Embedded Files
Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator
Kara Bernstein
Lab Head
B.A. Bryn Mawr College, 2000
Ph.D. Yale University, 2006 (Advisor Susan Baserga)
Post-doctorate Fellow, Columbia University, 2006-2011 (Advisor Rodney Rothstein)
Post-doctorate Fellows
Post-doctorate Fellows
Anna Palovcak
Post-Doctorate Fellow
July 10, 2023 - current
B.S. West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 2014
Ph.D. University of Florida, 2023 (Advisor Yanbin Zhang)
Lab Publications:
Rein, H.L., Rawal, Y., Palovcak-Lightbourn, A.L., Ganesan, G., Parker, P., Russell, R., Darrah, K., Afsar, M., Sullivan, M.R., Hengel, S.R., Radke, M.R., Opresko, P.L., Yanowitz, J.L., Greene, E.C., Lee, J.M., Domchek, S.M., Swisher, E.M., Olsen, S.K., Sung, P., Bernstein, K.A. (2025) Comprehensive RAD51C ovarian cancer variant analysis uncouples homologous recombination and replicative functions, Nature Communications, 16(1): 6539.
Noah Goff
Post-Doctorate Fellow
January 2025 - current
B.S. Temple University, 2019
Ph.D. Michigan State University, 2024 (Advisor Kathy Meek)
Victor Leon
Post-Doctorate Fellow
January 2026- current
B.S. New Jersey City University, 2015
Ph.D. New York University, 2025 (Advisor Andreas Hochwagen)
Ph.D. Students
Ph.D. Students
Mohd Azrin Jamalruddin
Graduate Student
July 1, 2019 - current
B.S. Michigan State University
Lab Publications:
Rawal, Y., Kwon, Y., Jia, L., Ruben, E.A., Ji, J.H., Guo, L., Stratton, C.M., Nayak, D., Tovar, M., Fang, Q., Jamalruddin, M.A., Zhou, S., Kuppa, S., Syed, S., Jasper, A.M., Katz, J.N., Rogers, C.M., Kaur, H., Samentar, L., Jasin, M., Taylor, A.B., Burma, S., Rao, M.K., Libich, D.S., Hromas, R., Mazin, A.V., Zhou, D., Bernstein, K.A., Greene, E.C., Wasmuth, E.V., Sung, P., Olsen, S.K. (2026) Genome Preservation Roles of XRCC3-RAD51C Complexes Revealed by Cryo-EM and 3 Functional Analyses, Nature Structure Molecular Biology, In Press.
Mack, M., Tufino, A.C., Jamaruddin, M.A., Dey, S., Pan, Y., Mukherjee, E., Daley, J.D., Meade, J., Aarabi, M., Maurer, L., Cooper, J., Bernstein, K.A., Bailey K.M. (2026) Pathogenic germline PALB2 and RAD50 variants in patients with relapsed Ewing sarcoma, Pediatric Blood & Cancer, In Press.
Bai, S., Taylor, S.E., Jamalruddin, M.A., McGonigal, S., Grimley, E., Yang, D., Bernstein, K.A., Buchanovich, R.J. (2022) Targeting therapeutic resistance and multinucleate giant cells in CCNE1-amplified HR-proficient ovarian cancer. Molecular Cancer Therapy. 21(9): 1743-1484.
Brunette, G.J., Jamalruddin, M.A., Baldock, R.A., Clark, N.L., Bernstein, K.A. (2019) Evolution-based screening enables genome-wide prioritization and discovery of DNA repair genes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116(39): 19593-19599.
Tanis Dorwart
Graduate Student
June 1 2024 - current
B.S. Arcadia University, 2020
Lab Publications:
Fagunloye, A.A., DeMagis, A., Little, J.H., Contreras, I., Dorwart, T.J., Bonilla, B., Gupa, K., Clark, N., Zacheji, T., Paeschke, K.*, Bernstein, K.A.* (2025) The Shu complex interacts with the replicative helicase to bypass DNA damage, EMBO Journal, 44(5): 1512-1539. *Co-corresponding
Ana Dias
Graduate Student
July 1 2026 - current
B.S. Tufts University, 2025
Technicians
Technicians
Abby Cordero
Research Technician
May 28, 2026 - current
B.A. Cornell University, 2026
Zoe Moosbrugger
Research Technician
June 1, 2024 - current
B.S. Ursinis College, 2024
Jehan Mody
Research Technician
October 1, 2024 - current
B.A. Gettysburg College, 2024
Undergraduate Researchers
Undergraduate Researchers
Zara Kahn
Undergraduate Researcher
January 24, 2024 - current
University of Pennsylvania
Arjun Kumar
Undergraduate Researcher
January 24, 2024 - current
University of Pennsylvania
Funding/Fellowship: Roy and Diana Vagelos Scholars Program in the Molecular Life Sciences; 2024 CURF Summer Fellowship
Emmanuel Tawiah
Undergraduate Researcher
June 28, 2024 - current
University of Pennsylvania
Funding/Fellowship: 2024 Basser Summer Scholars Program
We are always looking for highly motivated rotation students and post-doctorate fellows!
We are always looking for highly motivated rotation students and post-doctorate fellows!
Unfortunately, we have no open positions for high school students, undergraduates, or technicians. We are full this summer and will not be taking additional summer students.
Unfortunately, we have no open positions for high school students, undergraduates, or technicians. We are full this summer and will not be taking additional summer students.
