| Name | Project | From | Next Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zihao Zhang | Machine learning, 2025 Fall | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Nutrition | UAB |
| Yassin Mreyoud | Single-cell genomics, 2025 Summer | WashU | Medicine | UAB | Medicine |
| Doug Welsch | Bioinformatics, 2024-25 | Rice | Computer Science | |
| Brunno Macedo | CML genomics, 2024 Fall | UFPE, Brazil | UAB | Medicine |
Meet the lab ~ a team of computational biologists, data scientists, and researchers advancing cancer genomics and precision medicine.
The Research Champions
Dr. Venkata Krishna Chaithanya Manam
Currently a postdoc in the lab.
Superpower: Bridging artificial intelligence and biological discovery through advanced NLP, LLMs, and machine learning architectures.
Origin Story: Dr. Manam earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, where his research focused on developing NLP methods to detect and resolve ambiguities in crowdsourcing tasks, thereby improving clarity and the quality of results with minimal effort from requesters. He previously served as an AI & NLP Research Scientist at Reveal AI, where he built systems that transformed unstructured data into actionable insights using LLMs and advanced AI techniques.
Current Quest: Engineering sophisticated data integration strategies that combine multi-modal biological datasets with AI-driven insights. Working to unlock hidden patterns in genomic data that traditional methods miss.
Hero Tools: Python/R ecosystems, LLMs, and natural language processing pipelines, and advanced AI frameworks.
Fadeela Sheini, OD
Superpower: Integrating retinal biology and translational medicine using vascular disease models with high resolution imaging, bioinformatics, molecular profiling, and inflammation biology.
Origin Story: Fadeela Sheini is a Vision Science PhD student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), co-mentored with Dr Maria Grant. Her scientific path has been shaped by a drive to connect rigorous mechanistic research with real world clinical impact. Her work and training span experimental design and quantitative analysis, with experience applying imaging and molecular approaches to understand how retinal tissues respond to metabolic and ischemic stress.
Current Quest: Uncovering how lipid metabolism and nuclear receptor signaling reprogram inflammatory pathways and neurovascular integrity in retinal disease, particularly, diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity while identifying therapeutic strategies that preserve vascular stability and protect retinal function.
Hero Tools: Mouse models of retinal vascular disease, Immunohistochemistry and Confocal microscopy, OCT and ERG based phenotyping, R ecosystems, Biostatistics