People

Sigrid Nachtergaele, PhD

sigrid.nachtergaele@yale.edu

Sigrid (aka Siggy) received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago in Biochemistry and Chemistry, while also working in the lab of Rustem Ismagilov and competing on the women’s soccer team. She did her PhD in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford, working in the lab of Rajat Rohatgi on mechanisms of Hedgehog signaling. Her PhD work developed novel chemical tools to uncover new modes of sterol-mediated regulation of this critical developmental pathway. She headed back to the University of Chicago for a post doc with Chuan He, diving into the world of RNA and working on identifying the functions and regulation of mRNA modifications. When not in the lab, she enjoys sports (playing and spectating), the outdoors (especially the beach!), and playing with Duplo or Play-Doh (usually with her kids).

Dorthy Fang

dorthy.fang@yale.edu

Dorthy Fang received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology from Columbia University. Prior to starting graduate school, she worked as an assistant scientist at Phanes Therapeutics, Inc. in San Diego. When not in the lab, she enjoys food of all shapes and sizes, jamming to new music, and photosynthesizing outdoors.

Loren Wilson

lauren.wilson@yale.edu

Lauren attended Palomar College before transferring to the University of Arizona, where they graduated with a BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Biochemistry. There, they worked in Ross Buchan’s lab studying the regulation of mRNA decay. Now, they are continuing their RNA obsession in the Nachtergaele lab, where they investigate the role of RNA modifications in the assembly of nuclear bodies. When they’re not actively thinking about RNA, Lauren enjoys science fiction, karaoke, and learning to play the accordion.

Clara Wang

clara.wang@yale.edu 

Clara attended Mount Holyoke College where she majored in Biology and minored in Chinese. At Mount Holyoke, she studied bacterial sRNA-protein interactions in Dr. Katie Berry’s lab. After graduating, she worked as a postbaccalaureate research fellow at the NIH in Dr. J. Robert Hogg’s lab studying the mechanisms of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing tennis, hiking, knitting, and baking! 

Emily Dangelmaier

emily.dangelmaier@yale.edu

Emily graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology. While completing her undergraduate degree, Emily explored diverse areas of biomedical research in labs at Colgate University, Harvard Medical School, and the NIH. Prior to starting graduate school, she worked as a postbaccalaureate research fellow at the National Cancer Institute at the NIH in the lab of Dr. Ashish Lal, where she studied long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the context of colorectal cancer, which inspired her interest in RNA biology. When not in the lab, Emily loves going to the beach, doing puzzles, and playing with her dog, Lacy.

Ashton Bollinger

ashton.bollinger@yale.edu

Nicole Harry

nicole.harry@yale.edu 

Nicole completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of New Haven. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in music and her master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology. During her graduate studies, Nicole worked in Anna Kloc’s lab to define the epigenetic signatures associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection of the human heart. Nicole is also in the first cohort of the Yale Virtual Internship for Biomedical Education in Science. There she works in the Levy Decision Neuroscience lab researching neural mechanisms underlying decision-making in humans and the possible contribution of decision traits to pathological behavior. Outside of the lab, Nicole enjoys playing the piano, violin, harmonium, and going to the beach!

John Babich

john.babich@yale.edu

John graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in General Biology and a minor in Public Leadership. While at Maryland, he was a member of the Snell lab, studying gamete fusion mechanisms in green alga. Before joining the lab, John worked as a research assistant for the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine in their Battle Shock and Organ Support lab. In his free time, John enjoys cooking, golfing, and spending time with his friends and family.

Zaharaa Altwaij

Yoska Guta

Yoska Guta was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and raised in Oakland, California but now calls Harrisburg, Pennsylvania home. As an undergraduate student at Yale, she is double majoring in MCDB and Relgious Studies. Outside of the lab, Yoska spends her time reading, going for runs, and serving in Christian ministry on campus.

Ece Serdaroglu