Our Team

Foivos is a chemical engineer from Greece who obtained his PhD at Imperial College in London. Using in vivo models, CRISPR screens and cell barcoding, he is exploring the effects of tissue turnover and lifestyle exposures on normal tissue evolution. Outside the lab, he keeps up with movies from his favorite directors and spends time with friends.

Dave is a mathematician with an undergraduate degree from Oxford University and a PhD from Edinburgh University. He is studying somatic evolution and carcinogenesis from a mathematical perspective. Outside the lab, he likes climbing and cold water swimming.

Alex is a computational biologist interested in cancer evolution and metastasis. He obtained his PhD in cancer genomics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the Tri-I Computational Biology and Medicine program. When not hunched over a computer terminal, he can be found biking around Boston, working on some DIY project, or relaxing at home with his wife and cat.

Devin is a computational and molecular biologist interested in tumor evolution and metastatic spread, with a focus in cancer genomics. Originally from New Mexico, he earned his PhD at Boise State University before completing postdocs at Stockholm University and the University of Edinburgh, working across RNA fitness landscapes and yeast hybridization en route to cancer genomics. Outside the lab, he spends all his time with his wife and four amazing kids.

Yadira is a postdoctoral fellow originally from Mexico. She obtained her PhD from Indiana University. In the lab, she studies the somatic evolution of breast tissue to distinguish cancer-causing mutations from those that simply expand without becoming malignant. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, hiking, and watching movies.

Martin is a MD/PhD student at Charité University in Berlin, Germany. He is doing his thesis research in the Naxerova lab, where he combines his background in medicine, computational biology, and experimental work to uncover novel insights into cancer initiation and metastases. Outside of the lab Martin can be found exploring Boston and its tennis courts.

Xell completed her Bachelor and MSc in Mathematics and Biology at Edinburgh and Oxford. She is now a PhD student in Edinburgh, where she develops mathematical tools to study patterns of cancer evolution from genetic data. During this summer, she will be in the Naxerova lab working on models of metastasis evolution. Born and raised in the Catalan Pyrenees, she can be found hiking or searching for the perfect tomato.

Sebastian is a PhD student in the Harvard BBS program. Originally from Germany, he obtained a bachelor and master’s in Molecular Biotechnology from Heidelberg University and moved to Boston to study somatic evolution in the colon. When not in lab, Sebastian enjoys trying out new restaurants and spending time outdoors.

Dominik is a graduate student from Germany, where he obtained bachelor and master’s in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg. He loves to work at the intersection of wet lab and bioinformatics. In his free time, he enjoys hiking in the White Mountains, climbing in- and outdoors and many other outdoor activities.

Linsey is currently a PhD student in the BBS program at Harvard. She had previously obtained her BSc and MSc at the University of Toronto. In the lab, she is interested in tracing back the evolutionary history of cancers to gain insight into the processes by which they initiate. On the weekends, she can be found enjoying live music and discovering new cafes.

William is a recent graduate of the University of Oxford. As a research technician in Naxerova lab, he engages in multiple ongoing projects exploring metastasis evolution and the cell division history of cancer. Outside of lab, William enjoys listening to audiobooks and watching movies.

Joyce obtained her undergraduate degree in Physics from National Taiwan University in Taiwan and her PhD in Theoretical High Energy Physics from University of California at Berkeley. After a career in physics, she transitioned to bioinformatics and computational biology with a focus in genetics and genomics research. Joyce enjoys solving mysteries of all kinds, scientific or otherwise.