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Cornell University

People

Flow Cytometry Facility

Lydia Tesfa

Flow Cytometry Facility Director

Lydia became the director of the Flow Cytometry Facility in 2019, the year the facility was created. To read more about Lydia’s expertise and experience, see the leadership page.

Jaclyn Mahoney

Flow Cytometry Technician

Jackie received her bachelor’s degree in environmental systems from Cornell University. She worked as a research specialist and lab manager for five years in Dr. Michelle Heck’s laboratory helping to research Citrus Greening disease. She joined the Flow Cytometry Facility in 2019 just after the facility’s expansion, and has been assisting users with training and instrumentation operation.

Amanda Ferguson

Flow Cytometry Technician

Amanda has a Bachelor of Agriculture in Plant Pathology and a Masters of Landscape Architecture both from The Ohio State University.  Before joining the Flow Facility, she worked in research and laboratory support at local companies ST Genetics and Transonic Systems, Inc.  As a facility technician, she assists users with training and instrumentation operation.

Michael Sledziona

Flow Cytometry Technician

Mike studied Applied Physics at Cornell. Before joining the Flow Facility, Mike worked as a 
technician and lab manager for Dr. Cheetham's lab at the vet school assisting
with research into regeneration mechanisms associated with peripheral nerve injury.

Genomics Facility

Jen Grenier

Director, Genomics, Genomics Innovation Hub, and TREx

After receiving her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked in biotechnology research in both the for-profit and higher education settings before coming to Cornell in 2009.  She has led the launch of two core facilities, the Transcriptional Regulation and Expression (TREx) Facility and the Genomics Innovation Hub (GIH). Jen assumed the directorship of the Genomics Facility in Summer, 2023. To read more about Jen’s expertise and experience, see the leadership page.

Linda Cote

Sequencing Technologies Manager

Linda received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from SUNY Cortland. Since joining the Genomic facility in 2007, Linda's position has evolved from junior technician responsibilities to her current role as laboratory manager for the Sanger and Illumina Sequencing labs. In addition to overseeing all Sanger and Illumina workflow and billing, Linda works directly with researchers to coordinate special research projects. Linda takes part in the Vitisgen grape project based in Geneva, processing marker assisted selection samples from around the country and world, and working directly with the researchers involved in this project.

Jing Wu

Lab Manager

Jing obtained a bachelor’s degree in organic chemistry at Peking University and a master’s degree in physical chemistry at Free University of Berlin. Jing started her research career in a surface science lab jointly run by the Chinese Academy of Science (China) and Max-Planck Institute (Germany). She worked on biomembranes in the Feigenson lab at Cornell for eight years, and on membrane biophysics at University of Michigan for three years. Jing came back to Cornell in 2014 and joined the Genomics Facility where she enjoys working on cutting-edge techniques surrounded by very smart and diverse people in a pleasant environment. 

Yassi Hafezi

Project Manager, Single Cell Profiling
149 Biotech. Bldg.
brc_genomics@cornell.edu

Yassi received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011. She has a breadth of experience in molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, evolution and development. Prior to joining the BRC Genomics Facility in 2023, she was a research scientist in Andrew Clark’s laboratory in Cornell's Molecular Biology and Genetics Department. She currently manages the core’s single-cell sequencing projects.

Chester Sears

Technician

Chester received his Bachelor’s degree from Montana State University, majoring in Biotechnology with a concentration in Plant Sciences, and minoring in Genetics. Chester is specifically working in the Sanger lab under the direction of Linda Cote, and is responsible for tracking and processing samples, preparing buffers and reagents, setting up PCR reactions, analyzing results, keeping track of inventory, providing billing information and general customer support, and performing general lab maintenance.

Jeff Mattison

Technician

Jeff received his bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Elmira College. He started at Cornell in 2006 where he initially worked on protein characterization, and became a lab manager in the department of Biomedical Engineering. Since joining the Genomics Core Facility, Jeff is responsible for several critical steps of quality control and sample processing for next-generation sequencing. 

Autumn Taylor

Technician
160A Biotech. Bldg.
brc_genomics@cornell.edu

Autumn has a Bachelor of Science in nutritional sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and she’s currently pursuing a master’s degree in health systems management also at RIT. She has several years of experience working with Illumina instrumentation in a fast-paced high-volume genomics lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and she brings a wealth of lab, customer service, and administrative skills to the Genomics Facility. 

Xiaoyun Wang

Technician

Xiaoyun joined the Genomics facility as a technician in 2014. Her responsibilities include extractions, quantification, and quality control of nucleic acids. She also prepares sequencing libraries for different applications such as whole genome, rAmpseq, and 3’RNA-Seq. Xiaoyun takes part in troubleshooting, optimizing, and modifying of library prep protocols for custom projects.

George Day

Technician
157 Biotech. Bldg.
brc_genomics@cornell.edu

George received his Bachelor’s degree in biology from UCLA and a Master’s degree in forensic science with a concentration in DNA analysis from UC Davis. He started at Cornell in 2020 where he initially worked as a technician in the Buckler Lab for 2 years. Since joining the BRC Genomics Facility, his responsibilities include extractions, quantification, and quality control of nucleic acids. He also prepares sequencing libraries for different applications such as whole genome, rAmpseq, and 3’RNA-Seq.

Genomics Innovation Hub

Jen Grenier

Director, Genomics, Genomics Innovation Hub, and TREx

After receiving her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked in biotechnology research in both the for-profit and higher education settings before coming to Cornell in 2009.  She has led the launch of two core facilities, the Transcriptional Regulation and Expression (TREx) Facility and the Genomics Innovation Hub (GIH). Jen assumed the directorship of the Genomics Facility in Summer, 2023. To read more about Jen’s expertise and experience, see the leadership page.

Adrian McNairn

Senior Research Associate
(607) 254-4834
333 Biotech. Bldg.
ajm459@cornell.edu

Adrian received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2004 from SUNY Upstate Medical University. He held research positions at SUNY Upstate, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, and most recently at Cornell University in John Schimenti’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. In addition to research, Adrian held teaching appointments at LeMoyne College, Ithaca College, and Cornell. With a wealth of experience in genetics, developmental biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and a variety of model organisms from yeast to mouse, Adrian brings considerable expertise in experimental design and bench work to the Genomics Innovation Hub.

Paul Munn

Research Associate

After working as a consultant in the IT industry, Paul joined Cornell University to get his master's degree in computer science, and a Ph.D. in computational biology. Paul is fascinated by genomics and the application of machine learning to the study of gene interactions and complex diseases. He joined the Genomics Innovation Hub in 2020, where he mostly focuses on identifying genomics markers associated with myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome).