Ruben received his BSc in biology and biochemistry from the University of Valencia. He obtained his MSc from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre and PhD from the University of Valencia in Spain. Under Rameen’s mentorship, Ruben applied computational approaches to systematically identify genomic determinants of drug response. Ruben is now a Biomedical Informatics Scientist at Foundation Medicine.

Zach studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State (’06), and then pursued an MD/PhD at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (’14). At Duke, Zach earned his PhD under the mentorship of Professor Hai Yan on research in the Tisch Brain Tumor Center revolving around gliomas and cancer-associated mutations in IDH1, TERT, PPM1D, ATRX, and several other very interesting genes.  In the Beroukhim Lab and under Dr. Bandopadhayay’s co-mentorship, Zach studied transcriptional heterogeneity in pediatric low-grade gliomas and also studied PPM1D mutations as oncogenic drivers in DIPG. Zach started his own laboratory at Duke University in the summer of 2019.

Fun fact: When he is not pipetting or fielding pages, Zach enjoys cycling, hiking, microbrewed beer, and Penn State and Philadelphia Eagles football. He likes spending time with his fiancée Denise and their two cats, Wink and Arya.

Favorite quote: “Ma, The Meatloaf!” –Will Ferrell, Wedding Crashers

Uri earned his BSc and PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Under the co-mentorship of Drs. Beroukhim and Todd Golub, he studied the cellular origins, functional consequences, and potential vulnerabilities of aneuploidy and chromosomal instability in cancer. Uri was co-mentored by Drs. Beroukhim and Todd Golub. Uri started his own laboratory at Tel Aviv University in the fall of 2019.

Fun facts:
Uri has visited 45 countries (airports not included). His goal is to visit 50 by the age of 40.
He translated Latino American prose and poetry from Spanish to Hebrew (two published books).
He got married in New Zealand.

Cecile earned a PhD in biochemistry at the Tufts University School of Medicine, where she studied mechanisms of viral transformation. Prior to her PhD, Cecile was a staff scientist at Genzyme Corporation where her work focused on cancer dependencies and early drug discovery. In the Beroukhim lab, Cecile studied the oncogenic mechanism of MYB-QKI fusions and MYBL1 truncations in pediatric low-grade glioma. She is now a Senior Scientist at Civetta Therapeutics.

Favorite quote: “Healthcare must be recognized as a right, not a privilege.” –Bernie Sanders.

Kei is developing bioinformatics tools for noise reduction in copy number alteration (CNA) analysis and analyzing associations between CNAs and cancer phenotypes. Before joining the Beroukhim lab he worked for Daiichi-Sankyo, a pharmaceutical company in Japan, where he tried to identify biomarkers for sensitivity to cancer drugs. Kei holds a PhD in biological science from the University of Tsukuba, an MS from the University of Tokyo, and a BS from Tohoku University.

Fun fact: Kei is still struggling to answer Rameen’s jokes in the American way.

Favorite quote: “You play with the cards you’re dealt.” – Snoopy

Frank earned an MD from the University of Heidelberg. During that time he spent a year at Harvard conducted research into kidney disease in the laboratory of Dr. Anna Greka. He returned after receiving his MD to join the Beroukhim lab, where he studied the mechanistic and selective forces shaping rearrangements in pediatric high-grade gliomas. He is now completing his residency in Pathology at Charite Hospital in Berlin.

Veronica studied biology at Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, and then moved to Sweden to pursue a PhD at Uppsala University. During this time, Veronica worked under the mentorship of Prof. Tobias Sjoblom and studied how loss of heterozygosity events occurring in cancer can be exploited for therapy. In the Beroukhim lab, Veronica characterized the side-effects of Cas9 expression in cancer cell models, studied predictors of resistance to MDM2 inhibitors in gliomas, and studied negative selection against amplifications in cancer. Veronica left the Beroukhim lab to start her own laboratory at her alma mater, Uppsala University.

Fun fact: Veronica is part of a salsa performance team, plays piano and loves to eat and explore the world.

Favorite quote: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein