Lab Members

I’m the Assistant Professor of Genetic Medicine and Director of the Genomics Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q). I received my B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA and my M.S. in Biotechnology from the Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining WCM-Q, I held positions at the Institute for Genomic Research, Agencourt Bioscience, and Applied Biosystems. I was involved in the Human Genome Project and the development of Next Generation DNA sequencing technologies. My research focuses on the development, application, and data analysis of genomic technologies.

I’m the Manager of the Genomics Core at the Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q). Prior to joining WCM-Q, I was a Bioinformatics Project Manager at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) working with NIH researchers on bioinformatics and data analysis projects.  Before the NIH, I held positions at the Institute for Genomic research (TIGR) where I participated in the sequencing and finishing of many prokaryotic genomes and contributed to the development of Next Generation sequence data analysis pipeline. My educational background includes a B.S. in Biochemical Pharmacology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, an M.S. in Biotechnology with concentration in Bioinformatics from the Johns Hopkins University, and an Associate’s Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University.

I’m a Biomedical graduate from Qatar University. I have been working as Research Specialist in the Genomics core since Oct 2008.  My pervious experience includes working in the Molecular Lab in HMC, where I was involved in developing “a rapid genotyping assay for Cystic Fibrosis Ile1234Val mutation by Real-Time PCR”. Right now I’m working on two technologies: U133 gene expression Microarray and High throughput SNP genotyping using 7900HT-Real-Time PCR and JANUS liquid Handling Robot, for two projects (Type II diabetes and Population genetic structure of people of Qatar). Recently, I started working on Cell culture and ChIP-Chip.

I’m a Research Specialist in the Genomics Core Lab since Oct 2008. Graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Sciences from Qatar University. Previous experience involved conducting a research on the Application of FISH Technique "Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization" in Invasive Breast Cancer Diagnosis.

Since joined WCM-Q, I have been involved in multiple projects including the Date Palm Project, recently published article in Nature Biotechnology on June 2011 issue, De novo genome sequencing and comparative genomics of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), Volume 29 Number 6, pp521 - 527. Moreover my work concentration is on the field of Epigenetics, currently working on Diabetes Epigenetics and Folic Acid Epigenetics.

I am a Bioinformatics Data Analyst of the Genomics Core. I obtained my Bachelor's Degree in Information Science and Engineering from Visveswaraiah University, India. My previous experience was as a software engineer with Hewlett Packard in Bangalore, India. In my experiences here, I've been involved in the deNovo assembly of the Date Palm genome, rnaSeq analysis and whole exome capture analysis of the human genome. My life outside Cornell is filled with music, movies, stitching, crocheting and social networking.