Currently accepting PhD student applications (email: frederic_chain[at]uml.edu)
Info on PhD program in Applied Biology at UMass Lowell
Info on PhD program in Applied Biology at UMass Lowell
current lab members
Phd candidate Environmental metagenomics of invasive mosquitoes: the effects of environmental stress on microbiome diversity and activity *Master's from Brandeis University *Clinical field application specialist for Roche Diagnostics *Aims to develop new approaches for treating infectious diseases 
Master's student Investigation into the role of Huntingtin protein as a scaffolding protein in the autophagy pathway *B.S. in Biotechnology UML (2020) Magna Cum Laude *Senior Research on Huntingtin protein function using the model Dictyostelium discoideum *Currently a Lab Technician at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, performing COVID testing of patient samples through RT-PCR 
master's student Copy Number Variation Mutation Rates in Plasmodium *B.S. at UML (2021) *Research on iron and magnesium dependence of huntingtin deficient Dictyostelium cells *Concentration in Biotechnology 
BIO UNDERGRAD single-cell RNA-seq analysis of primate brains *Honors college fellowship (2021) *Concentration in Bioinformatics 
immersive scholar |
Master's student eDNA metabarcoding to monitor aquatic biodiversity during Alewife migration *Senior research on molecular approaches in metabarcoding *Conducted in silico analysis of metabarcoding primer pairs to evaluate the extent of taxonomic diversity and resolution 
Master's student Tardigrade genomics, immunology, and gene regulation *B.S. at UML (2020) Magna Cum Laude *Senior Thesis on bacterial plate counts from glove boxes in a hospital setting *Phlebotomist *Part-time assistant - laboratory animal care and maintenance *Goal is to pursue PhD 
immersive scholar 16S and 18S profiling of environmental samples and macroinvertebrate diversity *Immersive Scholar (2021) *Concentration in Biotechnology 
immersive scholar 
immersive scholar 16S and 18S profiling of environmental samples and macroinvertebrate diversity *Immersive Scholar (2021) *Majoring in Env. Engineering |
Master's student Duplicate gene expression variation in single-cell RNA-seq *Bsc in Bioinformatics - UML *Programming experience in R, python and C/C++ *Goal is to apply bioinformatics tools to study gene functions 
Dictyostelium epigenetics, duplicate gene evolution *B.S. in biology from UML (2021) Summa Cum Laude *Senior Research on single cell methylation and expression *Teaching Assistant *Summer Research Assistant * Goal is to develop/apply bioinformatic tools that can aid in biology and health research. 
bio undergrad Copy Number Variation mutation rates *Co-op at uniQure gene therapy *Senior Research (2021) *Honors college fellowship (2020) *Immersive Scholar (2019) 
UNdergrad Volunteer eDNA metabarcoding bioinformatic analysis *Honors Student in Biology 
Principal investigator genome evolution duplicate genes mutation rates eDNA biodiversity monitoring microbial profiling alternative splicing |
lab alumni
2021 Zoom
2020 Zoom
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2019 UML Research Symposium
2017 Lab Christmas Party
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2020-2021
honors project Huntingtin deficiency in Dictyostelium development & expression *KCS Scholar (2019) *2021 UMass Lowell Trustees’ Key and Chancellor’s Distinguished Academic Achievement Medal *2021 Biology Department Academic Achievement Award (Top GPA) *Medical ophthalmology assistant |
senior thesis Microbial metagenomics & Dictyostelium mutagenesis *UMLSAMP Scholar (2020) *Graduated in Biology with a Minor in Public Health (Cum Laude) *College of Science Dean's List *Intern at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 2020 *Pharmacy School @ University of Wisconsin Madison |
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immersive scholar 
immersive scholar eDNA metabarcoding processing methods *Exercise Science Major (Pre-Med) |
2019-2020
