Alumni

Postdoctoral Researchers

Research Associate

Sheeraz Akram, Ph.D.

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2018-2022
After Benos’ Lab: Superior University, Pakistan, Associate Professor
Current Position: Superior University, Pakistan, Associate Professor

Google scholar

Photo of Sheeraz 600x400

Postdoctoral fellow

Tridib Dutta, PhD

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2010-2013
Current Position: NetMotion Software, Principal Data Scientist

Tridib Dutta

Postdoctoral Fellow

Hyokyeong Lee, PhD

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2014-2017
After Benos’ Lab: Baylor College of Medicine, research associate
Last known position: College of Wooster, Visiting Assistant Professor

Hyokyeong Lee 400x300

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Khaled Sayed, PhD

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2019-2023
After Benos’ Lab: University of New Haven, Assistant Professor
Current Position: University of New Haven, Assistant Professor
Publications (8): Molina, et al. 2021   Kitsios et al. 2023   Li et al. 2023   Jia*, Sayed*, Kapetanaki*, et al. 2023   Shah, et al. 2024   Kitsios, et al. 2024  Sayed, et al. 2024   Hensley, et al. 2025 

Khaled photo UNH 2023

Graduate Students

PhD Student, CPCB, Pitt

Rachel Brower-Sinning, PhD

Thesis title: On the evolution of microbes: the evolution of genomes with respect to RNA folding” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2007-2011
After Benos’ Lab: U Pitt, postdoctoral researcher
Last known position: CMU Software Engineering Institute, Machine Learning Scientist
Publications (2): Brower-Sinning et al, 2009     Zinman et al, 2011

Rachel graduation

Grad Student, MSc (Biostatistics), PhD (Human Genetics), Pitt

David Corcoran, PhD

Thesis title: Transcriptional Regulation Of MicroRNA Genes And The Regulatory Networks In Which They Participate” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2002-2008
After Benos’ Lab: Duke Univ, Research associate
Current position: Univ. of North Carolina, Assistant Professor
Publications (8): Corcoran et al, 2005     Workman et al, 2005     Corcoran et al, 2005     Rogulski et al, 2005     Mahony et al, 2007     Benos, Corcoran, Finegold, 2007     Corcoran et al, 2009     Pandit, Corcoran, et al, 2010

photo of Graduate Student, David Corcoran 240x155

Grad Student, MSc and PhD (DBMI), Pitt

Lucas Santana dos Santos, PhD

Thesis title: Computational methods for the functional analysis of  DNA sequence variants” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2010-2017
After Benos’ Lab: UPMC Lab, Bioinformatics scientist
Current Position: Northwestern University, Assistant Professor and Director of Bioinformatics
Publications (5): Mao et al, 2013     Chandran et al, 2015     Bahreini et al, 2016     Kulkami et al, 2017    Zuppo et al. 2023

photo of Lucas dos Santos

PHD STUDENT, CPCB, PITT

Minxue Jia, PhD

Thesis title:Computational Methods for Studying Gene Regulation with Applications to Aging and Chronic Lung Diseases” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2018-2024
After Benos’ Lab: U Pitt, Postdoctoral fellow
Current position: U Pitt, postdoctoral fellow
Publications (11 – and counting): Cruz*, Jia* et al. 2021    Tabib et al. 2021    Jia*, Yuan* et al. 2022   Mao*, Jia*, et al.2022 Jia* et al. 2023  Jia* et al. 2023b  Jia*, Sayed*, Kapetanaki*, et al. 2023. Lovelace et al. 2024   Tourki et al. 2025 Jia et al. 2025 Mao*, Jia*, et al., 2025

Photo of Minxue Jia

PHD STUDENT, CPCB, CMU

Tyler Lovelace, PhD

Thesis title:Causal graphical modeling methods with applications to heterogenous and high-dimensional biomedical data” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2018-2025
After Benos’ Lab: UT Health, Postdoctoral fellow
Current position: UT Health, Postdoctoral fellow
Awards: NIH-NLM F31 Predoctoral Fellow (2022-2025)
Publications (11 – and counting): Cárdenes et al. 2021   Bing*, Lovelace* et al 2022  Jia*, Yuan* et al. 2022   Wu et al. 2022  Barak*, Lovelace*, et al. 2023  Barak*, Lovelace*, et al. 2023b  Zeng, et al, 2024  Lovelace et al. 2024   Barak, et al. 2025  Lovelace, et al. 2025 Labar, et al. 2025

