About Us

BCATS is a one-day scientific symposium highlights current interdisciplinary research by students and postdoctoral fellows at universities in the San Francisco Bay Area and is organized exclusively by Stanford graduate students on behalf of the Stanford biomedical research community.

Yosuke Tanigawa

2nd year, Biomedical Informatics

Rivas Lab | Bejerano Lab

ytanigaw [ at ] stanford.edu

Yosuke is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in Biomedical Informatics Training Program after he received BS in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology from University of Tokyo. He is jointly advised by Dr. Manuel Rivas and Dr. Gill Bejerano and working on methods development for large-scale human genetics dataset. He enjoys swimming, running, and playing the piano.

Nicole Ferraro

2nd year, Biomedical Informatics

Montgomery Lab

nferraro [ at ] stanford.edu

Nicole received a dual BS/MS in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA in 2016. She is currently a second year in the Stanford Biomedical Informatics training program. As a member of the Montgomery Lab, Nicole works on methods development to understand the genetic influences underlying gene expression, and incorporate multi-omics data modalities to characterize the impact of rare variation. She enjoys running, vegetarian cooking, and exploring new cities.

Irene Li

2nd year, Cancer Biology

Plevritis Lab

liirene [ at ] stanford.edu

Irene is a second-year in the Cancer Biology program and received her bachelor’s in Molecular Genetics and Global Public Health at Michigan State University. She investigates metabolic shifts and progressions in the tumor microenvironment in the Plevritis Lab. She’s an avid painter, piano & ukulele player, and hiker.

Samantha Piekos

3rd year, Stem Cell Biology

Oro Lab

spiekos [ at ] stanford.edu

Samantha received her BS in Biological Sciences and Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. Currently, she is a third year PhD student in the Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine and is advised by Dr. Anthony Oro. Her research focuses on understanding how the chromatin landscape changes during early skin differentiation. In her free time, Samantha enjoys spending time outdoors whether it be hiking or traveling. She also enjoys rock climbing and is an avid cook.

Lawrence Bai

2nd year, Immunology

Habtezion Lab | Khatri Lab

lawrence.bai [ at ] stanford.edu

Lawrence graduated with a BS in Microbial Biology from UC Berkeley in 2016 before joining the Immunology Program at Stanford University. He is currently in his second year, where he works on better understanding inflammatory bowel disease from a systems biology perspective. He is jointly advised by Dr. Aida Habtezion and Dr. Purvesh Khatri. In his spare time, Lawrence enjoys going on food adventures with his friends, whether it be exploring new restaurants or cooking at home. He also enjoys listening to music and traveling around the world to better understand other cultures (including cuisines, language, and customs).

Gautam Machiraju

Staff, Bioinformatics Research Assistant

Mallick Lab

gmachi [ at ] stanford.edu

Gautam received his B.A. in Applied Mathematics from University of California, Berkeley. Under the mentorship of Dr. Parag Mallick, he currently works on mathematical models of biomarker shedding kinetics in early-stage tumors, NLP of PubMed biomarker dark data, and deep learning of multi-omic time-series patient data. In between applying to Biomedical Informatics PhD programs in Autumn 2017, he enjoys Bay Area events, camping trips, and all things dark chocolate.


BCATS2018 Sponsors

  • Bio-X

Company Sponsors: AncestryDNA

Interested in sponsoring BCATS 2018? read more