Former team members
Research, Bioinformatics & Management
Mansi Arora
Bioinformatics consultant (MAY 2021-AUGUST 2021)
Mansi Arora is a Bioinformatics Consultant at the Genome Centre, under the supervision of Dr. Vincent Mooser. She obtained MSc in Experimental Medicine with a specialization in Bioinformatics at McGill University. She is a gold medalist in Bachelors of Technology (Hons), Bioinformatics from India. She is keen to use cutting edge approaches in human genetics to study complex diseases. She is interested to investigate roles of genetic variations through Genome Wide Association Studies, computational and statistical analyses of High Throughput Sequencing data, and development of algorithms and pipelines. → LinkedIn profile
Yuandi Gao
Research assistant (June 2023-August 2024)
Yuandi Gao is a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin at Mcgill University in the Department of Human Genetics. She obtained her PhD at Université Laval in Québec City. Her research focused on using the CRISPR-Cas9 screen strategy to identify proteins in response to formaldehyde under the context of Fanconi Anemia and performing functional characterization of these proteins in the DNA damage repair pathways. She is interested in exploring the genome editing strategy further and using it to investigate the functions of different regions of the genes. → LinkedIn profile
Paul McKay
RESEARCH ASSISTANT (September 2024-April 2025)
Paul McKay is a research assistant working under the supervision of Vincent Mooser and Sirui Zhou. He holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McGill University and an M.H.Sc. in Medical Genomics from the University of Toronto. During his capstone practicum at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, he conducted genomic variant analysis on whole genome sequencing data from patients, contributing to a deeper understanding of genetics, immunity, COVID-19, and their interplay. His interests focus on advancing next-generation precision medicine therapeutics by unlocking the potential of the human genome. → LinkedIn profile
Praveen Nadukkalam Ravindran
Bioinformatics specialist (MARCH 2021-September 2022)
Praveen Nadukkalam Ravindran is a Bioinformatics Specialist at the McGill Genome Centre under the supervision of Daniel Taliun. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dalhousie University, Canada. His Ph.D. research focused on algorithms and data structures for faster and efficient processing of next-generation DNA sequence data. He has also worked as a software engineer in the IT sector for almost 4 years. His interests include building efficient bioinformatics tools/algorithms, software optimization, graph theory and data science. → LinkedIn profile
Mark Orcholski
Research assistant (OCT 2024-JULY 2026)
Mark Orcholski is a Research Assistant under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin. After completing his M.Sc. in Biological Sciences at Dominican University of California, Mark has worked in both academic and industry settings focused on modeling disease phenotypes using molecular biology approaches. Recently, he has worked on developing CRISPR-based genome engineering technologies to facilitate precision oncology target identification and drug development. → LinkedIn profile
Postdoctoral Fellows
Benoît Delabays
Postoctoral fellow (September 2022-AUGUST 2025)
Benoît Delabays MD is a post-doctoral fellow working under the direct supervision of Vincent Mooser. He trained as a physician-scientist at the Lausanne, Switzerland, University Hospital, and is board certified in Internal medicine. During his thesis, he explored the value of using Lp(a), an atherogenic lipoprotein, to predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases in the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus study and evaluated cardiovascular risk assessment in HIV patients from the SHCS study. He is committed to investigating how genomics can improve clinical care in internal medicine. His work focuses on the interplay between polygenic and monogenic predisposition to cardiometabolic diseases. → LinkedIn profile
Chen-Yang Su
Postoctoral researcher
Dr. Chen-Yang Su earned his PhD in Quantitative Life Sciences from McGill University (2022–2025) in the Yoshiji and Zhou labs. During his doctoral studies, his research integrated large-scale genomics and plasma proteomics to uncover causal protein drivers of complex diseases and prioritize drug targets. He has contributed to over 35 publications and was supported by major fellowships in Canada, including the CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship–Doctoral (CGS-D) and the FRQS Doctoral Training Scholarship. Previously, he completed an MSc in Computer Science (2022) at Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute under the supervision of Joelle Pineau and Brent Richards, as well as a BSc in Computer Science and Biology (2020) at McGill University. He currently serves on the International Genetic Epidemiology Young Investigator Committee and is an editorial board member for several academic journals. → LinkedIn profile → Personnal website
Katerina Trajanoska, Ph.D.