Former Trainees
Former Trainees
Former Graduate Students:
Stephen Godin (2012 - 2015)
Current Position: Senior Scientist I at Tango Therapeutics
Meghan Sullivan (2014 - 2020)
Current Position: Review Analyst-Variant Scientist at GeneDx
Braulio Bonilla (2016 - 2020)
Current Position: Investigator Adjunto Istitute Pasteur de Monevideo (Staff Scientist) INIA Institute Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuaria, Uruguay
Thong Luong (2017 - 2022)
Current Position: Postdoctoral research fellow at NCI
Hayley Rein (2019 - 2023)
Current Position: Clinical Genomic Scientist I at Baylor Genetics
Adeola Fagunloye (2021 - 2024)
Current Position: Position at FDA
Former Post-Doctorate Fellows:
Former Post-Doctorate Fellows:
Cheryl (Clauson) Kozina (2012 - 2013)
Current Position: Associate Professor (with tenure) at St. Leo University, FL
Stefanie Bohm (2012 - 2015)
Current Position: Scientific Coordinator, Department of Molecular Sociology, Max Plank Institute of Biophysics, Frankfort, Germany
Julieta Martino (2015 - 2018)
Current Position: Variant Scientist, GeneDx
Robert Baldock (2016 - 2018)
Current Position: Senior Lecturer of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, England
Sarah Hengel (2017-2023)
Current Position: Assistant Professor (Tenure-track) at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Kristie Darrah (2021-2025)
Current Position: Medical Writer for PrecisionAQ (Precision Medicine Group)
Former Medical Students:
Yoav Karpenshif (2012-2015)
Current Position: Advanced Fellow in Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania
Zhuying Zhang (2013-2015)
Current Position: M.D.
Anton Khodakov (2015-2017)
Current Position: Corporate Strategy Consultant, Humana
Former Undergraduates:
Former Undergraduates:
Dominique Bratton-Palmer (2012-2015)
Current Position: Business Analyst Myers-Holum
Christina Hornack (2011-2013)
Current Position: Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician at HCA Fawcett Memorial Hospital, Port Charlotte, FL
Faiz Kabbinavar (2011-2015)
Current Position: M.D. Family Medicine, Southampton, NY
Cynthia Thomas (2012)
Current Position: Laboratory Technician at the Citizen Science Lab, Pittsburgh, PA
Robert Caro (2012-2013)
Current Position: Associate Dentist at Kaye Dentistry, NY, NY
Morgan "Casal" Butrovich (2013-2014)
Current Position: Ph.D. Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences; Office of Clinical Pharmacology - Division of Cancer Pharmacology I (solid tumors)
Shahm Raslan (2013-2014)
Current Position: Medical Student at Florida International University
Alison Lee (2013-2014)
Current Position: Ph.D. Student at University of Texas Austin
Jared Baird (2014-2015)
Current Position: Anesthesiology Resident at Wake Forest
Ashita Vadlamudi (2014-2015)
Current Position: M.S. Health Care Analytics and Information Technology Candidate at Carnegie Mellon University
Catherine Pressimone (2015-2018)
Current Position: Internal Medicine Resident, University of Pittsburgh
Gannon Rooney (2016)
Current Position: Medical Student, University of Pittsburgh
Chelsea Smith (2017-2020)
Current Position: Graduate Student UNC Chapel Hill
Nickolas Pudik (2017)
Current Position: Medical Student Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Ella Roberts (2019-2021)
Current Position: Thomas Jefferson University, Doctorate in Health Sciences and a Masters in Physician Assistant Studies
Katherine Oppenheimer (2020-2022)
Current Position: Ph.D. Student at Harvard University
Reagan Russell (2021-2022)
Current Position: Medical Student at the Cleveland Clinic
Caroline Smelko (2021)
Current Position: Undergraduate at Penn State
Megan Pauly (2022)
Current Position: Clinical Research Associate at Labcorp
Phoebe Parker (2021-2022)
Current Position: Ph.D. candidate at Washington University
Alexa Mihaita (2023)
Current Position: Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania
Madhuri Ganesan (2025)
Current Position: Undergraduate student
Shemai'ya Peak (2025)
Current Position: Undergraduate student
Isabela Contreras (2022-2026)
Current Position: Medical Assistant
Former Technicians:
Michael Mihalevic (2011-2018)
Current Position: R.N.
Benjamin Herken (2015-2017)
Current Position: Post-doctorate at the ARC Institute
Gregory Brunnette (2016-2019)
Current Position: Ph.D. student at Harvard University
McKenzie Grundy (2018-2020)
Current Position: Ph.D. student at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Kyle Rapchak (2019-2020)
Current Position: Ph.D. student at University of Iowa
Phoebe Parker (2022-2024)
Current Position: Ph.D. student at Washington University, Saint Louis, MO
Gayatri Ganesan (2023-2026)
Current Position: M.D. student at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Former High School Students:
Former High School Students:
Leah Furman (2012)
Current Position: Ph.D. candidate at the Wietzmann Institute of Science, Jerusalem, Israel
Kyle Yoshida (2013)
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCLA
Yael (Istkowitz) Colton (2014, 2016)
Current Position: FSO Assurance Staff at EY, New York, NY
Brian Kang (2016)
Current Position: Director of Make Ventures Princeton, Atlanta, GA
Ashani Shah (2016-2017)
Current Position: Undergraduate student, B.S./M.D. Program at Rutgers University, NJ
Zehra Mehdi (2017)
Charles Burton (2019)
Current Position: Undergraduate student at University of Virgina
Benjamin Friedman (2023-2024)
Current Position: Incoming Undergraduate student at University of Maryland
Abigail Joshowitz (2025)
Current Position: Incoming Undergraduate student at Brown University
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