2022–2023 Cohort

I spent equal time in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Illinois growing up. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Kenyon College, where I researched the osmoregulatory challenges mosquitoes face over their lifespan in the lab of Chris Gillen. I first came to Harvard as a part of the EXROP summer program hosted by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). I spent two years in Victoria D’Souza’s lab exploring the replication requirements of coronaviruses, where I became fascinated by therapeutic development and intervention. HMS has provided me with world-class training and opportunities to progress in my career as a scientist.

My scientific interest is in the development of gene therapy to treat genetic diseases. My research holds promise in creating more efficient and specific gene therapy using adeno-associated viruses (AAV). I see a bright future in precision medicine and hope my work adds to the body of knowledge capable of increasing safety and efficacy.

I was very surprised. I did not even know I was up for the fellowship. However, looking into FUJIFILM Corporation’s role in supporting graduate-level trainees here at HMS, I am honored to be supported by such an organization.

I am from a small Connecticut town and pursued my undergraduate degree in chemistry at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. At Bucknell, I spent four years in Rebecca Switzer’s lab investigating the effects of disease-causing mutations in DNA methyltransferase. That research experience and the mentorship of Rebecca Switzer led me to pursue graduate school in chemical biology.

My research focuses on the protein required for brain cancer cells to survive but is not required in most healthy cells. Therefore, by developing a potent and selective inhibitor of this protein, it may be possible to kill cancer cells selectively while limiting toxicity on healthy cells.

I was very excited to hear that I was named a Fujifilm Fellow, and I am grateful for FUJIFILM Corporation and its support of the therapeutic sciences.

I grew up in India and Switzerland and graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and a minor in biomedical research. I began my research career at UCLA in Steve Jacobsen’s Lab studying DNAJ1, a novel activator protein involved in non-canonical methylation-dependent gene expression. Over time, my research interests evolved, and I became attracted to investigating epigenetic and signaling mechanisms that drive cancer, leading to the discovery of therapeutic vulnerabilities. I joined the PhD Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at HMS to explore these research interests in a collaborative and cutting-edge research environment and learn from talented and innovative scientists.

Individuals with advanced prostate cancer are treated with medical castration and hormone therapy, but most eventually develop resistance and lethal castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Thus, there is an unmet clinical need to develop more effective therapies for this disease. My research focuses on co-targeting oncogenic and epigenetic pathways in castration-resistant prostate cancer. The results will help establish a novel therapeutic drug combination for incurable CRPC and broaden our understanding of basic biological mechanisms driving cancer.

I was thrilled and honored to be chosen as a Fujifilm fellow. I am grateful that FUJIFILM Corporation has decided to support my graduate research. I think their commitment to supporting life sciences and therapeutic innovation at HMS is incredible.

I grew up in Pound Ridge, New York, before earning my undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During undergrad, I spent three years in Hazel Holden’s lab performing X-ray crystallography research and one year in Chad Vezina’s lab studying the onset of lower urinary tract dysfunction. Through both experiences, I developed an interest in drug discovery and rational drug design.

In recent years, deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) and covalent fragment screening approaches have gained interest across academia and industry. DUBs are a key enzyme family responsible for maintaining protein homeostasis, but we currently lack the tools to study them extensively. Covalent fragment screening facilitates the unbiased discovery of novel compounds, enabling new chemotypes and binding pockets to be studied on proteins of interest.

I was surprised and honored to be selected as a Fujifilm Fellow. The financial support is invaluable to my research, and I look forward to being a part of the growing community of Fujifilm fellows!

I grew up in India and graduated with dual degrees in Biological Sciences and Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani. I first came to Boston at the end of my junior year for a summer internship in the Goldberg lab at HMS. Captivated by the cutting-edge, collaborative research community, I returned to Boston next summer as a part of the Khorana Scholarship, a program co-hosted by the Indian and U.S. government. I joined the Walker lab at MIT for the summer and continued working on my master’s thesis in the Walker lab for the next year. Experiencing the immensely supportive scientific environment at Harvard and MIT motivated me to apply for graduate school here and join the Molecules, Cell, and Organisms (MCO) program at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. 

