Lab News
Winter 2023 Rotations
We have a new member joining our lab for their fall rotation:
- Katie Toohill is a first year CAMB/DSRB student. Katie is interested in characterizing new Notch reporter lines using genetics and imaging.
Welcome Katie!
New Lab Members
Our lab has rapidly grown in size! Welcome Elif, Jessie, Roshan and Hema.
Read their bios on the Team page to learn more.
Presentation at SFN
Bushra was invited to speak at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego. She spoke at the minisymposium: “High-Throughput Interrogation of Neurons Using Barcoding-Based Strategies”, and presented the lab’s efforts on generating barcoding tools for recording developmental patterns in a growing zebrafish brain.
Bushra is awarded the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
Bushra’s grant for the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2) was funded. This $1.5 million, 5-year grant will fund the lab’s research towards developing a novel method for investigating signaling activity during brain development using CRISPR tools and single-cell genomics.
Aiden joins the lab
A belated welcome to Aiden Masters who joined the lab in June as a research technician. Aiden graduated from Middlebury College. Aiden is developing novel barcoding constructs and transgenic lines for the lab.
Welcome Aiden!
Abby joins the lab
A belated welcome to Abby Siniscalco who joined in June as our lab manager and research technician. Abby is responsible for managing our fish lines and is investigating the role of Notch signaling in brain progenitors.
Welcome Abby!
Fall 2022 rotations
We have new members joining our lab:
- Jessie Greenslade is a second year NGG student. Jessie is exploring scRNA sequencing and new genome editing tools in the lab.
- Maggie Cassidy is a first year CAMB/G&E student. Maggie is interested in identifying genes with neurodevelopmental phenotypes.
Welcome Jessie and Maggie!
Presentation at the International Society of Differentiation
Bushra presented the lab’s research at the ISD/BSDB conference in Malta. She spoke about new barcoding tools that enable recording of developmental patterns in a growing zebrafish brain.
Presentation at the International Zebrafish Society meeting
Bushra was invited to co-chair and present at the IZF conference in Montreal for the session entitled Zebrafish: One cell at a time (Single cell) . She presented her research on generating single cell atlases of the developing zebrafish brain, and how they are complemented with barcoding technologies that enable developmental recording in zebrafish.
Hannah leaves for grad school
Hannah said goodbye to the Raj lab and will be starting grad school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Congratulations Hannah! We are so proud and thankful for all your contributions to the first year of the lab.
Presentation at ISSCR Cellular Barcoding meeting
Bushra was invited to present at the Cellular Barcoding webinar hosted by ISSCR. She presented her work on developing various iterations of CRISPR barcoding technologies that enable developmental recording in zebrafish.
Presentation at NIH/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation brain meeting
Bushra was invited to present at “The Brain Across the Lifespan: Tools and Methodologies for Measuring the Changing Brain”. This event was co-organized by the NIH and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Invited seminar at Haverford College
Bushra was invited to give a seminar for the Biology Department at Haverford College. She presented her work on leveraging single-cell genomics and barcoding technologies to investigate zebrafish CNS development.
Spring 2022 rotations
We have new members joining our lab for their spring rotations:
-Olivia Fish is a first year CAMB/G&E student
-Reiko Tomizawa is a first year CAMB/DSRB student
Welcome Olivia and Reiko!
Winter 2022 rotation
We have a new member joining our lab for their winter rotation:
S Fallarcaro is a first year CAMB/DSRB student
Welcome S!
Lab holiday celebration
To celebrate the end of the year and surviving 6 months of being a new lab, we went to Wax + Wine, a candle making BYOB bar in Center City. Their Scent Cellar is stocked with over 75 fragrances, including several seasonal scents.
Invited Seminar at UofT
Bushra was invited to give a talk for the Department of Cell & Systems Biology at the University of Toronto. She presented her work on leveraging single-cell genomics and barcoding technologies to investigate zebrafish CNS development.
Hannah joins the lab
Hannah Doll is the first member of our lab. She comes from Haverford College, where she majored in Biology and worked with zebrafish in Roshan Jain’s lab. Hannah is our lab technician and manager.
Welcome Hannah!
The Raj lab is open
After navigating the Schier lab at Harvard closing its doors in 2021 and a pandemic that made it very difficult to find anything in stock, Bushra made it to UPenn, Perelman School of Medicine to start her own lab in the department of Cell and Developmental Biology.