MIMI SHIRASU-HIZA

Principal Investigator

Professor, Genetics & Development

Co-Director of Genetics & Development Graduate Program

Mimi received her Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, San Francisco, completing her doctoral research in the lab of Timothy Mitchison. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in David Schneider's lab.

Jared Gatto

Graduate Student

Jared is a graduate student in the Genetics and Development Program. He received his B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Binghamton University in 2016. Jared studies circadian-regulated metabolism and physiology.

Carly Lam

Graduate Student

Carly is a graduate student in the Microbiology & Immunology Program. She graduated from SUNY Stony Brook in 2017, and has worked at NYU as a research technician studying extracellular matrix proteoglycans' role in regulating toll-like receptor signaling. In the Shirasu-Hiza lab, she is interested in exploring how circadian rhythm affects the innate immune response in flies during infection.

ANDRÉS Martínez Muñiz

Graduate Student

Andrés is a graduate student in the department of Genetics and Development. He received his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Microbiology from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. His research interests are understating the relationships between circadian regulation, metabolism, and aging.

Timothy Chang

Graduate Student

Timothy is a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences. He received his B.A. in Biology from Cornell University in 2022, where he studied BMP signaling in C. elegans. In the Shirasu-Hiza lab, he is interested in age-associated changes in circadian rhythm and nervous system function in the fruit fly and in African turquoise killifish, in collaboration with the Pearson lab at Mailman School of Public Health.

ADriana VÉlez-alicea

Graduate Student

Adriana is a post-baccalaureate student in the Columbia Access to Doctoral Readiness (CADRE) Program. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico Cayey campus in 2023 and previously worked on isolation and characterization of gut microbiome bacteriophages after nicotine exposure. In the Shirasu-Hiza lab, she is interested in the gut-brain axis, specifically the effects on innate immune responses of flies during infection and aging.

Chloe Kim

Research technician

Chloe is a research technician in the lab. She graduated from Amherst College in 2023, where she studied the gamma secretase complex of the Notch signaling pathway in C. elegans. In the Shirasu-Hiza lab, she is interested in investigating the relationship between metabolism and sleep.

Janet Phang

Undergraduate Student

Janet is an undergraduate student at Columbia University studying Biology and Music. She currently works with Carly Lam on fly immunity and metabolism.