March 2026 QCB Newsletter

Apr 2
4 min read

e-Newsletter Volume 6 Issue 2 | March 2026

Personal Remarks by Dr. Remo Rohs

I want to start with congratulating Professors Peter Calabrese and Michael ‘Doc’ Edge on their respective Dornsife Teaching and Junior Raubenheimer Awards. This year’s trifecta of Dornsife awards for QCB faculty is also a recognition of the department at its 5th birthday. Way to go!

With screening exams on the horizon, the second year Ph.D. students held a mentoring kickoff event for the first year Ph.D. students. Huge thanks to CBB student Lexi Shewchuk for the initiative and for organizing it!

The time between now and commencement is exceptionally busy every year. Enjoy the many events as well as springtime on campus.

Remo Rohs, Ph.D.

Department Chair

QCB Faculty

QBIO Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Peter Calabrese, was awarded the inaugural Dornsife College Award for Teaching Excellence for mid-career faculty. This award is considered one of USC Dornsife’s highest faculty honors, recognizing teaching excellence and a strong commitment and dedication to the educational experience of our students.

QCB faculty Dr. Doc Edge and QCB Chair Dr. Remo Rohs received the Junior and Senior Raubenheimer Awards, respectively. The Raubenheimer award is considered one of the highest faculty honors at Dornsife, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the three areas of teaching, scholarship, and service to USC. The junior award is bestowed on the tenure-track faculty showing great potential, while the senior award recognizes sustained excellence and impact in all three areas. These deserved awards to Dr. Rohs and Dr. Edge highlight the achievements and prominence of the QCB department in the Dornsife and USC communities. Congratulations, Doc and Remo!

QCB Publications

The journal Cell Genomics published a Preview highlighting a research paper from the Fudenberg lab co-authored by QCB postdoc Dr. Maxime Tortora and core faculty Dr. Geoff Fudenberg. The Preview written by researchers not involved in the study states that the Fudenberg lab's work reflects a shift in the 3D genome field from identifying individual regulators toward understanding how multiple factors quantitatively cooperate to shape chromatin folding. Please read the preview here.

CBB graduate Dr. Yingfei Wang and research specialist Dr. Jinsen Li from the Rohs lab, with contributions from core faculty Dr. Tsu-Pei Chiu and CBB alumna Dr. Bei Xin, published a paper in NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics on the sequence-based modeling of low-affinity transcription factor-DNA binding. The work showed the ability to use deep learning methods to reveal functional low affinity binding sites in the genome. Please read the paper here.

CBB PhD student Rachel Yuqiu Wang from Dr. Fengzhu Sun’s group published a tutorial paper, “Benchmarking alignment strategies for Hi-C reads in metagenomic Hi-C data” in Genome Biology. The study identified the best tools for aligning metagenomic HiC reads to contigs in metagenomic HiC studies. Alum Dr. Yuxuan Du and Dr. Fengzhu Sun co-supervised the project. Please read the paper here.

CBB student Shirin Nataneli from Dr. Jazlyn Mooney's lab published a paper titled “Analytical expectations for ancestry junction accumulation in admixed genomes” in Genetics with contributions from CBB students, Aydin Loid Karatas and Tessa Ferrari, as well as former QCB postdoc Roshni Patel. This work provides a mathematical model that tracks how recombination and a population’s history shape patterns of ancestry switches along the genome. This opens a new avenue for inferring the history of populations that contain ancestry from distinct parental sources. Please read the paper here.

QBIO graduate and current Keck Medicine MD student, Kate Manley, and QCB joint faculty member Dr. Jerry Lee from the Ellison Medical Institute published an article in the journal Health Systems about the importance of data accessibility for molecular medicine and cancer research. Please read the paper here.

QCB student Handan Cetin from Dr. Stacey Finley's lab, in collaboration with Mann School of Pharmacy, published a paper titled “Cancer-associated fibroblasts drive metabolic heterogeneity in colorectal cancer cells: predictions from metabolic modeling” in NPJ Systems Biology Applications. The modeling suggests that targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts metabolic interactions may improve treatment strategies for KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer. Please read the paper here.

QCB joint faculty Dr. Andrei Irimia published a paper titled “Deep survival modelling to predict future cognitive impairment in unimpaired adults” in Journals of Gerontology Series A. Please read the paper here.

QCB joint faculty Dr. Andrei Irimia, with the participation of QCB student Fangyun Liu, published a paper titled “Segmentation and morphometry of intracranial internal carotid artery calcification in relation to brain atrophy” in Neuroradiology. Please find the paper here.

QCB joint faculty Dr. Andrei Irimia published a paper titled “Women's reproductive factors predict local brain aging profiles mapped using deep neural networks” in Geroscience. Please read the paper here.

CBB Graduate Students

CBB graduate student Wei Yu Tang competed earlier this month in the LA Marathon. Wei Yu completed the marathon with a fantastic result despite the unusually hot day. We are proud of you, Wei Yu!

QBIO Undergraduate Students

Two of our QBIO graduates who went to Medical School at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have matched for their residency programs. Jonathan Le B.S.'22 matched for anesthesiology at UCLA, and Kate Manley B.S.'21 (right) matched for plastic surgery at the University of Washington. Congrats, Kate and Jonathan! It is wonderful to see the successful paths of our graduates.

Please welcome QBIO freshman Kathlyn Phan as the QCB Department's new QBIO student liaison! She will be putting together the monthly newsletter and organizing the peer mentorship program. The QCB department thanks QBIO senior Karen Lee for filling this position for the last two years with much commitment to the newsletter and mentorship program, while also serving as the President of the QBIO student association.

Upcoming Events

April 2nd (RRI 101 @ 2 pm): Seminar by Dr. Ferhat Ay, UCSD

April 9th (RRI 101 @ 2 pm): Seminar by Dr. Yang Lu, University of Wisconsin - Madison

April 16th (RRI 101 @ 2 pm): Seminar by Dr. Andrej Sali, UCSF

April 21st (RRI 101 @ 2 pm): Seminar by Dr. Jussie Taipale, Wellcome Sanger Institute (Please note that this seminar is on a Tuesday.)

April 23rd (RRI 101 @ 2 pm): Seminar by Dr. Erik Winfree, California Institute of Technology

April 30th (RRI 101 @ 2 pm): Seminar by Dr. Eric Deeds, UCLA

Our mailing address is:

1050 Childs Way, RRI 201, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2019

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