Mellone lab, fall 2022. Back (from left): Tyler, Barbara, Bryce. Front (from left): Ruiyi, Prachi, Asna. Not pictured: Hayden and Bianca.
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Barbara Mellone, Ph.D. | She/Her
I am a Professor in the Genetics and Genomics Program of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UConn. My lab investigates how chromosomes are faithfully inherited through the precise establishment of functional centromeres using Drosophila as a model. By tackling fundamental biological questions in genome biology, our work indirectly paves the way for advancements in genome editing, cancer biology, genome stability, and the development of artificial chromosomes. Barbara.Mellone [at] uconn.edu |
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Bryce Santinello
Ph.D. student Bryce received his BS in Forensic Science from the University of New Haven. He joined the lab and in 2018 and is investigating the function of centromeric retroelements transcription in vivo. Bryce.Santinello [at] uconn.edu |
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Prachi Tandale
Ph.D. student Prachi received her Bachelor and Master's degrees in Biotechnology from D. Y. Patil University in Navi, Mumbai, India. She joined the lab in January 2019 and is interested in centromere genomics and editing. Prachi.Tandale [at] uconn.edu |
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Tyler McDermott
PhD student Tyler received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Pace University and his M.S. in Biomedical Forensic Sciences from Boston University. He joined the lab in 2020 and is investigating the functional relationship between retroelements and centromeric proteins. Tyler.McDermott [at] uconn.edu |
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Asna Amjad
MS student Asna received her BS in Bioinformatics from the Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan and her MS in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at University of Texas at Dallas. She joined the lab in 2021 and her project uses chromatin profiling and and PRO-seq data to study de novo centromere formation and centromeric transcripts. Asna.Amjad [at] uconn.edu |
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Ruiyi Sun
PhD student Ruiyi received her BS in Biology from the University of Michigan and a MS in Biology from NYU. Her interest in centromere biology sparked while studying S. pombe centromeres in Fei Li's lab at NYU. She joined the lab in 2022 and is interested in centromere specification and centromere drive. Ruiyi.Sun [at] uconn.edu |
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Maddy O'Connor
PhD student Maddy received her BS in Biology from Providence College. She joined the lab in 2024 and is interested in the relationship between RNA transcripts and centromeric proteins, and how they influence cell division. |
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Jennifer Santiago-Membreno
NSF RaMP Scholar (PostBac) Jennifer received her degree in microbiology from the University of Puerto Rico. She joined the lab in the summer of 2023 and is working on two projects: 1) develop a protocol for the isolation of HMW DNA from Drosophila embryos for ONT sequencing and 2) investigate the relationship between centromeric chromatin and transcription. jennifer.santiago_membreno [at] uconn.edu |
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Hayden Yuan
Undergraduate Assistant Hayden is a molecular and cell biology major in the honors program (class of '24). He joined the lab in the fall of 2021 and is carrying out site directed mutagenesis of centromeric proteins to pinpoint adaptively evolving residues. Hayden.Yuan [at] uconn.edu |
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Bianca Planeta
Undergraduate Assistant Bianca is molecular and cell biology major in the honors program (class of '25). She joined the lab in the Spring of 2023 and is investigating the subcellular localization of transposon-encoded proteins. Bianca.Planeta [at] uconn.edu |
FORMER MELLONE LAB MEMBERS
Graduate students (position after Mellone lab):
Ph.D.:
Jason Palladino
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2020. (Postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, NIH F32)
Papers: Palladino et. al Dev Cell; 2020 (Cover); Chang*, Chavan*, Palladino* et al, PLoS Biology; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Palladino and Mellone, Dev Cell 2016 (preview). jpallad4 [at] jhu.edu
Chinchi Chen
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2016. (Postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University)
Papers: Chen and Mellone JCB; 2016 (review); Chen et al, JCB 2014; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Chen et al, PLoSONE 2012. uschinchi [at] gmail.com
Leah Rosin
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2016. (Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, NIH K99/R00)
Papers: Rosin and Mellone, Trends in Genetics 2017 (review); Rosin and Mellone, Dev Cell 2016; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Ross et al, Science 2013. Leah.Rosin [at] nih.gov
M.S.:
Ashley Latibeaudiere
M.S. in Genetics and Genomics/MCB University of Connecticut, 2021 (MS student in Psychology at Southern Florida University)
Bianca Mocanu
M.S. in Genetics and Genomics/MCB University of Connecticut, 2018. (Biotech in Germany)
Emily Bettini
M.S. in Genetics and Genomics/MCB University of Connecticut, 2014. (Scientist at Boehringer)
Papers: Chen et al, JCB 2014; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015;
Elizabeth Greene
PSM University of Connecticut, 2011. (PhD student and scientist at Boehringer)
Papers: Chen et al, PLoSONE 2012.
Graduate students (position after Mellone lab):
Ph.D.:
Jason Palladino
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2020. (Postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, NIH F32)
Papers: Palladino et. al Dev Cell; 2020 (Cover); Chang*, Chavan*, Palladino* et al, PLoS Biology; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Palladino and Mellone, Dev Cell 2016 (preview). jpallad4 [at] jhu.edu
Chinchi Chen
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2016. (Postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University)
Papers: Chen and Mellone JCB; 2016 (review); Chen et al, JCB 2014; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Chen et al, PLoSONE 2012. uschinchi [at] gmail.com
Leah Rosin
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2016. (Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, NIH K99/R00)
Papers: Rosin and Mellone, Trends in Genetics 2017 (review); Rosin and Mellone, Dev Cell 2016; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Ross et al, Science 2013. Leah.Rosin [at] nih.gov
M.S.:
Ashley Latibeaudiere
M.S. in Genetics and Genomics/MCB University of Connecticut, 2021 (MS student in Psychology at Southern Florida University)
Bianca Mocanu
M.S. in Genetics and Genomics/MCB University of Connecticut, 2018. (Biotech in Germany)
Emily Bettini
M.S. in Genetics and Genomics/MCB University of Connecticut, 2014. (Scientist at Boehringer)
Papers: Chen et al, JCB 2014; Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015;
Elizabeth Greene
PSM University of Connecticut, 2011. (PhD student and scientist at Boehringer)
Papers: Chen et al, PLoSONE 2012.