Postoctoral fellow (February 2021-January 2024)
Katerina Trajanoska is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at McGill University under the supervision of Vincent Mooser. She obtained her Ph.D. in Genetic Epidemiology from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She is interested in understanding the genetic determinants of common, complex diseases and their implication in clinical practice. She is particularly interested in the interplay between monogenic and polygenic variations in complex diseases. Recently, she has expanded her interest towards the utility of human genetics to inform drug discovery. → LinkedIn profile
Students
PhD students
Joon Hwan Hong
PhD student - Quantitative Life Sciences program (Rotation May-Aug 2023)
Joon Hwan Hong is a Ph.D. rotation student under Dr. Sirui Zhou in the department of Quantitative Life Sciences. He obtained his B.Sc. in Computer Science & Biology from McGill University, working on disease progression modelling of Alzheimer’s disease. His research interests lie in neuroinformatics and machine learning, and how it can be used to reveal multifaceted neurological changes compared to a normative population. His rotation project will focus on investigating the neurological manifestations of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 infection. → LinkedIn profile
Honggang Lyu
PhD Student - FMHS Graduate Studies (MAR 2025-Apr 2026)
Honggang Lyu is a visiting PhD student from China, currently under the supervision of Dr. Sirui Zhou and Dr. Lan Xiong. He specializes in psychiatry and mental health. He previously obtained an M.B. in Clinical Medicine (2020) and an M.S. in Psychiatry and Mental Health (2023), and has completed a psychiatry residency, qualifying as a licensed psychiatric physician in China. His research interests focus on the genetic epidemiology of psychiatric disorders. He has employed Mendelian randomization to identify causal risk factors for depression and bipolar disorder. His current work aims to elucidate the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders and to identify relevant risk factors and biomarkers to improve clinical diagnosis and optimize therapeutic options. → Personal website
Matthew Schinwald
PhD student - Quantitative Life Sciences program (rotation SEPTEMber-December 2023)
Matthew Schinwald is a PhD rotation student under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Taliun at the McGill University Department of Quantitative Life Sciences. He obtained his M.Sc. in Epidemiology at the University of Guelph where he became familiar with machine learning and computational biology. He has worked at the Wisconsin Department of Public Health to develop surveillance systems for wastewater-based epidemiology. Currently, his research interests are in building computational algorithms and software tools to analyze clinical and genomic data. → LinkedIn profile
MSc students
Olivia Cardinal
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM (Sep 2-23-APR 2026)
Olivia Cardinal is a graduate student working under the supervision of Daniel Taliun in the department of Human Genetics. She has previous academic experience in cell and molecular biology and pure and applied mathematics. Her graduate project involves identifying structural variants and their role in complex diseases.
