Norbert Perrimon PhD
Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Perrimon CV

NIH Biosketch

Rich Binari PhD

I earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Notre Dame, and subsequently completed a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University in the laboratory of Norbert Perrimon, where my graduate work consisted of a molecular and phenotypic analysis of two genes involved in segmentation of the Drosophila embryo.  After a post-doctoral interlude in the laboratory of Armen Manoukian at the Ontario Cancer Institute studying the role of heparin sulfate proteoglycans in embryonic development in Drosophila, I returned to the Perrimon lab.  I am currently working on projects to determine the functions of miRNAs during development, and to generate new tools for lineage analysis.

Justin Bosch PhD
(617) 432-7673

Before attending graduate school, I conducted research as an undergraduate studying the evolution of floral architecture, and later as a technician studying the developmental genetics of the zebrafish pancreas. For my PhD, I worked with Iswar Hariharan at the University of California – Berkeley, where I used genetics and cell biology to investigate the molecular mechanisms of tissue growth in Drosophila. In the Perrimon lab, I am interested in discovering fundamental signals used by animal cells to communicate. In particular, I am developing methods to study the biological functions of an extraordinary class of intercellular messages — those that transfer directly into the interior of recipient cells. While not in lab, I enjoy biking and hiking around Boston. 

Nirmalya Chatterjee PhD
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Chiao-Lin Chen PhD
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I received my Ph.D from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. During my graduate studies in Dr. Georg Halder's lab at MD Anderson cancer center, I investigated the role of apical-basal polarity determinants in growth control. Currently, I am interested in using genetic approaches and genomic tools to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the aging process.

Mary-Lee Dequeant PhD
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I obtained my PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Kansas Medical Center, on the study of the Segmentation Clock during somitogenesis in mouse and chick embryos in the laboratory of Olivier Pourquie (at the IBDM in Marseilles, France, then at the Stowers Institute For Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri). By means of classical developmental biology and genomics approaches, I identified a wide variety of oscillating genes organized into a regulatory network conserved between vertebrate species. Currently, I am primarily interested in using genomic tools to identify the genes and signaling pathways involved during immortalization of embryonic Drosophila cells. I am also interested in using imaging and genomics tools to study the temporal dynamics of signaling pathways activities.

David Doupe PhD
(617) 432-7571

I received my PhD from the University of Cambridge in the lab of Phil Jones (MRC Cancer Cell Unit) working on stem/progenitor cell fate in homeostatic mammalian skin and esophagus. I then switched to Drosophila for postdoctoral work on live imaging of collective cell migration (with Pernille Rorth, IMCB, Singapore) and temporal regulation of stem cell fate in neural stem cells (with Andrea Brand, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK). In the Perrimon lab my focus is on signaling crosstalk in the homeostasis and regeneration of the adult midgut epithelium. In particular I am combining genome-wide approaches with live imaging to better understand the regulation of stem cell fate by multiple pathways.

Ben Ewen-Campen PhD
(617) 432-7673

As an undergraduate, I studied developmental biology with Scott Gilbert at Swarthmore College. I then worked as a technician in Doug Emlen's lab at the University of Montana, studying the development of beetle horns, and in 2014 I received my PhD from Harvard University, working in Cassandra Extavour's lab on the embryonic specification of germ cells. In the Perrimon lab, I am studying long-range regulation of germline stem cell proliferation, and I am also interested in developing new tools for manipulating gene expression.

Arpan Ghosh PhD
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I received my PhD from the University of Minnesota in Dr. Michael O’Connor lab. I worked on a variety of topics in the O’Connor lab including regulation of developmental timing, metabolic regulation by TGF-beta signaling and cell-type specific RNA tagging. In the Perrimon lab my focus is on the endocrine role of the muscle in regulating metabolism and physiology. In particular I am interested in studying activity induced myokines that signal to distant tissues like the FB and regulates homeostasis.

Li He PhD
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I obtained my PhD in Denise Montell's group at Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University in 2012. My graduate work used optogenetic and live-cell imaging techniques to study in vivo collective cell migration and tissue morphogenesis. My postdoc research in the Perrimon lab focuses on the mutual recognition and communication between different cell populations and their impacts on organ development and regeneration.

Ben Housden PhD
(617) 432-7571

I received my PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Cambridge, England, in the laboratory of Sarah Bray.  Using Drosophila as a model system, I studied the transcriptional output of the Notch pathway and crosstalk with the EGFR pathway.  Currently, I am interested in using genomic tools to study mechanisms of crosstalk between the JAK-STAT and EGFR pathways and to identify novel components mediating communication between them.

