Research Statement

I am an Assistant Professor and Early-Stage Investigator with a long-term goal of uncovering how immune homeostasis becomes dysregulated in disease by using and developing algorithms (including data modeling and machine learning techniques). My early work spanned biochemical and functional characterization of animal venom enzymes and toxins, as well as the computational prediction of protein-protein interactions and development of pipelines for transcriptome analysis across human and non-human systems. My current work centers on developing and applying computational and statistical algorithms to analyze large-scale data, including transcriptomics, proteomics, single-cell, and spatial technologies.

Recently, I helped uncover a new class of RNA molecules within extracellular vesicles from prostate cancer, termed RNA “dark matter” (Gonzalez-Kozlova* et al., JEV, 2024), which we found to be significantly altered following prostatectomy. I have also contributed to identifying proteomic and cellular correlates of clinical response in bladder cancer (Galsky et al., Nat Med, 2024), Hodgkin lymphoma (Gonzalez-Kozlova* et al., CRC, 2024), liver cancer (Magen et al., Nat Med, 2023), and lung cancer (Gonzalez-Kozlova* et al., CCR, 2024). To date, I have authored 36 publications, including 14 as first and 2 as corresponding author.

I lead correlative analyses for numerous clinical trials part of the CIMAC-CIDC-IOTN Cancer Network, where I am also an active reviewer for high-impact journals such as Nature, Cell, Frontiers, JEV, and BMC, and I serve on the NIH HTBT study section. My commitment to community extends beyond research, as I mentor students, postdocs, and high school trainees through outreach initiatives that support scientific growth and project success. I collaborate with leaders across disciplines, including Dr. Dogra (extracellular vesicles and technology), Drs. Gnjatic, Tewari, Kyprianou, and Villanueva (cancer research), Dr. Merad (immunology), Dr. Lafaille (allergy), Dr. Chun (organ transplant), and Drs. Roussos and Charney (neuroscience). My expertise in both experimental and computational approaches enables me to investigate the molecular dynamics between homeostasis and disease with the goal of discovering novel diagnostics and therapeutic strategies. In collaboration with Dr. Chakraborty, I am currently helping to elucidate the tumor-suppressor roles of male sex chromosome–linked genes in lethal prostate cancer.

Liquid biopsy

In collaboration with Dr. Dogra, we use cutting edge technology to purify extracellular vesicles and particles using minimal sample RNA recovery to characterize the total RNA profiles from liquid biopsy samples. We QC and process the sequencing data to characterize expression profiles from either known or unknown regions in the genome to identify signatures associated to different types of human malignancies. We use diverse type of assays to tackle organ specific hypothesis such as RNAseq, scRNAseq, mass spectrometry.

Cancer Research

In collaboration with Dr. Gnjatic, we focus in understanding the intricated mechanisms behind immune response in cancer clinical trials and infectious diseases such as covid-19. We dissect diverse types of assays including RNAseq, Single cell - RNAseq, Methylation, Proteomics (Olink, Somalogics), Serology, Seromics, multiplex immuno histochemistry and spatial transcriptomics or proteomics.