Juliana is originally from Orlando, Florida and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton University. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted thesis research in the Bassler Lab, where she worked to characterize a synthase involved in cross-domain communication. In the Beroukhim Lab, her work focuses on studying how post-translational modifications in cancer can drive changes in immunological activity. She hopes to pursue graduate training and earn a PhD in biology. 

Fun fact: Juliana is a huge musicals fan, and RENT is her favorite musical of all time!

Favorite quote: “Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow till you find your dream” – The Sound of Music 

Brittany earned her biology degree from UC Irvine and began her career as an industry scientist at Allergan. She completed a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where her dissertation characterized the first recurrent gene found in glioblastoma, FGFR3-TACC3. As a T32 fellow between Rice University and MD Anderson, she focused on translational therapeutics for FGFR3-TACC3+ patients. Recognizing her strengths in leadership and strategy, she transitioned into scientific administration as Director of Cancer Neuroscience at MD Anderson. She was later recruited to Lindonlight Collective to build and manage a $100M global research portfolio advancing pediatric brain cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. At DFCI, she leads strategic operations for the PLGA Program, coordinating efforts across the institute and international collaborators.

Fun fact: As a mom to three young sons, Brittany is intent on instilling a “do-it-yourself with a sense of urgency” mindset, and believes she was a Navy Seal in her past life. When she’s not working, practicing baseball, fishing with her sons, or buying the newest power tool at Home Depot, you can find her landscaping, digging trenches, refinishing furniture, power washing, or detailing her car.

Favorite quote: “Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people.” -Karen Salmansohn

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 felt they really rolled out the red carpet for his arrival and enjoyed a successful stay overseas. After about a year abroad, Dr. Ramen returned to Boston with lots of interesting stories.

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.

Andrew is a group leader in the Cancer Program at the Broad Institute of MIT. He led the Broad Institute’s effort to analyze somatic DNA copy-number alterations for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Now, Andrew and Rameen Beroukhim are co-principal investigators of the Broad Institute’s copy-number Genome Data Analysis Center for the National Cancer Institute’s Genomic Data Analysis Network (GDAN). Andrew holds a PhD in molecular genetics from Ohio State University and a BA in biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Favorite quote: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

Sangita earned a PhD in biomedical sciences from The University of Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Center (though much of the research took place at Cornell), where she studied aging in yeast. She now studies the consequences of mismatch repair deficiencies in gliomas.