Marcus was appointed Interim Director of the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Resource Center in September, 2025. To read more about Marcus expertise and experience, see the leadership page or the Smolka lab website.

Tami has been the executive director of the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology since 2015. To read more about Tami’s professional experience, see the leadership page.

Emily graduated from Elmira College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. In 2008 she accepted an administrative assistant position in the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology and assumed responsibility for the Institute’s Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) core facility service billings. Since 2013 she has additionally provided human resources support for the Institute with a particular focus on recruitment and staff professional development and engagement. In 2017 she became a Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP).

Shawna graduated from Utah State University with a Master’s Degree in Business Information Systems. She joined the Institute of Biotechnology in 2018 as a Research Aide in the Buckler Lab and in 2022, undertook a rotational opportunity as an Administrative Assistant for the Center for Life Science Ventures.  As the Administrative Assistant for the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) core facility, Shawna oversees the BRC billing operations, procurement, travel, events, and other administrative needs.

Matt has been the Director of the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology since 2019. To read more about Matt’s expertise and experience, see the leadership page.

Tami has been the executive director of the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology since 2015. To read more about Tami’s professional experience, see the leadership page.

Pursuing a career at the interface of science and business, Kurt received dual Executive MBA degrees from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and the Smith School of Business at Queen's University. Kurt joined the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology in 2023 as the CAT Business Outreach Director. With a 19-year career in laboratory diagnostics, he has been dedicated to tackling infectious disease across human, veterinary, and environmental health. During the pandemic, he pursued remote management consulting opportunities through The Solution Lab, a boutique NYC life science consulting firm. In that challenging and evolving landscape, Kurt worked with multiple early- and mid-stage startups over the last 2 years, guiding projects in antimicrobial drug discovery or those venturing in diagnostic innovations covering infectious disease and oncology. Kurt was previously at the College of Veterinary Medicine's Animal Health Diagnostic Center, where he was a diagnostic technologist in Bacteriology since joining Cornell in 2013.

Jarek became the director of the Bioinformatics Facility in 2004. To read more about Jarek’s expertise and experience, see the leadership page.

Qi Sun received his Ph.D. in Genetics from California Institute of Technology. After doing a short postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital, he got a job as a research scientist at the company Proteome where he started his career as a bioinformatician. Qi moved to Cornell in 2001, and has worked at the Bioinformatics Facility since then. His research at Cornell mostly focuses on plant genomics.

Robert started his career in quantum chemistry and obtained a PhD in this field in Warsaw, Poland, in 1996. He moved to the University of Delaware where he worked on quantum mechanical predictions of weak intermolecular interactions, and how they determine properties of gases, liquids, and crystals. Fascinated by the human genome sequencing and the huge amounts of data produced by emerging DNA analysis techniques, he joined the Bioinformatics Facility at Cornell in 2006 where he works on high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure for biological research and on web programming.

Melissa has been studying population genetics and molecular evolution since 2002, both as a graduate student and a programmer/analyst. She completed her PhD at Cornell University developing methods for inferring population histories, and applying them to human and ancient hominin data. She has developed and contributed to several major software tools for analyzing genetic data, including PHAST, ARGweaver, STRUCTURE, and SweepFinder.

Seren St. Clair Villwock is a postdoctoral associate with the Bioinformatics facility.

Dustin Wilkerson is a postdoctoral associate with the Bioinformatics facility.

Adriano studied Animal Science at Cornell University and started working in the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine department of Clinical Sciences, in collaboration with the Baker Institute for Animal Health. He spent several years engaged in practical and analytical research work on canine hip dysplasia before accepting a position in the Biotechnology Resource Center. After a year working on DNA sequencing, Adriano transitioned to the Bioinformatics Facility as the primary developer of the Laboratory Information Management System, which was built from the ground up and is used by each facility today.

Jeff has a Ph.D. in Forest Molecular Genetics from University of Berkeley California and developed his programming expertise during postdoctoral works at the CSIRO and Purdue University. From 2005 to 2016, Jeff was Project Manager of Panzea, a NSF-funded Plant Genome Research Project. Since 2016, he has been a bioinformatician and web developer in the Bioinformatics and Genomics Facilities. He uses his combined experience in molecular biology and programming to assist researchers with their bioinformatics analyses.

John is a career IT solution provider who came to Cornell in 2005. He manages desktop and network support for all the Biotechnology Resource Center’s core facilities and several other client groups around campus. He also maintains and supports the BRC software subscription program, which provides affordable research software access to over 140 PI’s laboratories at Cornell.

A twenty year IT veteran, Jerri joined the Institute of Biotechnology in 2014. She started her IT career with two successive system administration positions at Claritas (now Nielsen Market Research). Led by her interest in customer service and face-to-face interactions, Jerri then moved to a desktop support job at Tetra Tech Architects and Engineers (formerly The Thomas Group). Jerri specializes in maintenance and management of software and OS for customers and instruments.

Taylor started his career in IT support at Broome-Tioga Boces. He joined Cornell 13 years ago, providing his IT support expertise to the College of Veterinary Medicine. Taylor accepted a position at the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology in 2019 where his responsibilities cover user desktop support and system administration. He also manages and maintains software and operating systems on the computers that control all the highly technical instruments at the Institute.

James has been with the Cornell Institute of Biotechnology for over 30 years, starting as a laboratory technician in the DNA Sequencing and Oligonucleotide Synthesis Facilities soon after receiving his B.S. from Cornell University. Fascinated by the challenges of data and workflow management in a service facility, James naturally moved to the Computer Facility and assembled a team of IT support assistants and programmers. He introduced the automation of the lab’s ordering, workflow, and billing at a time when Laboratory Information Management Systems were not common. From 2002 to 2006, James served as interim director of the BRC, before becoming director of the Bio-IT facility. In 2017, James assumed the role of Associate Director, and strives to support the Institute’s leadership and mission by developing opportunities for new and innovative science, technology, and funding through a network of researchers, vendors and advisors. Since October 2025, James has assumed a role as a user experience specialist within the Bioinformatics facility.