Current Members
Alumni
Furry Friends
Current Members
Brittany Lasseigne, PhD
Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor
Dr. Lasseigne is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, and an Associate Scientist in the Nephrology Research and Training Center, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center Experimental Therapeutics Program, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, the Informatics Institute, the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute, the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics, and the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine. She previously completed a BS in Biological Engineering at Mississippi State University, an interdisciplinary biology, chemistry, and chemical engineering PhD in Biotechnology Science and Engineering from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (identifying biomarkers and genomic signatures of renal cell carcinoma diagnosis and progression, respectively), and a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics and genomics at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (determining predisposing variants and genes contributing to neurodegenerative disorders). Brittany is passionate about developing and applying genomics technologies to human diseases and teaching genomics and data science to students and scientists of all backgrounds.
Brittany's Publications and Grants
bnp0001[@]uab.edu
Amanda Clark, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Clark is an IRACDA-MERIT Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed a B.S. in Molecular Biology at UAB and a PhD in Biology at Auburn University. Amanda is passionate about integrating computational thinking and data science into undergraduate biology education, the evolutionary dynamics of complex systems, and comparative multi-omics for human disease modeling.
Emma Jones
Graduate Research Assistant
Emma is a current PhD student in the Genomics, Genetics, and Bioinformatics theme within the UAB Graduate Biomedical Sciences program, and is also a UAB Neuroscience Roadmap Scholar. She graduated in 2019 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Studio Art from California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California. Emma has a research background in psychology, neuroscience, cellular and molecular biology, and genomics. She is currently building on those skills by working on the best way to study transcriptional diversity in the brain, and how changes in diversity at the isoform level can relate to disease.
Lizzy Wilk
Researcher V
Lizzy earned her B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Alabama at Huntsville and M.S. in Biotechnology with a specialization in Bioinformatics from University of Maryland Global Campus. Prior to working at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she applied genomics technologies such as RNA-Seq for understanding cancer and chemotherapy resistance as a research assistant. Lizzy currently works as a staff scientist, applying transfer learning and drug repurposing methods to gene expression data.
Tabea Soelter
Graduate Research Assistant
Tabea is a current PhD student and Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama (ACA) Lindy Harrell Predoctoral Scholar in the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics theme within the UAB Graduate Biomedical Sciences program. She has a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Piedmont University. Tabea is currently investigating the cell-type-specific role of cell-cell communication between neuronal and non-neuronal cell populations in Alzheimer's disease using public human data. She is also interested in the effects of aging on the Alzheimer’s disease brain and therefore employs wet-lab and computational approaches to understand age-associated changes in cell-cell communication using her own mouse sequencing data across multiple timepoints.
TC Howton, PhD
Scientist I and Lab Manager
Dr. Howton earned his PhD in Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During his doctoral studies, T.C. focused on using network-based approaches to elucidate the molecular interactions between plants and bacterial pathogens. T.C. is currently serving as a lab manager as well as research scientist within the Lasseigne lab.
Mualla Eraslan
Researcher IV
Mualla earned her first B.S. in Chemistry Education from Hacettepe University Ankara Turkey, her second B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and Clinical Laboratories from Boston University, and her M.S. in Biotechnology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She worked as a histotechnologist at Boston Medical Center Pathology Department. She worked as a researcher at UAB Spain Rehab Research Lab and Dermatology Research Lab. She is currently a Researcher IV in Dr. Lasseigne's lab.
Tonie Crumley
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Tonie has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from UAB and is currently a student in Bioinformatics. He is working as an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Lasseigne's lab.
Kiron Ang
KURE Student
Kiron Ang plans to graduate from Baylor University in May 2026 with a Bachelor of Science in Informatics with a major in Bioinformatics. Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, he is only in Alabama because of the KURE program, and he is grateful that he can learn more about computational biology in the Lasseigne Lab. In his free time, he enjoys freestyle dancing (waacking) and reading old textbooks.
McCay Freeman
Graduate Rotation Student
McKay is a first-year graduate student in the Pathobiology, Pharmacology, and Physiology theme under the UAB Graduate Biomedical Sciences program. She received a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in history from the University of Alabama before coming to UAB for a gap year working on circadian rhythms in monocytes and kidney stone disease. Currently, McKay is rotating in the Lasseigne lab and learning more about computational biology and personalized medicine.
Our Alumni
Vishal Oza, PhD
Scientist II (2020-2024)
Currently: Computational Biologist in Pathology at UAB
Jordan Whitlock, PhD
Graduate Research Assistant (2020-2023)
Currently: Medical and Scientific Board Advisor at the SETBP1 Society
Jen Fisher, PhD
Graduate Research Assistant (2020-2023)
Currently: Computational Biologist (CFD Research)
Rebekah Beyea
KURE Summer Student (2023)
Currently: Undergraduate Student, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Nathaniel DeVoss
Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2023)
Currently: Undergraduate Student, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Anisha Haldar
Undergraduate Research Assistant (2021-2023)
Currently: Undergraduate Student, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Avery Williams
Undergraduate Research Assistant (2019-2023)
Currently: Graduate Student, Biomedical Sciences PhD Program, University of California, San Diego
Ryan Brownlee
Undergraduate Research Assistant / KURE Student (2022)
Currently: Undergraduate Student, Mercer University
Sasha Taluri
Undergraduate Research Assistant (2019-2022)
Currently: Medical Student, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Hannah Cleary
Undergraduate Research Assistant / KURE Student (2021)
Currently: Medical Student, University of Kentucky
Emily Page
Research Assistant / Grad PREP Scholar (2020-2021)
Currently: Graduate Student, Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Kasi McPherson, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2021)
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Drew Hardigan, PhD
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)
Currently: Neurosurgery Resident, Duke University
Roshan Darji
Computational Biologist (2019)
Currently: Department of Biostatistics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Furry Friends
April Jones
Owner: Emma
Gotcha Day: April 10, 2018
Likes: Warm laps, cuddles, and routines
Dislikes: Strangers and closed doors
Fun Fact: Only has 3 legs!
Mac Aroniandcheese Lasseigne (aka Mac)
Owners: The Lasseignes
Birthday: July 4, 2019
Likes: Exploring new places, people and their food
Peanut Junior (PJ) Soelter
Owner: Tabea
Birthday: August 4th, 2018
Likes: Sleeping in the sun, treats, and attention
Dislikes: Closed doors
Sadie Jones
Owner: Emma
Gotcha Day: September 15th, 2019
Likes: Playing fetch, butt rubs, and smelly shoes
Dislikes: Getting nails trimmed
Basil Jones
Owner: Emma
Gotcha Day: November 14, 2022
Likes: COMFY COUCHES AND GOING TO BED EARLY
Dislikes: CENTRAL HEATING TURNING ON
Fun Fact: Dances when she is happy
William Soelter-Patterson
Owner: Tabea
Gotcha Day: Oct 6th, 2020
Likes: Food, toys, and his dog park friends
Dislikes: Rain and kids
