Current Lab Members

Ekta Khurana, PhD


Principal Investigator

Ekta Khurana is an Associate Professor of Computational Genomics at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is the WorldQuant Foundation Research Scholar since 2021, Co-Director of the Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Computational Biology & Medicine and Co-Leader of the Genetics and Epigenetics Program at Meyer Cancer Center. Dr. Khurana's research expertise is in Computational Biology/Bioinformatics, Genomics, Cancer Genomics and Systems Biology.



Alexander Martinez Fundichely, PhD


Instructor in Computational Biomedicine

Postdoctoral Associate (Jul, 2015 - Jun, 2021)

Instructor (Jul, 2021 - )






Erica Duo Xu, PhD


Research Associate (June, 2018 - )






Weiling Li


Research Associate (Aug, 2022 - )

Weiling received her PhD degree in Computer Science from The Pennsylvania State University in 2018. Her current research focuses on developing data mining, machine learning and computational methods for the analysis and management of cancer genomic data.



Marjorie Roskes


PhD Student, Tri-I CBM (Jun, 2020 - )

Marjorie is a graduate student in the Tri-Institutional Computational PhD training program between Cornell University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Rockefeller University. Before Tri-I, as an undergraduate at Yeshiva University in a joint BA/MA program in mathematics, Marjorie majored in mathematics and minored in computer science. Since joining the Khurana Lab in June 2020, Marjorie uses mathematical modeling to build noninvasive approaches to detect and classify prostate cancer, using precision medicine to maximize likelihood of a favorable outcome in patients.



Ann Palladino


Medical Student (Sep, 2019 - )

Ann Palladino is a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College (Class of 2023). She is interested in studying gene regulation and promoting diversity within the STEM fields.



Nawaf A. Alomran


Bioinformatics Associate (Oct, 2020 - )

Nawaf is a Bioinformatics Associate currently working in the Khurana Lab. He received his Bachelor of Science in Bioinformatics from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He also holds a Master's degree in Bioinformatics from Georgetown University. He did his master internship from the George Washington College of Medicine.



Sandra Cohen


Lab Manager (Mar, 2019 - )

Sandra Cohen is a Lab Manager at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCM). She worked as a Chemist at NCI,NIH and as a Research Scientist at NYU Department of Pathology. She also worked as a Senior Research Specialist at the WCM Meyer Cancer Center.



Priya Pancholi


Research Specialist (Jun, 2021 - )

After graduating with Masters in Pharmacology and Toxicology, Priya worked in the field of Cancer Biology and Immunology for the last 5 years.



Former Members

Postdoctoral Associates
  • Priyanka Dhingra (Dec, 2014 - Jul, 2017). Current: Director of Bioinformatics and Strategic Innovation, Envisagenics, Inc. LinkedIn

  • Tuan Trieu (Jan, 2018 - Nov, 2019). Current: Senior Algorithms and Machine Learning Scientist, Walgreens Boot Alliance. LinkedIn

  • Tawny Cuykendall (Jan, 2016 - April, 2020). PubMed

Graduate Students
  • Eric Minwei Liu (Jan, 2016 - Jan, 2020). Current: Research Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center LinkedIn

  • Fanying Tang (Sep, 2017 - May, 2021). Current: Senior Scientist I, AbbVie LinkedIn

  • Austin Dixon (MS; May, 2020 - Apr, 2021). Current: Bioinformatics Analyst at Children's National Hospital LinkedIn

  • Andre Forbes (Jan 2017 - May 2022). Current: Senior Computational Biologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center LinkedIn

  • Yuqi Cheng (MS; Jan 2021 - Mar 2022). Current: Georgia Tech LinkedIn

  • Annabel Azziz (MS; Jun 2021 - May 2022)

Research Technicians
  • Tatiana Karadimitriou (Aug, 2020 - Jun, 2021). Current: Medical Student at USC Keck School of Medicine LinkedIn

Rotation/Visiting Students
  • Andrew Schaumberg, Tri-I CBM (Rotation student; Jun, 2015 - Nov, 2015)

  • Xiaotong Yao, Tri-I CBM (Rotation student; Jan, 2016 - May, 2016)

  • In Sub Mark Han, PBSB (Rotation student; Feb, 2016 - May, 2016)

  • Akram Hossain, NYMC (Research Intern; Jun, 2016 - Jul, 2016)

  • Matthew MacKay, Tri-I CBM (Rotation student; Jul, 2016 - Dec, 2016)

  • Chirag Krishna, Tri-I CBM (Rotation student; Jul, 2016 - Dec, 2016)

  • Cassandra Burziak, Tri-I CBM (Rotation student; Jul, 2016 - Dec, 2016)

  • Shana Bergman, PBSB (Rotation student; Sep, 2016 - Dec, 2016)

  • Rajesh Bollapragada (Computational Biology Summer Program student from Cornell, Ithaca; Jun, 2017 - Jul, 2017)

  • Stella Kim, PBSB (Rotation student; Jan, 2018 - Mar, 2018)

  • Madison Darmofal (Computational Biology Summer Program student from MIT; Jun, 2018 - Aug, 2018)

  • Aditi Dam (Summer intern from George W. Hewlett High School; Jul, 2018 - Aug, 2018)

  • Karen Lai Lin Chu, Pharmacology (Rotation student; Oct, 2018 - Nov, 2018)

  • Rafe Batchelor (Computational Biology Summer Program student from Bucknell University; Jun, 2019 - Aug, 2019)

  • Mikaela Matera-Vatnick (Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program student from Cornell, Ithaca; Jun, 2019 - Aug, 2019)

  • Shengyu Li (Duke University; Jun, 2019 - Aug, 2019)

  • Wanyi Chen, PBSB (Rotation student; Jan, 2020 - Mar, 2020)

  • Yajas Shah, PBSB (Rotation student; Jan, 2020 - Mar, 2020)

  • Haotan Zhang, PBSB (Rotation student; Apr, 2021 - Jun, 2021)

  • Tonatiuh (Tona) Gonzalez (Computational Biology Summer Program student from Harvey Mudd College; Jun, 2020 - Aug, 2020)

  • Ashwitha Surabhi (Summer intern from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology; Jun, 2021 - Aug, 2021)

  • Sanjana Kotha (Computational Biology Summer Program student from University of California Berkley; Jun, 2022 - Aug, 2022)

  • Devin Gee (Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program student from Emory University; Jun, 2022 - Aug, 2022)

We are looking for graduate students and more outstanding postdocs to join the lab. Please see Jobs.