Photo of Tyler Lovelace

PHD STUDENT, CPCB, PITT

Haiyi Mao, PhD

Thesis title:Causal Representation Learning for Omics Data and Its Applications in Biological Discovery” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2019-2025
After Benos’ Lab: Merck, Senior Scientist
Current position: Merck, Senior Scientist
Publications (6 – and counting): Mao et al. 2020   Mao*, Jia*, et al.2022   Mao et al 2022 Mao et al. 2024 Jia, et al. 2025 Mao*, Jia*, et al., 2025

Photo of Haiyi Mao

PhD student, CS, Pitt

Vineet Raghu, PhD

Thesis title:A Computational Pipeline for Graphical Modeling of Integrated Biomedical Data” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2015-2019
After Benos’ Lab: Harvard University / MGH, T32 Postdoctoral fellow
Current Position: Harvard University / MGH, Assistant Professor
Publications (12 – and counting): Huang et al, 2015     Raghu et al, 2018     Raghu et al, 2018b     Raghu et al. 2018c     Manatakis*, Raghu*, Benos, 2018   Sedgewick et al, 2019   Raghu et al, 2019   Xe et al, 2020   Raghu et al, 2020   Fuccello et al. 2020  Raghu et al 2021   Cameron*, Raghu*, et al, 2024

photo of Vineet Raghu KDD 2017

PhD student, CPCB, Pitt

Andrew J. Sedgewick, PhD

Thesis title: Graphical models for de novo and pathway-based network prediction over multi- modal high-throughput biological data” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2012-2016
After Benos’ Lab: NantOmics LLC, Bioinformatics specialist
Current Position: Tempus Labs, Associate Principal Computational Biologist
Publications (4): Sedgewick et al, 2016     Caparosa*, Sedgwick*, et al, 2019     Sedgewick et al, 2019     Abecassis*, Sedgewick* et al. 2019

Google scholar

photo of AJ Sedgewick

PhD Student, ISB, Pitt

Feng Shan, PhD

Thesis title:Integrated BATF transcriptional network regulates suppressive intratumoral regulatory T cells” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2018-2023 (co-advised; primary: Prof. Dario Vignali)
After Benos’ Lab: MIT, Postdoctoral research fellow
Current position: MIT, Postdoctoral fellow
Publications (2): Cillo, et al. 2021 Shan et al. 2023  

Feng Shan 2023 - thesis 
defense

Tsinghua scholar

Shu (Eric) Wang, MD

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2016-2018
Last known position: Tsinghua University, MD student

Eric Wang 2017

PhD Student, Epidemiology, UF

Wenjie Zeng, MD, PhD

Thesis title: “Integrative analysis of clinical and single-cell transcriptomic data for the potential precision diagnosis and intervention of childhood sjögren’s disease” [PDF]
Time in Benos’ Lab: 2022-2024
After Benos’ Lab: Columbia University, Postdoctoral fellow
Current position: Columbia University, Postdoctoral research scientist
Publications (1 – and counting): Zeng, et al, 2024

Photo of Wenjie Zeng

Staff

Research Programmer

Neha Abraham

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2017-2018
After Benos’ Lab: Bizowie, Junior Software Developer
Current Position: Power Home Remodeling, Software Developer

Photo of Neha Abraham

Research Programmer

Harry Athanassiou

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2010-2013
After Benos’ Lab: Univ of Pittsburgh, System Programmer / Data Analyst
Last known position: Scientific Projects Engineer, Pittsburgh PA
Publications (1): Huang, Athanassiou, Benos, 2011

Harry Athanasiou 600x400

Short Term

MSc Student, CoBB

Heather Kobilnyk, MSc

Time in Benos’ Lab: Time in Benos’ Lab: 2021 (Fall semester)
After Benos’ Lab: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Bioinformatics Engineer
Current Position: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Bioinformatics Engineer

Heather Kobilnyk 2012

Pulmonary Fellow, UPMC

Craig Riley, MD

Time in Benos’ Lab: 2018-2019
Current Position: U Penn Health System, Pulmonary Medicine
Publications (1): Buschur et al. 2023

photo of Craig Riley