Mohadese Sayahian Dekhordi
MSc Student - Human Genetics PROGRAM (September 2021-December 2023)
Mohadese Sayahian Dehkordi is a Human Genetics Master Student at McGill University. She received her B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Tehran in Iran. Her research interests lie in Artificial Intelligence, Massive Data Analysis, Statistical Models, and their intersection with Medical Data Analysis. She currently works on Genotype Imputation under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Taliun and Dr. Claude Bherer within the CERC team. → LinkedIn profile
Sedat Demiriz
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM (September 2024-August 2026)
Sedat is a Master's student in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University supervised by Dr. Daniel Taliun. He received his BSc Joint Degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and Computing Science from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. Since then, he has worked all over Canada and held a variety of bioinformatics positions, including studying the founder population of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. His project involves investigating the application of Whole Exome Genome Sequencing on highly variable regions of the genome. → LinkedIn profile
Alyssa Green
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM (September 2023-August 2025)
Alyssa Green is a Master’s Student in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University under the supervision of Claude Bhérer. Alyssa obtained her B.ScH with a specialization in Biology and Mathematics from Queen’s University, during which she completed a thesis using a candidate gene approach to study pace of life differences in kittiwakes. Alyssa’s current research focuses on the penetrance of Mendelian disease variants in population biobanks. → LinkedIn profile
Mike Kazemi
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM (September 2022-August 2024)
Mike Kazemi started his research journey with infectious disease modelling and vaccine hesitancy focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. After obtaining his B.Sc. in Mathematical Biology from York University, he started his master’s degree in the department of Human Genetics at McGill under the supervision of Dr. Taliun. His project aims to perform systematic genome-wide association scans using all phenotype and genotype data available in The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Outside of the lab, he is either hanging around the music department of CKUT or trying to persuade his brother to start a company with him. → LinkedIn profile
Irene Pender
MSc student - Human Genetics PROGRAM (September 2023-August 2025)
Irene completed a B.A. in History & Anthropology at McMaster University. She later moved into research in population genetics, including stints at the labs of Dr. Ian Dworkin and Dr. Christian Schlötterer. Her research interesest include using genetic data to predict population trends, the genetic components of complex diseases, and science communication that makes genetics accessible to larger audiences. While not a practicing scientist Irene enjoys baking, working as a theatre technician, and being very bad at a large number of musical instruments.
trainees
Ruth Abdi
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2025)
Ruth Abdi is an incoming fourth-year student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a double major in Immunology and Global Health. This summer she is an undergraduate research trainee working under Dr. Raquel Cuella Martin, contributing to a project focused on Leigh Syndrome French-Canadian. In her spare time, Ruth enjoys graphic design and learning French.
Natalie Abuelsamen
Undergraduate student trainee (mar-Aug 2023)
Natalie Abuelsamen is an undergraduate student pursuing her B.S.c degree at McGill University, specializing in Microbiology and Immunology. She is currently engaged in a collaborative research endeavor with Dr. Daniel Taliun, focusing on the development of innovative "Methods and Tools for Data Analyses in Genetic Association Studies". Throughout her academic tenure, Natalie has actively participated in intensive bioinformatics and computational genetics workshops, refining her proficiency in analyzing extensive biological datasets. → LinkedIn profile
Maya Akerman
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2025)
Maya Akerman is an undergraduate student under the supervision of Dr. Satoshi Yoshiji. She is completing her BSc in Biology with a minor in Computer Science at McGill University. She is interested in using computational approaches to address questions in human health and medicine, with a particular focus on uncovering biological mechanisms that can inform the development of new treatments.
Sereena Bhanji
Undergraduate student trainee (MAY-Dec 2024)
Sereena is in her final year of undergrad at McGill, studying Computer Science and Biology. This summer, she is working under the supervision of Dr. Taliun to develop tools for genetic analyses. In her free time, Sereena enjoys reading, working out, and baking. → LinkedIn profile
Laura Chriqui
UNDERgraduate student trainee (May-JULY 2026)
Laura Chriqui is an undergraduate student studying Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University. She is a research intern in the lab of Raquel Cuella Martin, where she works alongside PhD student Shamika Shenoy, contributing to her research in DNA damage repair and precision genome editing technologies. Through her work in the lab, she hopes to strengthen her foundation in biomedical research while contributing to and learning from projects at the intersection of genetics and cellular biology. In addition, here is a photo of me and the link to my LinkedIn profile: → LinkedIn profile
Kendal Christie
Undergraduate trainee (MAY-AUG 2023)
Under the supervision of Raquel Cuella Martin
Chiara De Paoli
GRADUATE RESEARCH TRAINee (oct 2023 & Mar-May 2024)
Chiara is a Graduate Research Trainee in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Benoît Delabays. She is in her final year of the Master’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy. Within the CERC, her research work is focused on genetically-enriched clinical trials for precision development of new therapeutics and on the genetic architecture of monogenic forms of obesity and diabetes in Québec. During her free time, Chiara enjoys singing, practising yoga, and baking for her family and friends.
