Elphège Nora – Principal investigator
elphege.nora_at_ucsf.edu
Not sure how to pronounce my name?
Elphège obtained his Ph.D. from the Université Paris-Sud in France after doing research on X-chromosome inactivation in the laboratory of Pr. Edith Heard at the Curie Institute. He then moved to San Francisco for a post-doctoral training with Pr. Benoit Bruneau at the Gladstone Institute, where he applied genome engineering to study the functions of proteins involved in chromosome organization and gene regulation in embryonic stem cells.
Since 2019 he leads a research group in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California in San Francisco. The goal of the group is to decipher and engineer the molecular processes used by cells to organize their genome in the nucleus, and understand how this enables the regulation of gene activity in developmental and disease contexts. Read his work here
Erika Anderson – Postdoctoral Fellow
erika.anderson_at_ucsf.edu
Erika joined summer 2019. She graduated from Indiana University, where she studied the control of meiosis in fungi in the laboratories of Mimi Zolan and Soni Lacefield. She then completed her PhD with Barbara Meyer at the University of California, Berkeley, where she investigated how chromatin folding influences X chromosome dosage compensation, as well as aging, in Caenorhabditis elegans. In her free time, Erika enjoys playing the carillon, running, and hiking. Read her work here
Rini Shah – Postdoctoral Scholar 
rini.shah _at_ ucsf.edu
Rini joined fall 2020. She obtained her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune, where she investigated the mechanisms governing transcriptional regulation of human XIST in the laboratory of Sanjeev Galande. Prior to joining the Nora Lab, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Frederick Alt at the Boston Children’s Hospital, focusing on the molecular aspects of antibody class-switch recombination. Her broad research interest is to understand the dynamics and impact of genome architecture in the context of development. When not thinking about loop extrusion, Rini enjoys reading books, exploring restaurants, running, and hiking. Read her work here
Karissa Hansen – Graduate Student
karissa.hansen _at_ ucsf.edu
Karissa joined spring 2020. She graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BS in Biology. Prior to joining the DSCB graduate program at UCSF, she worked as a research associate in the lab of Licia Selleri at UCSF studying genomic control of craniofacial development. The first of her projects used mouse transgenesis to validate and describe orthologous human and chimpanzee cranial neural crest enhancers that were predicted to have species-specific activity. Additionally, she worked on elucidating the gene regulatory networks underlying the outgrowth of the upper jaw and related fusion of the secondary palate using mouse, chicken, and pig as diverse models of this process. Outside of lab she spends her time at local music venues, camping, and baking. Read her work here
Annie Adachi – Research Specialist
annie.adachi _at_ ucsf.edu
Annie joined in summer 2022. She graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a Bachelors in molecular cell biology, neurobiology. While at Berkeley, she developed an interest in neurobiology and neurodegenerative research. She has also participated in organ-on-a-chip research at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation in Los Angeles. Outside of the lab, Annie enjoys drawing, baking, and listening to music.
You?
We are recruiting, apply here!
Alumni
Emily Arnold– Staff Research Associate 2019-2022
next position: graduate student at the University of Southern California
Former rotation students
Kevin Chen – rotation student (DSCB) spring 2022
next position: graduate student in the group of Dan Wagner
Kenya Bonitto – rotation student (Tetrad) winter 2022
next position: graduate student in the group of Davide Ruggero
Yashodara (Yash) Abeykoon – rotation student (BMS) spring 2020
next position: graduate student in the group of Alex Pollen
Ali Palla – rotation student (Tetrad) spring 2020
next position: graduate student in the group of Danica Galonić Fujimori
Former undergraduate interns
Deani Lyons – high school intern (CURE program) summer 2022
next position: high school senior
Kevin Lin – undergraduate volunteer summer 2021
next position: 2nd year of B.Sc. UCLA, California
Funders
We are grateful to the funding organizations that are enabling our research, past and current:
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
