Pimentel Lab Members
Harold Pimentel, Ph.D.
he/him/his
Principal Investigator
hjp (at) ucla.edu
Harold's Citations 
@hjpimentel 
pimentel Harold started as an assistant professor in Computational Medicine and Human Genetics at UCLA in July 2020. Previously,he was a postdoctoral researcher in Jonathan Pritchard’s lab at Stanford. Broadly, he is interested in understanding how genes work in concert through gene regulation to make our bodies function normally. Part of why he finds this area so fascinating is the technology is constantly evolving, as are the questions from both the biological side and the modeling side. As the theory evolves, in parallel the technology evolves opening new questions.
Arabdha Biswas
he/him/his
PhD Student, Computational Medicine
arabdhab (at) g.ucla.com
arabdhabiswas
Arabdha's Citations
@ArabdhaBiswas Arabdha is a Biomathematics PhD student who is co-advised by Jeffrey Chiang. He did his undergrad at UC Irvine majoring in Mathematical Biology with minors in Bioinformatics and Statistics. Arabdha’s research interests are in leveraging EHR and genetic data for clinical applications. In his free time, his hobbies include reading fantasy novels, powerlifting, trying new restaurants in LA, and helping Albert distract other lab members.
Jerome Freudenberg
he/him
PhD Student, Bioinformatics
jfreudenberg (at) ucla.edu
Jerome's Citations
@studyjeromics
jermoef Jerome joined the Bioinformatics PhD program after doing undergrad at UChicago in Computer Science and Statistics. He is interested in building models that leverage experimentally induced and natural genetic variation to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of human traits and disease. Outside of research, he enjoys reading, taking pictures, and disappointing the duolingo owl.
Chloe Hanson
she/her/hers
PhD Student, Human Genetics
hansonc@g.ucla.edu
0000-0002-2728-1434
Chloe's Citations Chloe completed a B.S. in Environmental Science and a M.S. in Integrative Biology at Oregon State University (advised by Dr. Molly K. Burke). Her master’s thesis research focused on revealing the genetics and evolutionary dynamics of Roundup resistance in model system S. cerevisiae. Currently, in the Pimentel lab, Chloe is building statistical models for analyzing Cell Village data in collaboration with Dr. Michael Wells, UCLA Department of Human Genetics. She is broadly interested in investigating how the genome regulates physiological processes and how these regulatory pathways might be targeted to treat disease. Outside of the lab Chloe enjoys biking, eating and exploring the Sierra!
Sandy is a PhD student in the UCLA Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program. She completed her undergraduate and received a dual Bachelor’s and Master’s at UCLA in Computational and Systems Biology with a minor in Digital Humanities in 2021. Soon after, she began her PhD in the fall of 2021. Sandy is interested in developing methods to analyze and interpret functional genomic experiments and clinical data. Outside of work, Sandy can be found cuddling with her dog Biscuit, going to concerts, doing the NYT Crossword, playing video games, eating good food in LA, and getting distracted by other lab members.
Evanjelin Mahmoodi
she/her/hers
PhD Student, Computer Science
emahmood (at) g.ucla.edu
0009-0009-5946-7629 Evanjelin is a Computer Science PhD student working with Professors Harold Pimentel and Sriram Sankararaman. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2021 with majors in Computer Science and Mathematics. After her undergrad, she did a research internship at the NIH where she discovered her interests in computational biology which led her to UCLA for her PhD. For her research, Evanjelin is interested in statistical modeling to find the genetic causes of disease. Outside of school, Evanjelin likes doing (reformer) Pilates and hitting 10K steps a day (OK, she tries), NYTimes Games (better than Sandy), and wearing noise-cancelling headphones to (try to) keep herself from getting distracted by everyone in lab.
Jingyou Rao
she/her/hers
PhD Student, Computer Science
roserao (at) ucla.edu
https://roserao.github.io/
0000-0002-4331-8786
Jingyou's Citations
@JingyouR
roserao Jingyou joined UCLA as an undergraduate student with double majors in Computer Science and Computational Biology. In her sophomore year, she attended the Bruins-In-Genomics Summer Program mentored by Dr. Pimentel and was invited to stay at Pimentel Lab for her graduate degree. Jingyou is currently working on statistical analysis of deep mutational scanning screens collaborated with Coyote-Maestas Lab at UCSF. Outside of lab, she enjoys scuba diving, thru-hiking and backpacking, surfing, and dancing.
Riley joined the Pimentel Lab as an undergraduate student majoring in Computational and Systems Biology. She worked with Jingyou to build statistical frameworks for deep mutational scanning data. She is going to pursue a PhD in Genetics and Genomics at UChicago. She has a brother and a dog.
Albert Xue
he/him
PhD Student, Bioinformatics
albertsxue (at) gmail.com
Albert's Citations
@albertsxue
asxue Albert is a PhD student co-advised by Sriram Sankararaman. He did his undergrad at Duke in Math & Computer Science, and after graduation fled West to seek his fortune. Albert is interested in developing methods to understand gene regulation and functional genomics. Outside of work, Albert can be found playing chess, distracting other lab members, and staring at the ceiling. Unfortunately, this is often true during work too.