Welcome Jeerthi Kannan and Junmo Sung to our team!

Jeerthi, a Research Assistant, brings her expertise in computational methods for data analysis and visualization to the Dongwon Lee Lab. Hailing from Tennessee, she earned her Bachelor's in Computational Biology from the University of Rochester and a Master's in Computer Science from Vanderbilt University.

Junmo, a Data Analyst, explores genomics and transcriptomics of kidney disease in the Ana Onuchic-Whitford Lab. With a Master's in Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz and a Bachelor's in Genetic Engineering from Kyunghee University, Junmo enriches our team with his diverse academic background.

We're thrilled to have both Jeerthi and Junmo contribute their skills to advance our nephrotic syndrome research!

On Thursday, October 19th, we hosted a special live Q&A with NephCure to showcase Dongwon Lee PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Principal Investigator of the Dongwon Lee Lab at Boston Children's Hospital and his work with the Sampson Lab for Kidney Genomics.

Dongwon is a computational biologist and human geneticist with expertise in machine learning. The Lee and Sampson Lab’s research uses genomics to better understand, treat, and ultimately cure nephrotic syndrome. Through genomics, researchers can decode the genetic instructions within our cells, pinpointing the specific changes that lead to disease. Eventually, it may allow us to develop targeted treatments tailored to the genetic causes of each patient’s condition.

In partnership between NephCure and Sampson Lab for Kidney Genomics, we are building a collaborative effort to highlight important research and resources to assist rare kidney disease patients on their journey.

We are so excited to introduce our Summer Research Assistant, Parsa Seyfourian. He recently graduated from the University of British Columbia where he worked on identifying the behavioural dynamics of mosquito larvae. “These diseases still present significant gaps in our scientific understanding of them, and our clinical understanding of properly diagnosing, treating, and managing individuals who might possess these diseases,” said Parsa. He will be working in the dry lab this summer using computational tools to make discoveries in nephrotic syndrome research.

Congratulations to Dr. AC Gomez for being selected as a 2023 Nephrology Social Media Collective (NSMC) Intern! NSMC seeks to “cultivate leaders in medicine by instilling confidence, knowledge, competence, and professionalism in the use of social media.”

Twitter is currently the best space for scientists and medical professionals to share ideas and experiences, which could then lead to collaboration efforts and advancing understanding of medical-related subjects.

It’s always the perfect season to welcome new members into our lab. We’re excited to introduce you to Kaylia Reynolds, MS, a Computational Biologist. Kaylia will be contributing to our kidneyomics efforts in the dry lab. Kaylia is passionate about research that combines genetics, statistics, programming, and molecular biology and additionally, whose outcomes may improve the lives of children. We’re so thankful to have Kaylia as part of our team and are looking forward working together!

We couldn't think of a better way to start off our week than a celebration. Congratulations to Ana Onuchic-Whitford for receiving the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Medicine 2023 Hearst Young Investigator Award for her research studying the genetics and genomics of nephrotic syndrome and other kidney diseases.

Last week at American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week, China Nagano MD, PhD presented our findings on A Multi-Population Polygenic Risk Score for Pediatric Steroid Sensitive Nephrotic Syndrome Is Correlated With Disease Age at Onset. “We are excited to have been part of a global collaboration that both discovered new GWAS loci for pSSNS and created a PRS. We look forward to following up on our discovery in multiple ways,” said China in the ASN Press Release. We couldn’t be prouder - way to go China!

Last week our team attended the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Conference in Los Angeles to learn about the latest research in human genetics. We attended several interesting lectures where we were able to gain knowledge from our genomics colleagues around the world. We had a great time and are looking forward to next year.

We couldn't be prouder of Ana Onuchic-Whitford, MD who received the NKI-NEPTUNE Pilot Project Award and Grant from NephCure Kidney International for her work on "Discovering the landscape of allele-specific expression in the human kidney” at Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Nephrology. Congratulations Ana!

We are so excited to introduce the newest member of our team, Gina Kalkar. She recently graduated from the University of Minnesota where she worked with Dr. James Luby researching apple breeding and genetics. In the Sampson Lab, Gina will be contributing to our kidneyomics efforts as a Research Assistant in the wet lab. Stay tuned to hear from Gina in the upcoming weeks!

As the Summer draws to an end, the time has come to say goodbye to Catherine and Eric, who have spent this summer working as Summer Research Assistants in our lab. We are so grateful for the time that you’ve spent with us. Not only have you grown as researchers, but you have left an impact on our team and kidneyomics efforts. Have a great academic year and we hope to see you again soon!

Although it is bittersweet to see her go, we are so proud of Alex for starting her Masters in Computational Biology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Alex has made significant contributions to the Sampson Lab during her time here and working on the computational team. She has a bright future ahead and we look forward to seeing what she accomplishes. Best of luck Alex!

We are so excited to be hosting our inaugural Summer Research Assistants at the Sampson Lab, Catherine Channell and Eric Sakkas. We are looking forward to having these outstanding students in our lab as well as seeing how they grow and are able contribute to our research efforts. Get to know more about Catherine and Eric.