer science from Tufts University. His passion for software engineering has not wavered ever since as he loves solving problems with his computational skills and persistence. When he’s not working, he enjoys stories from various media platforms that embody personal yet universal human experience. Downhill skiing on fresh, dry snow and hiking with his dog, Bella are amongst Drew’s other favorite activities.

Annie Moriondo – Software Engineer

Annie is a software engineer who loves organizing, analyzing, and presenting genetic data for scientists and the public. Annie is also a cellist and spends her weekends practicing and performing in an orchestra! She graduated from UMass Boston in 2021 with an MS in computer science.

Former Lab Members

Soo-Heon Hawk – Visiting Scientist

Sean was a visiting scholar from Seoul National University Hospital, South Korea. At Flannick Lab, he worked on an analysis of exome sequence data to understand the genetic architecture and biology of youth-onset type 2 diabetes. Trained as an endocrinologist with a focus on genetics and epidemiology of diabetes in East Asians, Sean is currently continuing his research at Florez Lab.

Peter Dornbos – Postdoctoral Researcher

Peter was a postdoctoral fellow at Flannick Lab from 2019 to 2022. During this time, he worked on several projects that combined common variant and rare variant association results to improve polygenic scores to predict type 2 diabetes and imply genetic support for various traits. He received a PhD with a dual concentration in a) biochemistry and molecular biology and b) environmental and integrative toxicology from Michigan State University. Peter is currently an associate manager at Regeneron.

Lokendra Thakur – Postdoctoral Researcher

Lokendra was a postdoctoral fellow at Flannick Lab from 2018 to 2023. His project focused on using Bayesian regression to infer gene priors from genetic association results and gene annotations. Lokendra graduated from Louisiana State University with a PhD in computational and applied mathematics.

Marcin von Grotthuss – Senior Computational Scientist

Marcin played a big role in developing knowledge portals for complex traits like type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular diseases at Flannick Lab. He holds a PhD degree in bioinformatics from Radboud University and is now a machine learning associate director at Takeda.

Mónica Ruiz – Graduate Research Intern

Mónica was a graduate research intern at Flannick Lab between 2019 and 2021. Here, she maintained quality control of meta-analysis of genetic association statistics across multiple overlapping studies with association statistics to T2D and other related phenotypes. Mónica obtained her PhD in molecular sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is now a software engineer at Google.

Yibo Fan – Graduate Research Intern

At Flannick Lab, Yibo worked on a method to analyze rare and common diseases with similar clinical presentations in order to identify shared genetic risk factors. He is currently a PhD student at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Nikolaos Giagtzoglou – Graduate Research Intern

Nikos worked on a project to evaluate the extent to which rare coding variant associations could offer support for common disease drug targets. He is currently an associate director at CAMP4 Therapeutics.

Kriti Moogala – Undergraduate Research Intern

Kriti was an undergraduate research intern at Flannick Lab during the summers of 2022 and 2023. Here, she worked on implementing and evaluating methods in the Common Metabolic Diseases Knowledge Portal to infer insights from GWAS summary statistics. Kriti is a senior at University of Michigan, majoring in computer science.

Shuvom Sadhuka – Undergraduate Research Intern

As an undergraduate research assistant in Flannick Lab, Shuvom developed algorithms and methods to characterize how rare coding variants associated with diabetes translate to changes in protein structures. He is now a computer science PhD student at MIT.

Andrew Ruttenberg – Undergraduate Research Intern

Andrew worked on analyzing rare variant association data across diabetes-related traits in order to identify potential new candidate drug targets. Andrew is a research technician at Washington University in St. Louis after getting his BS in computer science and mathematics there.

Sruthi Ranganathan – Undergraduate Research Intern

Sruthi’s project at Flannick Lab aimed to evaluate the extent to which rare coding variant associations could offer support for common disease drug targets. She got her MBBS from University of Cambridge and is now a newsletter director at That Medic Network and admissions intern at Prep Zone Academy.

Pranav Kandlakunta – Undergraduate Research Intern

Pranav dedicated his time at Flannick Lab to a project that used 3D protein structure to empower rare coding variant association tests for common diseases. He is currently a student at University of Virginia, majoring in mathematics and computer science.

Adit Gupta – High School Research Intern

During his time at the lab in 2018 - 2019, Adit focused on analyzing exome sequences from type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients to show the strong efficacy of repurposing T2D-related drugs and predict the primary and secondary effects of T2D medicines via gene-level associations. Graduated from Yale University, Adit is currently a machine learning engineer at Stripe.

Ben Alexander – Senior Principal Software Engineer

Ben has spent over 20 years developing scientific software, mostly in the service of drug discovery and drug development. He joined the Chemical Biology group at the Broad Institute in 2010 but switched to the Flannick group in 2014. Ben is currently a senior principal data engineer at Pfizer.

Jeffrey Massung – Senior Principal Software Engineer

Jeff greatly contributed his experience in embedded systems, concurrent programming, and distributed, highly-available databases to human genetics research. He graduated from University of Utah with a BS in computer science. He is currently a principal software engineer at Prometheus Biosciences.

Clint Gilbert – Principal Software Engineer

With more than 18 years of experience in software engineering, Clint’s expertise was in DSLs and execution engines handling millions of computational jobs. He is now a senior software engineer at Trumid.

Preeti Singh – Software Engineer

Preeti built infrastructure for large scale data intensive applications for genomics and worked on expanding the whole genome association analysis tool to different disease areas during her years at Flannick Lab. Having an MS in computer science and computational biology, she is now a senior software engineer/senior data scientist at Analysis Group.