Éloi Gagnon
GRADUATE STUDENT TRAINEE (Oct-Nov 2024)
As part of his PhD in statistical genetics at Laval University, Eloi is currently completing a placement under the supervision of Professor Satoshi Yoshiji. His work focuses on leveraging large-scale genetic data to improve type 2 diabetes patient care. Passionate about using human genetics to advance drug development, his doctoral work has led to over a dozen first-author publications. These research projects focused on anticipating clinical trial outcomes, identifying potential side effects, understanding drug mechanisms of action, predicting interactions with other medications, and identifying patient populations likely to respond well to specific treatments. → LinkedIn profile
Geneviève Gagnon
Undergraduate research trainee (MAY-AuG 2021, May-Aug 2022 & May-Aug 2023)
Genevieve Gagnon is a medical student at Laval University, in Quebec City. She also obtained her B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences at this institution. By drawing on her research experience, her goal is to bridge the gap between genomics research and clinical practices in order to address current healthcare problems. Within the CERC program in Genomic Medicine, she works under the supervision of Claude Bhérer. → LinkedIn profile
Cienna Gin-Naccarato
Undergraduate student trainee (May-July 2025)
Cienna Gin-Naccarato recently completed her BSc at McGill University, with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Chemistry. She is interested in applying computational techniques to biomedical data and will be working under the supervision of Dr. Sirui Zhou to build brain age gap models from imaging derived phenotypes. → LinkedIn profile
Olivia Holness
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Dec 2025)
Olivia Holness is an undergraduate research intern, working under the supervision of Dr. Claude Bherer. She is a student from the University of Waterloo, studying biochemistry with a specialization in bioinformatics. As a summer intern, Olivia will be contributing to the work of the Data Diversity and Inclusion Group of the Pan-Canadian Genome Library (PCGL) initiative, while also helping to design a Data Diversity Monitor to track socioeconomic diversity in genomic datasets. Outside of the lab, Olivia is interested in reading, exploring new restaurants, and working out!
Jean Jung
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH TRAINEE (May-Aug 2026)
Jean Jung is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Bioinformatics and Computer Science. She is currently conducting summer research at McGill University through the MBRA program at the Institute of Genomic Medicine under the supervision of Dr. Sirui Zhou and Thomas Zheng. Her interests lie in computational biology, genomics, and machine learning, with a particular focus on applying multi-omics approaches to better understand complex diseases, especially neurodegenerative disorders. She is passionate about integrating computational and biological sciences to advance translational research and support more precise and equitable healthcare outcomes. → LinkedIn profile
Cedric Lin
Undergraduate trainee (MAY-Dec 2023)
Under the supervision of Sirui Zhou
Charlotte Livingston
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2025)
Charlotte Livingston is an undergraduate student conducting research under the supervision of Dr. Claude Bhérer as a part of the McGill Biomedical Research Accelerator Program. She is completing her B.Sc at McGill University, majoring in Biology and Computer Science. This summer, she will be characterizing the population genetics of Acadians in New Brunswick.
Omar Maiteeg
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2025)
Omar Maiteeg is an undergraduate student at McGill University majoring in Computer Science. He is working under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Taliun to develop HLA-specific features for the CARTaGENE Variant Browser. His work focuses on front-end and back-end software development to support secure, population-scale visualization of genetic data. He is interested in building computational tools that help make large-scale genomic data more accessible for research in population genetics and human health.
Paula Mali
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2026)
Paula Mali is a summer undergraduate research trainee in Dr. Daniel Taliun's lab, working on using machine learning methods and GWAS to understand feature and gene interactions. She is studying Biology, Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Victoria, and her Interests include applying statistical and mathematical modeling to biological and genomic questions.
