Members

Principal Investigator

Bang-Bon Koo, Ph.D. ( bbkoo@bu.edu)

Assistant Professor, Anatomy and Neurobiology, BUSM
Faculty, National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory, BU

 

 

 

 

 

Staff Member

Data Analyst

Sonal Khanna, M.S. 

Sonal received her B.Sc. in Biotechnology from Savitribai Phule Pune University, M.Sc. in Human Disease Genetics from the University of Mysore, and an M.S. in Bioinformatics at Boston University. She has worked as a bioinformatician and scientific assistant at TMC ACTREC in Mumbai, where she contributed to cancer research projects. Her experience spans both wet lab techniques and advanced computational analyses, including single-cell RNA sequencing, proteomics, epigenetics, and mass spectrometry data analysis. Currently, Sonal is focusing on neurobiology research, analyzing cell-cell interactions in Alzheimer’s disease models and investigating therapeutic effects in rhesus monkey stroke models. She is proficient in various programming languages and bioinformatics tools, applying her skills to derive insights from large-scale genomic data in the context of neurological disorders.

 

 

Research Scientist

Wenda Zhou, Ph.D. 

Wenda Zhou obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Akron. He completed his postdoctoral training at Tufts University and worked as a scientist at Amgen before joining the BIL lab. His research interests include neurodegenerative diseases, bioinformatics, and the application of machine learning to multi-omics data.

 

 

 

Lab Manager

Christian Noggle, M.S.

Christian received both his B.S. and M.S. in biomedical engineering from Drexel University with a concentration in neuroengineering. Before college, he was a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps and has since worked as a researcher in several different capacities, including cellular wet lab research, clinical studies, VR and machine learning applications, and animal surgeries and behavioral experimentation. He is now the lab manager of BIL, so please reach out to him (can0508@bu.edu) with any inquiries about research collaboration or Opportunities.

 

 

 

Ph.D. Student

Guan Yi, Ph.D. Candidate 

Guan Yi obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in Canada, and a Master of Science degree from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, BUSM, in the year 2020. Her main research interests are neuroimaging techniques and neurodegenerative diseases. She is currently working on a project to build automated machine learning classifiers for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease using large imaging datasets.

 

 

Chia Hsin (Jasmine) Cheng, B.A. 

Jasmine Cheng obtained her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Boston University. She is now working on multiple projects using novel multimodal MRI measures to study the etiologies behind chronic neuroinflammation and aging.

 

 

 

 

 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Catalina Fader

Catalina obtained her bachelors degree in Neuroscience from Boston University and is a first year graduate student here hoping to continue into medical school. Her interests are the mechanisms and ways that genetic predispositions, psychological stressors, and physical trauma manifest in physiological brain changes. She enjoys learning about the ways we can use computational brain models to further study these physiological changes. She is hoping to continue her focus on neurosciences throughout medical school. In her free time she enjoys watching shows and reading while bed rotting.

 

 

Sriman Narain

Sriman Narain is an undergraduate in Boston University’s Seven-Year Liberal Arts/Medical Education Program. He is interested in neuroscience and Alzheimer’s Disease. He hopes to pursue neuroradiology in medical school and is currently minoring in Psychology. In his free time, he enjoys reading, practicing archery, playing games, and traveling.

 

 

 

Karishma Sivakumar

Karishma Sivakumar is a first-year undergraduate student in Boston University’s neuroscience program. She is interested in exploring the mechanisms of disease and harnessing neuroimaging techniques to study neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory disorders. In her free time, she enjoys going on nature walks, listening to music, singing, and completing crossword puzzles.

 

 

 

 

Aditya Venkatesh

Aditya Venkatesh is a first-year undergraduate student in Boston University’s neuroscience program. He is interested in computational brain mapping to study the aging brain and the intersection of imaging and transcriptomics. In his free time he plays board games, listens to music, and enjoys cubing.

 

 

 

 

 

Alumni

Graduate programs:

Khlifa Alnaim (Masters program, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

Christian Arthur (B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Boston University; PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)

Weifan Chen (M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, Boston University; PhD candidate in Computer science, Boston University)

Wendy Guo (B.A. in Neuroscience, Boston University; College of Medicine, University of Florida)

Luis Iberico (Ph.D in Statistics, Boston University)

Maria Lazou (B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Boston University; PhD candidate in Biomedical engineering, Boston University)

Yongjun Lu (B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Boston University; Master of Biomedical Sciences, Duke University)

Zhaoze Wang (B.S. in Computer Engineering, Boston University; Master of Science in Engineering in Computer and Information Sciences, University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D candidate in Electrical and System Engineering, University of Pennsylvania)

Other professional development:

Esther Choi (B.A. in Computer Science, Boston University)

Cosmin Ciausu (Medical Image Computing Lead Engineer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital)

Yashvardhan Das (Data scientist, Staples Inc., Boston)

Shuyi Fan (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Chengyang (Henry) He (M.S. in Computer Science, Boston University)

Jason Hong (Software engineer, Walmart HQ)

Beau Horenberger (Software engineer, Motorola Solutions, Boston. MA)

Xushan Hu (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Ruei-Yang Huang (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Yunjie Huang (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Luis Ivey (M.S. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Varuna Jasodanand (Ph.D student in Neuroscience, Boston University)

Jennifer (Jena) Jordahl (M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, Boston University)

Prinjali Kalyan (Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)

Woosik Kim (Military Service, ROKMC)

Sophia Koo (B.S in Neuroscience, Boston University)

Evgeniia Kozlova (B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)

Seungsoo(Ryan) Lee (Pure Mathematics, Boston University)

Tiffany Leung (B.A. in Hospitality Administration, Boston University)

Yu Lu (B.A. in Human Physiology, Boston University)

Tiam Moradi (B.S in Computer Science, Boston University; Data Scientist at a Lose It!, Greater Chicago area)

Junny Myung (B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)

Meenakshi Pavithran (M.S. candidate in  Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Bowen Qin (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University; Software engineer, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington)

Minseok Sakong (B.S. in Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Kathakoli Sengupta (MS in Artificial Intelligence, Boston University)

Leonardo Seoane (M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, Boston University)

Zihao Shen (M.S. candidate in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Tian Tan (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Kevin Vogt-Lowell (M.S. candidate in Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Lia Weil (B.S. in Biology, Boston University)

Kassandra Wu (B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Boston University)

Kangxian Xie (M.S. in Computer Science, Boston University)

Qingyang (Stephanie) Xu (M.S. in Computer Science, Boston University)

Sichao Yu (M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, Boston University)

Yingqi Zhang (M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Yiwen Zhang (B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)

Zhaowen Zhou (M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston University)

Visiting Scholars/External collaborators

Samantha Calderazzo (Boston University School of Medicine M.D./Ph.D. candidate)

Dean Zeldich (Neurology Residency Program, Thomas Jefferson University)

Clara Zundel (Boston GWIC)