Ruth is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and came to the US as an international student. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Biology and Computer Science. During her undergraduate years, she worked in the Camp Lab investigating the metabolic shutdown process of sporulating Bacillus subtilis. She also briefly studied cancer targets and E3 ligases as a summer intern, which sparked her interest in cancer research. Currently, in the Beroukhim lab, she researches oncogenic mutations in pediatric low-grade gliomas.

Favorite quote: It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality. -Virginia Woolf

Akansha is from Naperville, IL and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Computer Sciences. During college, she was an undergraduate research assistant in Eric Johannsen’s lab at the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, learning about Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) through bioinformatics-based methods development as well as wet-lab experiments. Now, Akansha continues to learn more about cancer biology by analyzing copy number alterations for projects within the NCI’s Genomic Data Analysis Network (GDAN). She also works in Matthew Meyerson’s group, performing genomic analyses to identify and characterize new targets for cancer therapeutics.

Fun Fact: Akansha reads nearly 100 books a year, is always down to try a new art project (though painting might be a lost cause), and considers old Bollywood movies the perfect comfort watch.

Favorite quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

Justin is Professor of Molecular Medicine and Professor and Vice Chair of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences at the Cleveland Clinic, where he is the Melvin H. Burkhardt Endowed Chair for Neuro-Oncology Clinical Research. Justin’s research interests encompass interactions between cancer cells in gliomas and their environment, including interactions with immune cell compartments and differences between the behavior of gliomas between males and females. Justin’s research extends from basic biological discovery to the development of clinical trials.

Fun Fact: Justin runs his own very successful lab, currently comprising 12 people, but kindly offered to transfer his funds to Rameen in exchange for a position in Rameen’s lab.

Fun Fact #2: Rameen suspects that he will never see those funds or see Justin in his lab, but looks forward to continuing to collaborate with him.

Siyun is an Associate Computational Biology originally from Greenville, NC. After spending four years at Duke studying Molecular/Cell Biology and Computer Science, he decided that he was tired of North Carolina (for the time being) and escaped to Massachusetts. Siyun spent four years of undergrad in the Poss Lab, where he studied novel transcriptional complexes and p-bodies involved in Zebrafish heart regeneration. Now he spends most of his time debugging code instead of injecting embryos and genotyping.

Fun Fact: Siyun grew up in a family of martial arts masters. His father and five of his brothers all have at least a seventh degree black belt in Taekwondo, and most of their children grew up practicing Taekwondo. (Note to Rameen: be nice to Siyun.)

Quote: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” – Robert Heinlein

Dr. Ramen is Rameen’s beloved office mate formed from a beautiful Persian rug, a lab sweatshirt, a packet of ramen, and Rameen’s own Cambridge graduation hat. Dr. Ramen enjoys long walks on the beach and observing Rameen’s meetings. Dr. Ramen has never once laughed at any of Rameen’s jokes.

Circa early May 2023, Dr. Ramen began a sabbatical of indefinite length at UiB in Bergen, Norway. He feels they really rolled out the red carpet for his arrival and looks forward to laying the groundwork for a successful stay overseas.

Favorite food: oatmeal raisin cookies and ramen (Rameen’s edit: oatmeal raisin cookies are disgusting)

Fun Fact #1: Dr Ramen was created by several lab members after Rameen shared his office key during COVID. The moral: sharing your office key with Beroukhim lab members is never a good idea.

Fun Fact #2: Providing these same lab members the admin password to your lab website is also never a good idea. You may find new lab members start appearing who are actually carpets.

Corel was born in Benin (West Africa) and lived there for the first six years of his life, learning French and Fon in the process. He later moved to the United States with his parents and has since lived in a plethora of states including Nebraska, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, and Massachusetts again. He spent four years reveling in the beauty of Upstate New York where he attended Cornell University and graduated in 2022 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences (concentrating in Neurobiology and Behavior). At Cornell, he conducted research in the lab of Dr. Vimal Selvaraj and studied degradation of the Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory (StAR) protein. Corel is excited to work in the Beroukhim Lab and study the role of mismatch repair deficiencies in GBM, before proceeding to medical school.

Fun Fact: Corel once tried to pick up breakdancing, but the resulting hole in the wall caused by the collision between his foot and the flimsy drywall of his parents’ new house quickly deterred him from that hobby. As an unrelated fun fact, Corel still can’t swim despite it being a college graduation requirement.

Favorite Quote: “When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

Hailing from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Wolu traveled some 8000 miles across the Atlantic (and many more in between) to earn her B.S. in cell biology and computational sciences at Minerva University. Her passion for cancer biology and resolve to take continuous strides towards a better understanding of the disease, and eventual cure, inspires her work as an Associate Computational Biologist in the Beroukhim lab where she investigates copy number alterations and structural variant signatures in cancers.

Favorite quotes: 

“For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven” – King Solomon 

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any” – Alice Walker

Sophie is an Associate Computational Biologist in the Beroukhim Lab hailing from Groveland, MA. She recently graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Integrative Biology and Earth & Planetary Sciences. Sophie spent her undergraduate years at the Arnold Arboretum researching genetic variation in urban red oak populations. Though she misses the trees, she’s enjoyed transitioning to the world of cancer genomics!

Fun fact: Sophie grew up on a small farm, featuring goats, sheep, chickens, and two miniature horses (which, she learned through experience, one should not try to ride).

Favorite quote: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rose is from San Francisco and studied computer science and biomedical engineering at Middlebury and Dartmouth Colleges. In the Beroukhim Lab, she helps develop methods to better understand patterns of microhomology near structural variant breakpoints. After successfully managing to escape Rameen’s reign, she moved to Bergen, Norway to help analyze endometrial cancer sequencing data. Rose is looking forward to beginning medical school next fall.

Fun fact: While in Boston, Rose ran a dog-walking & dog-sitting business and once had three dogs from three different families staying in her apartment (don’t tell her landlord!).

Favorite quote: “I’m cool with being conservative.” – Rameen Beroukhim (Rameen’s edit: context is everything)