David Liu, MD, MPH, MS - Principal Investigator Dr. Liu is a medical oncologist and computational biologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham & Women's Hospital, with a background in computer science, biostatistics, and epidemiology. Prior to entering medicine, he was a software engineer and analyst at Amazon.com in the Personalizations group.
Giuseppe Tarantino, PhD Giuseppe is a Postdoctoral research fellow in the Liu lab. He has a PhD in oncology and a master’s degree in bioinformatics. His research is focused on the identification of predictive biomarkers for cancer progression and for Immune checkpoint blockade response in melanoma’s patients. He loves to play soccer, to travel and to ride motorcycles.
Samuel Markson, PhD Sam is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Arlene Sharpe, co-mentored by Dr. Liu. Sam Markson received his S.B. in mathematics and physics from MIT, and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Connecticut. With Dr. Sharpe and Dr. Liu, he develops and applies algorithms to better understand T cell responses to immune checkpoint blockade. Outside of lab, Sam likes running, learning languages, and watching birds.
Jiajia Chen Jiajia is a computational biologist in the Liu Lab, with a focus on cyToF projects evaluating biomarkers of immunotherapy response from peripheral circulating cells. She recently graduated with her Masters in Bioinformatics from Boston University, and received her B.S. in Biology with minor in Computer Science from the College of William and Mary. In her free time, she enjoys photography and baking (and photography of her baking!) and spending time with her cat.
Amy Huang Amy is a computational biologist in both the Liu Lab (DFCI) and the Sharpe Lab (HMS). She recently graduated with a BS in computer science and biology from the University of Chicago, where she wrote her thesis about Douglas fir tussock moths under the supervision of Dr. Greg Dwyer. In the Liu Lab, she is working on finding differential predictors of response to anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA4 ICB therapy. Outside of research, she enjoys hiking, baking bread, and playing card games.
Yingxiao (TK) Shi Yingxiao Shi (TK) is currently studying in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences PhD program at Harvard University. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Life Science at HAN University, the Netherlands. Before starting his PhD study, TK embarged on a six-year journey in applying stem cell technologies to studying and potentially treating ALS in the Ichida lab at USC. In the Liu lab (co-mentored by the Van Allen lab), he is currently building a predictive model of response to BRAFi/MEKi therapy in melanoma. As a former personal trainer/chef, TK commits most of this free time to work out and cook, and hopefully he can deadlift 600 pounds and complete 196 main dishes from Manchu-Han Imperial Feast before he graduates.
Tyler Aprati Tyler is a computational biologist in the Liu Lab. He recently graduated with a B.S. in biology and a minor in bioinformatics from Boston College. His current research projects focus on studying metastatic organotropism in melanoma and dissecting the heterogeneity of tumors at a single cell level. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, and other outdoor activities.
William Grisaitis William is a computational biologist with the Liu Lab where he investigates methods for deconvolution of bulk-RNA seq and identifying cell type-specific features that explain response to therapy in metastatic melanoma. Before joining the Liu Lab in 2021, William worked in industry as a data scientist and in deep learning research. William majored in physics at Duke University, graduating in 2012. William is also currently pursuing a M.S. in Mathematics at the University of Central Florida. In his personal time William enjoys yoga, coffee, traveling, and over-thinking his bio.
Marc Glettig Marc is a computational biologist in both, the Liu Lab and the Van Allen Lab. He recently graduated from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. He holds a BSc in life science engineering and a MSc in data science. For his thesis at ETH Zürich, he worked on deep learning approaches for single cell data to identify cell type signatures in intra tumor heterogeneity. Outside of research he likes to spend his time in nature (hiking, camping) and especially the mountains (biking, climbing, touring, skiing).
Lab Alumni
Emily Robitschek Emily is a computational biologist in the Liu Lab (DFCI), with a focus on projects integrating whole exome sequencing, scRNAseq, and other data modalities to study tumoral evolution and therapeutic response. Prior to switching to this computational role, Emily worked at the Broad Institute in the Haining/Manguso lab where she performed basically every experiment you can think of that would be shown in a super cool documentary on cancer biology or CRISPR on PBS. Outside of work, she loves dancing, reading, hiking up to alpine lakes (preferably surrounded by wildflowers), learning about philosophy and psychology, and exploring by bike with friends (although not so much in the wintertime).
Derek Liu Derek is currently studying medicine in the Health Sciences & Technology Program of Harvard Medical School and MIT. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry at Yale University. In the Liu lab, he is developing methods to infer changes in cell-specific programs using bulk transcriptome data, and is also co-mentored by the Van Allen Lab.
Will Ge Will is currently studying medicine in the Health Sciences & Technology Program of Harvard Medical School and MIT. He completed his dual Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Biophysics/Biochemistry at Yale University. In the Liu lab, he focuses on studying the organotropism of melanoma. In his free time, Will enjoys updating his photo blog, playing chess, biking, and cooking.
Emma Sherrill Emma is a senior at Bowdoin College studying Biology and Math. Her current research projects in the lab focus on optimizing NMF to deconstruct simulated bulk RNA-seq cohorts. She enjoys baking, swimming, and watching musical theater in her free time.