QCB ALUMNI
CLASSES 2018 - 2020
"QCB definitely sharpened my skills in quantitative analysis, machine learning and software development by working on challenging computational biology research projects."
WEILI WANG
CLASS OF 2020
Join the growing ranks of QBIO alumni now working at the highest levels of industry centered on solving complex problems using large scale data analysis.
From world class research facilities including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute in Boston to software engineering at Google and Facebook, QCB alumni are among the most highly sought-after graduates entering the workforce today.
Jared Sagendorf PhD‘20
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Dr. Jared Sagendorf received his PhD in Physics for research in QCB in 2020. He is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Lecturer in QCB where he works on deep learning and deep graph methods for protein-nucleic acid binding. Jared currently teaches QBIO 481 ‘Structural Bioinformatics: From Atoms to Cells.’
Jitin Singla PhD‘20
Dr. Jitin Singla received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2020. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Roorkee, India. He is also a scientific advisor to the "World in a Cell" project at USC’s World Building Media Lab and part of the Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience’s Pancreatic Beta Cell Consortium.
Weili Wang PhD‘20
Dr. Weili Wang received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2020. He is currently a Software Engineer at Google. He says that he sharpened his skills in quantitative analysis, machine learning and software development by working on interesting, yet challenging computational biology research projects in QCB and that it was a rewarding experience to work with and learn from our excellent QCB faculty and talented fellow students.
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Joshua Cheung MS’19
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Joshua Cheung received a Master’s in Computational Molecular Biology. Since 2018, he is a Software Engineer at IBM. Joshua says that QCB gave him an avenue to explore his wide array of interests in machine learning, genomics, and neuroscience. He is grateful for the opportunity to have been part of a close-knit group of graduate students and do research with faculty pioneering the fields of neuroscience and bioinformatics.
Yichao (Henry) Dong PhD‘19
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Dr. Henry Dong received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2019. He is currently a Software Engineer at Google. Henry says that QCB has amazing staff and faculty, who have been extremely supportive. He further says that the academic courses and research projects have been essential in preparing him for his career.
Nan Hua PhD‘19
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Dr. Nan Hua received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2019. He is now a Software Engineer at Google’s shopping click quality team. He believes that QCB was really a great place to work, learn and evolve oneself. He says that he benefited a lot from the word-class computational infrastructure and academic resources as well as super cool amenities and the environment.
Mengge Zhang PhD‘19
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Dr. Mengge Zhang received her PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2019. She is currently a Data Scientist at ElectrifAI. What she appreciated most at QCB are the supportive professors, courses and research projects. Mengge says that the skills and experience acquired at QCB prepare students well for careers in either academia or industry.
Tsu-Pei Chiu PhD‘18
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Dr. Tsu-Pei Chiu received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2018 and is currently a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in QCB after receiving a USC-Taiwan Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research is focusing on mining protein-DNA binding patterns using deep-learning methods to uncover binding mechanisms and biological insights.
Ben Decato PhD‘18
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Dr. Ben Decato is currently an Assistant Research Professor at City of Hope National Medical Center. His research focuses on understanding the evolutionary trajectories of cancer and devising strategies to combat treatment-resistant phenotypes. Prior to this, he worked as a Research Investigator and Senior Scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb, focusing on clinical biomarker discovery for disease. Ben says that the curriculum, faculty, and research culture at QCB helped him to build strong foundational knowledge, and QCB's collaborative research taught him how to communicate complex computational findings.
Chao Deng PhD‘18
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Dr. Chao Deng received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2018. He is currently an Applied Research Scientist at Facebook. His research is about understanding the distribution of fragments in genomic sequencing and optimizing sequencing experiments based on cost and information gained. He said that valuable lesson he learned at USC are hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence.
Satyanarayan Rao PhD‘18
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Dr. Satyanarayan Rao is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in at the University of Colorado Medical Campus where he investigates how protein binding on chromatin fiber can be mapped. Satya says that the course requirements at QCB are designed to build fundamental pillars of being a successful computational biologist, that QCB is rich in resources to conduct computational biology research, and that the QCB research environment is very collegial and collaborative which is important to thrive as a student.
Beibei Xin PhD‘18
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Dr. Beibei Xin received her PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2018 . She is an Associate Professor at China Agricultural University, working on Crop Genomics and Bioinformatics. Beibei is very grateful for the coursework, the mentorship, and scientific training at QCB, which she says prepared her seamlessly for her current career. She adds that the entire QCB community is very inspiring, supporting, and caring.
Xiaofei Wang PhD‘18
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Dr. Xiaofei Wang received her PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2018. She currently works for Fujifilm Scientific as a Data Scientist in their Innovation Group.
Meng Zhou PhD‘18
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Dr. Meng Zhou received his PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in 2018. He is now a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute in Boston. He is working on cancer genomics, with a focus on using computational methods to find driver mutations and understand cancer progression. Meng says that QCB was a diverse environment with lots of opportunities to broaden his academic connections.