Goff Lab

Loyal Goff -- Principal Investigator

Dr. Goff is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience & Genetic Medicine in the McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His postdoctoral work was conducted under the joint mentorship of Drs. John Rinn (Harvard, SCRB) and Manolis Kellis (MIT, CSAIL) and involved the discovery, annotation, and characterization of long non-coding RNAs in a variety of cellular and developmental contexts. The Goff Lab is currently focused on developing and adapting single cell gene expression measurement systems to explore how cells in the developing and degenerating mammalian nervous system vary in response to genetic or other disease-associated insults.

Jared Slosberg -- Human Genetics Graduate Program

Jared joined the Human Genetics graduate program in 2019. He graduated from The George Washington University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, and a minor in Biophysics. He is interested in developing computational methods to interrogate changes in gene expression associated with developmental processes, particularly in the context of single-cell transcriptomics. His current work involves characterizing the emergence and roles of a sub-population of neurons in the enteric nervous system.

Alina Spiegel -- MD/PhD Program, Neuroscience

Alina did her undergraduate training in chemistry at Princeton University. After additional research opportunities in Germany and China (as a Fulbright Scholar), she joined the Johns Hopkins MD/PhD program in the Department of Neuroscience. She is jointly mentored by Dr. Goff and Dr. Solange Brown (JHU Neuroscience). Alina is currently involved in several projects including the development of a novel assay to measure neuronal connectivity, a deep dive into the cellular processes affected in C9orf72 disease (ALS), and an exploration of synaptic transcriptional variation in the cortex.

Chaichontat (Richard) Sriworarat -- Neuroscience Graduate Program

Kyla Woyshner -- Human Genetics Graduate Student

Alyson Hally -- Human Genetics Graduate Student

Genevieve Stein-O'Brien, Ph.D. -- Kavli NDI Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Stein-O'Brien is a post doctoral fellow in Oncology Biostatics and Bioinformatics and Neuroscience Departments at Johns Hopkins University with affiliations in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genomics Medicine and Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science. In 2017, she received a PhD in Human Genetics from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a MHS in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Stein-O'Brien's research is focused on the stochastic processes underlying gene regulation in dynamic biological systems. Specifically, she develops computational and statistical methods for pattern detection and data integration in high-throughput genomics.

Jonathan Augustin -- Ph.D., Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program; NSF Graduate Fellow

Jonathan received his Ph.D. from the BCMB program in 2022. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Lab of Dr. Arnold Kriegstein. Prior to joining our lab, he was a research technician in the lab of Dr. Hao Jiang at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He did his undergraduate work at Maryville College in Tennessee where he earned his B.A. in Biochemistry, and a minor in Mathematics.

Elizabeth Vincent -- Ph.D. Candidate, Human Genetics Graduate Program, Current: Postdoc with the Beier & Shendure Labs at UW/Seattle Children's Hospital

Liz joined the Human Genetics program in August 2015 after receiving her B.A. in Chemistry from Yale University. Her undergraduate thesis involved a genetic study of a trio of individuals to identify a causal variant for a specific neurological disorder. She brings with her experience in both experimental and computation biology. Her thesis project includes a characterization of newborn enteric neurons in a mouse model of Hirschsprung Disease, and identifying the specific role(s) for the receptor tyrosine kinase RET in regulating neural fate specification in the mammalian gut.

Kenji Johnson, Ph.D. -- Postdoctoral Fellow

Asher Baraban -- Intern, Software Development

Asher is currently an undergraduate student at WashU in St. Louis, MO. He has been developing scProject, a single cell transfer learning tool for visualization and exploration of latent space utilization.

Michael Feyder -- Postdoctoral Fellow, Current: Data Engineer, UPitt

Gabrielle Cannon -- Research Technologist, Current: Lab Manager, UNC Chapel Hill

Brian Clark, Ph.D. -- Current: Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University SOM, St. Louis, MO

Gloria Shin -- Research Technologist

Victoria Hoskins -- Ph.D., Human Genetics Graduate Program, Current: Postdoc, UNC Chapel Hill

Briana Winer -- Research Technologist, Current: JHU CMM Graduate Program

Alejandra Patino -- Predoctoral Fellow, JHU PREP Program, Current: Duke MD/PhD Program

Alexa Pérez-Torres -- Predoctoral Fellow, JHU PREP Program, Current: Harvard MCO Graduate Program