Ruei-Jiun Hung PhD
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I received my Ph.D from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2013. During my graduate studies in Dr. Jonathan Terman lab, I explored the cellular and biochemical means through which one of the largest families of axon guidance cues, the Semaphorins, control cell movement. Working on a family of unusual proteins called MICALs, which associated with Semaphorin receptor Plexin, I found that Mical is a novel actin disassembly factor that uses its redox enzymatic activity to oxidize a specific methionine residue of the actin filaments; therefore, disrupts the actin polymerization. Currently, I am interesting in using genetic approaches to study the molecular mechanisms of aging.

Patrick Jouandin PhD
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Kevin Kim PhD
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I obtained my Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular biology from Northwestern University where I studied the mechanism of RNA interference in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Carthew. My research in the Perrimon lab is focused on understanding the transcriptional regulation of miRNAs and their biological functions in the context of cell growth and survival.

Xiaochun Ni PhD
(617) 432-7571

I received my PhD from Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago. For my graduate research in Dr. Kevin White’s lab at Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, I applied comparative functional genomics to study evolution of gene regulation in Drosophila species. During my stay in the windy city, I also earned a master’s degree in Statistics through the second master program from The University of Chicago. Currently, I am interested in applying a combination of genetics, genomics, proteomics and statistical/computational methods to systematically decipher the transcriptional regulatory network of signaling pathways and their evolution.

Andrey Parkhitko PhD
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I received my Ph.D. from the Russian State Medical University (Moscow). Under the exchange program I performed my graduate studies at Dr. Henske’s laboratory in Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Boston). During my graduate studies I was investigating the role of autophagy and altered metabolism in the pathogenesis and treatment of Tuberous Sclerosis and Lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Currently, I am interested in the using tumor models in Drosophila for the search of new modulators of tumorigenesis. I am also interested in the studying the metabolic alterations and their potential targeting during aging.

Wei Song PhD
(617) 432-5678

I obtained my PhD from Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS in China in 2010, working with Dr. Yong Liu's group and studying dSH2B regulation of growth, metabolism and longevity in Drosophila. As a postdoc in Perrimon's lab, I focus on tissue-tissue crosstalk and entero-endocrine cell functions during physiological homeostasis.

Hong-Wen Tang PhD
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I received my Ph.D. from the Institute of Biochemistry at National Taiwan University under the supervision by Dr. Guang-Chao Chen. Using Drosophila and mammalian cells as model systems, I studied the function and molecular regulation of autophagy. Currently, I am interested in understanding organ-organ communication in response to environmental stress.

Raghuvir Viswanatha PhD
(617) 432-5678

I am intrigued by the dynamic regulation of subcellular compartments in eukaryotic cells. I got my PhD from Tony Bretscher’s lab at Cornell University through studies of the dynamic spatial and temporal regulation of a key cytoskeletal protein, ezrin, by its kinase. Manipulating the dynamics led to the reversible, selective loss of a subcellular structure called microvilli. In the Perrimon lab, I hope to use proteomics and functional genomics to obtain a detailed parts list for many more subcellular components with the goal of gaining broad insight into their formation, the regulation of their abundance and morphology, their evolution, and their involvement in tissue-specific cell functions.

Jonathan Zirin PhD
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My graduate studies in Richard Mann’s lab at Columbia University focused on pattern formation in the Drosophila wing. While in the big city I learned how to cook a decent meal, to navigate the subway system, to ignore the noise, and to do fruitfly genetics. Since receiving my PhD in 2006 and moving on to the Perrimon lab, I’ve established the Drosophila larval body wall muscle as a model system to assess the role of autophagy in maintaining healthy skeletal muscle. By simultaneously manipulating the autophagy pathway and the cell’s stress response, I aim to identify the functional relationship between autophagy and muscle homeostasis.

Ilia Droujinine
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Charles Xu
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I obtained my bachelor's degree in science from Shanghai Fudan University in 2011. I am always curious. I like asking questions and I take them seriously. I was introduced to developmental genetics in college. At Fudan, Dr. Min Han kindly offered me a research opportunity in his lab, for which I wrote my thesis on the regulation of a group of nuclear envelope proteins in DNA damage response. Besides science, I like music, literature, and travelling.
I joined Harvard BBS program in 2011 and Perrimon lab in 2012. I am interested in how epithelial tissue is organized and maintained in homeostasis in adult stages. I plan to use Drosophila digestive tissue as the major system to study how the epithelium react to different extrinsic environmental challenges (damage, food deprivation) and/ or intrinsic oncogene activation, and investigate the mechanism of how the intestinal stem cells communicate with the microenvironment.

Christians Villalta
(617) 432-7673