Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Sharon J. Diskin, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Oncology
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Faculty Affiliations

Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (DBHi) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Center for Childhood Cancer Research (CCCR) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute (AFCRI) at the University of Pennsylvania

Curriculum Vitae
Phone: (215) 590-9160
Email: diskin@email.chop.edu
LinkedIn.com/sharon-diskin
Twitter.com/sjdiskin

Education

B.S., Computer Science, Villanova University
M.S., Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., Genomics and Computational Biology, University of Pennsylvania

Biography

Sharon is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a faculty member of the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics and Center for Childhood Cancer Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As an interdisciplinary scientist trained in cancer genomics and computational biology, Sharon’s laboratory harnesses both quantitative and experimental approaches to discover the inherited and acquired events driving pediatric cancers, and to identify novel targets for immunotherapy. Her overarching goal is to improve outcomes for children diagnosed with cancer. Sharon earned her Ph.D. in Genomics and Computational Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Her work identifying both germline and somatic copy number variants associated with the childhood cancer neuroblastoma won the Saul Winegrad Award for Outstanding Dissertation. She received a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue her work as a postdoctoral research scientist (2008-2012) and joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania (2012). She was promoted to Associate Professor in Spring 2020. Sharon is an active member of the Genomics and Computational Biology (GCB) and Cell and Molecular Biology (CAMB) graduate groups at the University of Pennsylvania, and is committed to training scientists at all levels. The theme of her research remains the integration of quantitative computational methods with rigorous “wet-lab” experimental approaches to advance pediatric cancer research and ultimately find cures.

Current Members

Postdoctoral Fellows

Amber Weiner
Postdoctoral Fellow

Amber is a postdoctoral researcher shared between Maris and Diskin groups. She is a graduate of UPenn in the Genomics and Computational Biology graduate program. Her thesis work focused on integrating mass spectrometry with RNA-sequencing data to identify candidate immunotherapeutic targets in neuroblastoma. Amber always wears a flower in her hair that matches her outfit. When not in lab, Amber enjoys swing dancing, eating and traveling.

Graduate Students

Rawan Shraim
Bioinformatics Scientist II/ PhD student

I am a 5^th year part-time PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering program at Drexel University and a full time Bioinformatics Scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). My focus has mainly been drug development and my journey has been quite diverse, ranging from hands-on lab work to contributing to the safety teams for clinical trials and currently as a bioinformatician on the data analysis side of developing and identifying therapies. My PhD focuses on computationally identifying immunotherapeutic targets in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma using proteomics and genomic data and developing tools to process the data. Within CHOP I am part of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research and work on identifying new therapies and genomic characterization of pediatric B-cell and T-cell leukemias and lymphomas. When I’m not busy with school and work, you can find me lost in a good book, experimenting in the kitchen, or off on adventures, exploring different corners of the globe and soaking up all the diverse cultures I can find.

Lobin “Alex” Lee
PhD Candidate, Genomics and Computational Biology, University of Pennsylvania

Alex graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with degrees in biology and political science. He worked for several years doing pediatric cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before enrolling in the Genomics and Computational Biology graduate program at Penn. As a recently joined member to the Diskin lab, he is still exploring his research interests but is currently focused on exploring how alterations to the 3D genomic and epigenetic landscape of neuroblastoma affects gene expression patterns. In his spare time he enjoys mountain biking, painting, and exploring the city with his dog Pepper.

Staff

Evan Cresswell-Clay
Bioinformatics Scientist II

Evan is a Bioinformatics scientist in the Lab. He is interested in the application of mathematics to understanding information processing in biological systems which has led him to varied fields within computational biology. He works within the Diskin lab supporting multiple ‘omics projects. Outside of work, Evan enjoys cooking, playing soccer, and fixing whatever is currently broken around the house.

Raph Lopez
Research Technician II

Raph is a postbaccalaureate research technician who graduated from the University of Southern California in 2023 with a joint BS in Human Biology and MS in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. His research background includes working on DICER1 syndrome, pediatric neuroblastoma, circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and Ewing sarcoma. When he joins the Diskin Lab in July 2024, Raph will be working on categorizing the immunotherapeutic potential of GFRA2 in Ewing sarcoma. In his free time, he enjoys rock climbing, finding new restaurants, and listening to his eclectic music taste!

Ryan Corbett
Bioinformatics Scientist II

Ryan joined CHOP as a Bioinformatics Scientist with the Center for Data Driven Discovery in October 2022, and transitioned to the Diskin laboratory in February 2024. His research focuses on characterizing pathogenic germline variation in pediatric CNS tumor patients, and integrating germline with somatic sequencing data to identifying novel mechanisms underlying oncogenesis. He is also an active participant in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in CHOP, and currently leads a project to identify genetic ancestry-associated inequities in pediatric CNS tumor prevalence, survival, and treatment. In his free time, Ryan enjoys pottery, caring for his hundreds of house plants, traveling the world with his partner, and short walks with his senior dog, Kennedy.