Alex Nguyen Truong
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2025)
Alex Nguyen Truong is currently an undergraduate student majoring in Microbiology & Immunology, with a minor in mathematics. I am interested in a future career in biomedical research, especially in quantitative biology fields such as bioinformatics and biophysics. I have further refined my computational skills by taking introductory computer science courses and data science workshops. As of January 2025, I have been working under Dr. Daniel Taliun, contributing to the development and refinement of PyLaser, a computational tool designed for genetic ancestry estimation using Python.
Emmanouil Saitis
Undergraduate trainee (JULY 2023)
Emmanouil Saitis is an undergraduate student working under Dr. Delabays supervision. He is in the 3rd year of medical school at the University of Crete (Greece). He has an insatiable curiosity for the intricacies of genetics and bioinformatics and how they can improve health care.
Deborah Sinishaw
Undergraduate student trainee (May-Aug 2026)
Deborah Sinishaw is an Electrical Engineering student at McGill University with research interests at the intersection of engineering, genomic medicine, and machine learning. She is passionate about applying emerging technologies to advance healthcare and biomedical innovation. Outside of research, she enjoys reading and staying active. → LinkedIn profile
Janice Tang
Undergraduate research trainee (MAY-AUG 2023)
Janice Tang is an undergraduate student under the supervision of Dr. Sirui Zhou at McGill University in the department of Human Genetics. She is currently completing her B.MSc. at Western University, double majoring in Biochemistry and Pathology. She has experience in modifying gene expression in E. coli with CRISPR. Janice is interested in identifying biomarkers and drug targets using omics data, such as genomics and proteomics. → LinkedIn profile
Seyla Wickramasinghe
Undergraduate student trainee (maY-Aug 2023, FEB-APR 2024, JAN-AUG 2025)
Seyla Wickramasinghe is an undergraduate student working under Dr. Daniel Taliun supervision. She is completing her B.Sc at McGill University, majoring in Computer Science and Biology. She is interested in the development of computational tools to investigate the genetic basis of disease, particularly cancer.
Abdul Waheed
Graduate Research Trainee (Sep 2022-Feb 2023)
After completing a M. Phil in Zoology at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK) in Pakistan, Abdul Waheed is now a Ph.D. student in the department of Biotechnology at UAJK. He is currently working under the supervision of Vincent Mooser and Daniel Taliun on the identification of genes involved in neurological and hair disorders in consanguineous families. His research interests are identification of novel genes and mutation responsible for autosomal recessive genetic disorder in humans in consanguineous families, analysis of WGS data and pharmacogenomics. → LinkedIn profile
Clare Wei
Undergraduate research trainee (MAY 2020-DeC 2020)
As a biomedical engineering undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, Clare Wei is fascinated by the intersection of technology and medicine. Over the duration of her post-secondary experience, she seeks to further develop both technical and professional skills, learning from the people she gets to work with. Her goal is to tackle current challenges in healthcare through the application of modern tools in an integrated/systems approach. Within the CERC program in Genomic Medicine, she worked under the supervision of Claude Bhérer. → LinkedIn profile.
Hongyu Xiao
Undergraduate student trainee (maY-Aug 2023)
Hongyu Xiao is an undergraduate student working under Dr. Daniel Taliun supervision. He is completing his B.Sc at McMaster University, majoring in Neuroscience. He is interested in developing computational tools and web-based servers to study human genomic variants in Quebec based on the BRAVO project. → LinkedIn profile
Hanhan Zhang
Undergraduate student trainee (May 2025-APR 2026)
Under the supervision of Raquel Cuella Martin
Visiting scholar
Maryam Marzban, Ph.D.
Visiting scholar (DEC 2022-MAY 2023)
Maryam Marzban is an Associated professor of epidemiology in Bousher University of Medical Science (BUMS). She obtained her Ph.D in epidemiology from Shiraz University of Medical Science with over 10 years of work experience as a medical researcher and executive manager in several research centres along with her academic appointment as an Assistant Professor at BUMS. Her research has mainly focused on cancer and HIV/AIDS, geriatric disease, and artificial intelligence. Within the CERC team, her research focus on Pharmacogenetic and peripheral arterial disease. → LinkedIn profile