TEAM

I am a physical chemist turned cell biologist fascinated by cell signaling, both by how it works and how it evolved. I grew up in China and went to Peking University to study Chemistry before moving to the States for graduate school. I received my PhD in Chemical Physics at Stanford University, where I discovered a passion for cell biology and microscopy in Dr. Julie Theriot's lab working on bacterial cell division. I then performed postdoctoral studies on intracellular signaling and cell cycle control in the labs of Dr. Angelika Amon and Dr. Stephen Bell at MIT. I started as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at NYU in 2024.

Fun fact: "Xiaoxue" means "morning snow" in Chinese.

I am an animal/wildlife enthusiast on the path to bridge my love for animals with my keen passion for scientific research. I grew up in India but moved back to the USA to pursue my master’s in biology at NYU, where I found genetics and molecular biology ever so fascinating having worked on gene manipulation in Caenorhabditis. In the Snow Lab, I am a technician working towards understanding the evolutionary changes of genes in the MEN pathway and their varying functions in related yeast species. I hope to one day be able to explore wildlife epidemiology and ethology through understanding both host and pathogen biology.

Fun fact: I am a trained Carnatic Music Vocalist.

I am an associate researcher who is fascinated by evolutionary processes in organisms, ranging from pathogens to wildlife populations. I grew up in Los Angeles, California and moved to New York City to earn my bachelor’s degree in Biology at NYU. I have explored a wide range of molecular biology projects as a full time researcher, including influenza evolution and CNV dynamics in natural yeast populations. I joined the Snow Lab in January 2024, where my current research is focused on the evolution of mitosis and the MEN pathway in Cryptococcus neoformans. In the future, I hope to earn a Ph.D. in molecular ecology and use my research background to inform conservation strategies.

Fun fact: I am a linocut artist and love introducing other people to relief printing.

I am an evolutionary biologist interested in how organellar genome evolution has helped shape the myriad wonders evolution has wrought. During my PhD in Dr. Heather Fiumera's lab at Binghamton University I explored genetic interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After this I expanded my purview by characterizing mitochondrial genome variation across all budding yeasts during my postdoc in Dr. Chris T. Hittinger's Lab at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. As a staff scientist in the Snow lab I am leveraging the power of yeast evolutionary genomics to understand how conserved pathways change in form and function.

Fun fact: I can't whistle.

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the lab whose passion for genetics began in a small high school classroom in rural Maine. I received my undergrad degree in Biochemistry from UCLA after transferring from the Los Rios Community College system. I met my first yeast love working on mRNA degradation pathways in Budding yeast in the lab of Dr. Guillaume Chanfreau. I took a brief foray into synthetic biology in my Master's with Dr. Sri Kosuri at UCLA, studying the sequence determinants of microRNA processing. My love affair with yeast would resume in my graduate studies in the lab of Dr. Maitreya Dunham at the University of Washington, where I studied the evolution of genetic networks between S. cerevisiae and S. uvarum. Extending my yeast interest to other fungi, my work in the Snow lab focuses on the Basidiomycete fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Aiming to understand the function of MEN and mitotic machinery within the formation of an infectious morphotype known as Titan cells.

Fun fact: The Maine town I grew up in had a population of less than 3000

Budding yeast

Model Organism #1