Karina Conkrite
Research Laboratory Manager

Every lab needs a “mom” to keep things organized and keep research flowing. Karina has been filling this role for the Diskin Laboratory since early 2013. She has worked in pediatric cancer research since 2005, previously under the direction of Dr. David MacPherson at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Embryology in Baltimore, Maryland. Karina is responsible for all our lab management duties as well as training students and new personnel while simultaneously conducting her own wet-bench research projects. Her focus for the past several years has been the implications of structural variants in the cancer genome, particularly on chromosome 11q and more recently including the 3D structure of the genome and its interactions. In her free time, Karina enjoys reading, hiking, music, and baking. The entire lab enjoys it when Karina bakes, as everyone reaps the benefits.

Rebecca Kaufman
Bioinformatics Scientist

Rebecca recently completed her masters’ degree in Bioinformatics at Temple University, graduating in December. In the meantime, Rebecca is blending well into the team and lending us a hand wherever a computational need arises.

Rebecca is the first member of the newly formed Center for Childhood Cancer Research Bioinformatics Core, a collaboration between CCCR and DBHi.

Pets

Kali the Cautious

Kali is another pandemic baby adopted in 2020 by her humans, Emrys and Karina. She is a shy but loving kitten who is a professional hunter, dragging her toys into her small houses to beat them with her back feet. Her favorite place to be is the bathroom and rolling around in the bathtub to get her belly rubs. She has decided she cannot eat her dinner until her human carer sits down to eat hers, so will avoid her dish until that happens, and leaves her sister Rahu to try to steal it instead. While her sister favors toy mice, Kali is all about the feathered birds on strings and she will chase them all down to drag them back to her lair.

Rahu, Master Pouncer

Rahu is a forever-baby kitty born as the world shut down for the 2020 pandemic adopted from a barn by her humans, Emrys and Karina. She is the epitome of the void cat, curious and loving. Her favorite hobbies include bullying her sister to inspect her dinner and waking her hoomans to get her breakfast. She is an avid inspector and claimer of all boxes, and fetcher of toy mice.

Txistorra Pupper

Txistorra (Chi-Chi) Is a 2-year-old miniature Dachshund. She is named after a Basque sausage. Txi-Txi spends her days sleeping in sunspots and demanding attention. She is currently working towards her dream of overcoming her diminutive statute and becoming a cutter for the Philadelphia Phoenix ultimate frisbee team.

Alumni Members

Graduate Students

Name	Role in the lab	Where are they now?
Brenda Xiao	Graduate Rotation Student, (Spring 2020) UPenn, GCB	Rotation Student, Marylyn Ritchie's laboratory
Yuchao Jiang	Graduate Rotation Student (Spring 2015)	Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina
Laura Egolf	PhD Candidate, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Pennsylvania	Computational Scientist, Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute
Alexandra “Alex” Lee	Graduate Rotation Student (Spring 2018)	PhD Candidate, Casey Greene's Lab (greenelab.org)
Lee D. McDaniel, MD, M. Eng	Bioinformatics Technician, Medical Student	Resident Physician, Duke Children's Hospital, Pediatric Research Scholars Program
Apexa Modi	PhD Candidate, Genomics and Computational Biology, University of Pennsylvania	Bioinformatics Senior Scientist I, Genomics Research Center, AbbVie Pharmaceuticals
Derek Oldridge, MD, PhD, MS	MD/PhD Graduate Student, Genomics and Computational Biology (Graduated 2015)	Resident in Clinical Pathology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Marion Pedrero	Graduate Student, Visiting Scholar, The Ecole Centrale de Lille, France (2013)	Senior Bioinformatics Scientist, Everest Detection, Stockport, UK

Undergraduate Students

Name	Role in the lab	Where are they now?
Daphne Cheung	Undergraduate Student, University of Pennsylvania (2016-2018)	Associate, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Monika Chung	Undergraduate Student, William Patterson University (2016)	Masters of Philosophy (MPhil) in Translational Biomedical Research Student, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Maiah H. Dent	Undergraduate Student, Rutgers University (2016)	Research Technician, Hamilton Lab, CHOP
Miram Doepner	Undergraduate Student, Bryn Mawr College (2015-2016)	PhD Candidate, Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania
Millicent “Millie” Horn	Undergraduate Student (2014)	Medical Student, University of Kentucky College of Medicine
Moataz Noureddine	Undergradate Student, Earlham College (2018)	Research Technician, Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Sathvik Ramanan	Undergraduate Student, University of Pennsylvania (2017)	Analyst, Windrose Consulting Group