Humans, as well as other primates, possess high acuity daylight vision that is enabled due to a specialized region of the retina known as the fovea (“pit” in Latin). The fovea is located within a central region known as the macula, which is prone to degeneration as humans age, as in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Though retinal development has been well studied, very little is known about the mechanisms that govern the development of this high acuity area (HAA). My thesis work is focused on a thorough investigation of the morphological and molecular aspects of HAA development using chicken as a model system.

I felt incredibly honored when I heard that I was selected as a Fujifilm Fellow. I am very grateful to the FUJIFILM Corporation for supporting my thesis research and for their unwavering commitment to enhancing the life sciences and therapeutic landscape. 

I grew up in Thailand and New Zealand and graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. While at Yale, I started doing biology and biochemistry research in Dr. Dieter Söll’s lab, studying the functions of tRNAs and ribosomal proteins. I also conducted bioinformatics research in Dr. Mark Gerstein’s lab on genome deconvolution methods for human brain sequencing data. As my interest in translational research grew, I joined the lab of Dr. Alexandra-Chloé Villani at Massachusetts General Hospital to study the adverse effects of cancer immunotherapy using single-cell sequencing. My combined interest in cancer immunology and sequencing technology led me to join HMS’s PhD Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences to explore new methods to interrogate disease states and the effects of therapy in patients.

The ability to interrogate and track different populations of immune cells and their interaction with tumor cells in cancer patients during immunotherapy is crucial for developing therapeutic strategies with durable outcomes. T cells are the immune cells most often involved in cancer-killing and long-term protection and are a major target for immunotherapy. A novel method could provide insight into the clonal evolution of tumor-specific T cells from patients during an anti-tumor response, which could help in understanding tumor-targeting and off-target mechanisms and identify new targets of tumor-killing T cells.

I am very honored to be selected as a Fujifilm Fellow alongside my talented peers. I am very grateful for the platform created by the FUJIFILM Corporation and excited to join the fellows’ community!

I grew up in a small town in southern Arizona, Rio Rico. I moved to Tucson for college, where I attended the University of Arizona (UArizona) and received my BS in microbiology. At UArizona, my research focused on identifying small molecule modulators of a protein implicated in neurodegenerative diseases under the supervision of May Khanna. For my graduate work, I wanted to join a lab where I could continue developing my biochemistry skills and work on a project with therapeutic implications in a world-class environment with supportive colleagues and mentors.

GPCRs are at the center of key physiological activities, and elucidating new methods for targeting GPCR function can provide insight into novel therapeutics. I am focusing on developing a roadmap to modulate the activity of these receptors in specific cellular contexts only, thus decreasing unwanted effects. Establishing this pipeline will establish a highly modular toolkit that can be scaled beyond GPCRs to other therapeutically relevant receptors involved in multiple physiological roles.

It is a very humbling and exciting experience! I am very honored to have been chosen as a Fujifilm Fellow and am very excited to continue learning about the work FUJIFILM Corporation has accomplished in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.

I grew up in Los Gatos, California. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley (go bears!), studying genetics and plant biology with a minor in food systems. While at Berkeley, I did CRISPR protein engineering research in the labs of Jennifer Doudna and Dave Savage. The graduate student I worked with, Ben Oakes, started a company called Scribe Therapeutics, where I worked for two years post-graduation. I came to Harvard to further my scientific training and to experience the Disneyland-like biotech environment of Boston. 

Proteins are at the heart of so many recent therapeutic breakthroughs—from gene editing to cell therapies. These innovative tools have seen marked improvement through protein engineering. My research develops generalizable machine learning models to accelerate protein design for any application. While I will focus on a few specific applications during my PhD, my goal is to create tools that any protein engineer can use!

I feel very honored and grateful for FUJIFILM’s support! I am excited to continue my research amongst a fantastic group of fellows.