Staff & postdocs (position after Mellone lab):
Laura Leo, PhD
Visiting graduate student summer 2022. (Postdoctoral fellow at the Bambin Gesu' Hospital, Rome)
Ankita Chavan
Research Assistant from Dec. 2015-July 2019. (Ph.D. student at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland)
Papers: Chang*, Chavan*, Palladino*, et al., PLoS Biology, 2019. *co-first authors.
Anthony Sposato
Undergraduate and research assistant 2016-2018. (MD student at UCHC)
Papers: Palladino et al. Dev Cell (2020)
Sarion Bowers, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow 2010-2013. (Research policy advisor for the Wellcome Trust at the Sanger Genome Institute, UK)
Papers: Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Mellone et al, PLoS Genetics, 2011; Bowers and Mellone, EMBO J 2011 (preview).
Kate Grive
Research Assistant 2009-2011. (Ph.D. student at Brown University)
Papers: Mellone et al, PLoS Genetics, 2011.
Laura Leo, PhD
Visiting graduate student summer 2022. (Postdoctoral fellow at the Bambin Gesu' Hospital, Rome)
Ankita Chavan
Research Assistant from Dec. 2015-July 2019. (Ph.D. student at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland)
Papers: Chang*, Chavan*, Palladino*, et al., PLoS Biology, 2019. *co-first authors.
Anthony Sposato
Undergraduate and research assistant 2016-2018. (MD student at UCHC)
Papers: Palladino et al. Dev Cell (2020)
Sarion Bowers, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow 2010-2013. (Research policy advisor for the Wellcome Trust at the Sanger Genome Institute, UK)
Papers: Chen et al, Dev Cell, 2015; Mellone et al, PLoS Genetics, 2011; Bowers and Mellone, EMBO J 2011 (preview).
Kate Grive
Research Assistant 2009-2011. (Ph.D. student at Brown University)
Papers: Mellone et al, PLoS Genetics, 2011.
Past undergraduate students (position after Mellone lab):
- Venkata Patchigolla, CLAS 2022. Honors: Beckman Scholar (Research assistant- bioinformatics, UConn Medical School UCHC)
- Misbah Aziz, CLAS 2020. (Clinical Research Training Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
- Timothy Mason, CLAS 2020. Honors: SURF (MD student at UCHC)
- Megan Boyer, CLAS 2018. Honors: SURF; Claire Berg award. (MD student at the University of Vermont)
- Xuan Liu, CLAS 2017. Honors: SURF. (MD student at McGovern School of medicine)
- Diana Corjuc, CLAS 2015 (Research Assistant, Harvard University)
- Patrick Lenehan, CLAS 2015. Honors: University Scholar; SURF; Goldwater Scholar. (MD/PhD student, Harvard University)
- Ragini Phansalkar, CLAS/ENG 2014. Honors: University Scholar; SURF; Goldwater Scholar. (MD/PhD student, Stanford University); Papers: Phansalkar et al, Chromosome Research, 2012
- Christian Belisario, CLAS 2012 (OD student). Papers: Chen et al, JCB 2014.
- Ryan D'Souza, CLAS 2012 (MD student U. of Colorado Denver). Honors: SURF; Margaret Eartman award. Papers: Bateman et al, G3, 2012.
- Mary Ledoux, CLAS 2011 (MD student, U. of Vermont). Honors: SURF; Margaret Eartman award. Papers: Chen et al, JCB 2014.
Past Mentor Connection, REU, and McNair Students:
Taiann Fowlkes (REU), 2023
Sarah Bolarinwa (REU), 2022
Rebecca Marrero (REU), 2019
Gabriela Diaz (REU), 2017
Timothy Mason (McNair), 2017
Nicole Lopez (REU), 2016
Yash Prakash (Mentor Connection), 2015
Ishani Patel (Mentor Connection), 2015
Javier Ruano (McNair), 2014
Ashley Meuser (Mentor Connection), 2013
Kerry Napoleon (Mentor Connection), 2013
Margaret Gavin (Mentor Connection), 2011
Alan Kariuki (Mentor Connection), 2010
Latrice Grant (Mentor Connection), 2010
Molly Blessing (Mentor Connection), 2010
Taiann Fowlkes (REU), 2023
Sarah Bolarinwa (REU), 2022
Rebecca Marrero (REU), 2019
Gabriela Diaz (REU), 2017
Timothy Mason (McNair), 2017
Nicole Lopez (REU), 2016
Yash Prakash (Mentor Connection), 2015
Ishani Patel (Mentor Connection), 2015
Javier Ruano (McNair), 2014
Ashley Meuser (Mentor Connection), 2013
Kerry Napoleon (Mentor Connection), 2013
Margaret Gavin (Mentor Connection), 2011
Alan Kariuki (Mentor Connection), 2010
Latrice Grant (Mentor Connection), 2010
Molly Blessing (Mentor Connection), 2010