High School Students

Name	Role in the lab	Where are they now?
Malwina Dymek	High School Student, Science Leadership Academy (2014-15)	St. Joseph's University, Class of 2019
Lance Farra	High School Student, Avon Grove High School (2015-17)	University of Pittsburgh, Class of 2021
Eric Hyson	High School Student, Hutchins Scholar, Lawrenceville School (2015)	Georgetown University, Class of 2020
Priya Kumar	High School Student, Hutchins Scholar, Lawrenceville School (2017)	University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2022
Tsz Ching “Melody” Leung	High School Student, Hutchins Scholar, Lawrenceville School (2018)	Lawrenceville School, Class of 2019
Neil Menghani	High School Student, Hutchins Scholar, Lawrenceville School (2014)	Columbia University, Class of 2019

Staff

Name	Role in the lab	Where are they now?
Harrison Bai, MD	Medical Resident, University of Pennsylvania	Radiology Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
Michael Barbato, MD	Medical Student, Jefferson University
J. Perry Evans, PhD	Bioinformatics Scientist	Bioinformatics Scientist, DBHi, CHOP
Gonzalo Lopez Garcia, PhD	Bioinformatics Scientist	Assistant Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Alexander B. Radaoui	Research Technician

Lab Pets

Current Member Pets

Kali the Cautious

Kali is another pandemic baby adopted in 2020 by her humans, Emrys and Karina. She is a shy but loving kitten who is a professional hunter, dragging her toys into her small houses to beat them with her back feet. Her favorite place to be is the bathroom and rolling around in the bathtub to get her belly rubs. She has decided she cannot eat her dinner until her human carer sits down to eat hers, so will avoid her dish until that happens, and leaves her sister Rahu to try to steal it instead. While her sister favors toy mice, Kali is all about the feathered birds on strings and she will chase them all down to drag them back to her lair.

Rahu, Master Pouncer

Rahu is a forever-baby kitty born as the world shut down for the 2020 pandemic adopted from a barn by her humans, Emrys and Karina. She is the epitome of the void cat, curious and loving. Her favorite hobbies include bullying her sister to inspect her dinner and waking her hoomans to get her breakfast. She is an avid inspector and claimer of all boxes, and fetcher of toy mice.

Txistorra Pupper

Txistorra (Chi-Chi) Is a 2-year-old miniature Dachshund. She is named after a Basque sausage. Txi-Txi spends her days sleeping in sunspots and demanding attention. She is currently working towards her dream of overcoming her diminutive statute and becoming a cutter for the Philadelphia Phoenix ultimate frisbee team.

Pets of previous lab mates

Name	Role in the lab	Where are they now?
Terra The Fiesty	Cat
Tiger Lily	Cat
Sassy Sophie	Dog	Chicago

Lemon Run, Team UnCHOPables
Nate, Jimmy, Jo Lynne, Sharon, Jimmy
Grace, Maria, Chrissy
Lemon Run 2016
Women in Redwoods
Apexa, Koumudi, Laura, Karina, Laura. Muir Woods, May 2018, ANR conference
The Boyz
Derek, Lee, Perry at the Bio Pond, Summer 2015
Shots to Celebrate
Goodbye Party at City Tap House
Hutchins Scholars Night
Sharon, Karina, Neil at Lawrenceville School, Nov 2014
Care and feeding of the lab bear
Halloween 2018
Laura’s Wedding
Karina, Apexa, Shaun & Laura, Parisa, Alex, Jingya, Joe, June 2019
AACR 2015
Karina presents work at AACR National Conference, April 2015
Karaoke Defense
Derek’s Defense celebration with John Maris and Sharon Diskin
Lab Bear
Halloween 2018
Busy Bee
Halloween 2018
Grad students escape!
Grad students are allowed to leave lab sometimes and escape to the great outdoors. June 2019
Chiral Jenga!
End of summer 2017
Don’t Fall!
End of summer 2017
Lemon Run 2016
Sharon and Jimmy at the Lemon Run in Fairmount Park
November 2016
Diskin Lab
Sharon, Amber, Lee, Derek, Karina May 18, 2015
Take a break!
Diskin Lab takes a break, Summer 2015
Derek, Lee, Perry, Amber, Miriam, Doug, Eric
Scientists in the outdoors!
Summer camping trip, grad students, June 2019
Diskin Ladies on Pier 39
Apexa, Amber, Laura, Sharon, Karina
Strolling on Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco during ANR 2018
Can code, can’t put together a tent...
Nate helps Alex assemble his tent, camping trip June 2019
Laura gets married!
Apexa, Shaun & Laura, Parisa, Alex, Jingya at wedding, June 2019
End of Summer 2017
Apexa, Gonzalo, Priya, Daphne
Alex ^3
We collect people named Alex here
Summer 2018
UnCHOPables team!
Lemon Run November 2016
Karina & Koumudi
Halloween 2018
Lions in the Lab?!
Halloween 2019
End of Summer, 2019
Meet up at the PHS PopUp garden to play some cornhole
Getting Brave with our Science!
Halloween 2019
Holiday Lunch 2019
The lab takes a break to celebrate the holiday season at Sitar India, Dec 19, 2019
Teaching the little bears everything
Halloween 2019
Watch out for the bear!
Very dangerous bears! Halloween 2019