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volunteer Differential Gene Splicing *Research Associate @ Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Lab |
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2018-2019
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Vaishnavi Srinivasan Honors thesis Methylation and CpG content between duplicate genes * Master's student @ Northeastern U. |
Eric Hardiman senior project Evolution of duplicate gene expression in amoeba * Master's student @ UMass Lowell |
2017-2018
Chana Lim Senior Project Bioinformatics approaches to analyze eDNA to monitor biodiversity. *Master's student @ Boston University 
Alexander Manjounes Honors Thesis Alternative splicing among threespine stickleback populations *Massachusetts College of Pharmacy |
Barah Chbib directed study Developing python wrapper scripts for pathway and gene set enrichment analysis *Hired @ Boston Medical Center 
Krystina Tran Biology Coop scholar Sex-specific expression *Medical Scribe at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center |
Dylan Beeber Honors thesis Developed an R program to design guide RNA for CRISPR applications Software found here * Hired @ SQZ biotech 
Max Kalinowski Monitoring urban waterways for pollutants and biodiversity |
Mapping pollutants and biodiversity in canals & DNA Methylation between populations |
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lab guests
Donghyun Lee (2020-2021) - Structural variation calling using long read technologies
Guy Moore (2018-2019) - Comparing metagenomics analysis and taxonomic assignment pipelines
Louis Astorg (2018) - PhD Candidate at UQAM studying eco-evolutionary dynamics in ionic gradients
Gillian Martin (2017) - PhD Candidate at UQAM studying the impact of dispersal and genetic diversity on metacommunity dynamics
Guy Moore (2018-2019) - Comparing metagenomics analysis and taxonomic assignment pipelines
Louis Astorg (2018) - PhD Candidate at UQAM studying eco-evolutionary dynamics in ionic gradients
Gillian Martin (2017) - PhD Candidate at UQAM studying the impact of dispersal and genetic diversity on metacommunity dynamics
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some collaborators
Xenopus Genomics
Ben Evans @ McMaster University
Daphnia Genomics and Biodiversity
Melania Cristescu @ McGill University
Teri Crease @ Guelph University
Stickleback Genomics
Philine Feulner @ eawag
Natalie Steinel @ UMass Lowell
Anne Dalziel @ Saint Mary's University
Britta Meyer @ Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
Erich Bornberg-Bauer @ University of Münster
Christophe Eizaguirre @ Queen Mary University of London
Thorsten Reusch @ GEOMAR Kiel
Jason Goldstein @ Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
Environmental Monitoring in Lowell
Sheree Pagsuyoin @ UMass Lowell
Grace Chen @ UMass Lowell
Daniel Obrist @ UMass Lowell
Richard Gaschnig @ UMass Lowell
Jane Calvin @ Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust
Sheila Kirschbaum @ UMass Lowell & Tsongas Industrial History Center
Mutation, Stress, and Transcriptomics
Natalie Steinel @ UMass Lowell
Jennifer Fish @ UMass Lowell
Mike Myre @ UMass Lowell
Ben Evans @ McMaster University
Daphnia Genomics and Biodiversity
Melania Cristescu @ McGill University
Teri Crease @ Guelph University
Stickleback Genomics
Philine Feulner @ eawag
Natalie Steinel @ UMass Lowell
Anne Dalziel @ Saint Mary's University
Britta Meyer @ Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
Erich Bornberg-Bauer @ University of Münster
Christophe Eizaguirre @ Queen Mary University of London
Thorsten Reusch @ GEOMAR Kiel
Jason Goldstein @ Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
Environmental Monitoring in Lowell
Sheree Pagsuyoin @ UMass Lowell
Grace Chen @ UMass Lowell
Daniel Obrist @ UMass Lowell
Richard Gaschnig @ UMass Lowell
Jane Calvin @ Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust
Sheila Kirschbaum @ UMass Lowell & Tsongas Industrial History Center
Mutation, Stress, and Transcriptomics
Natalie Steinel @ UMass Lowell
Jennifer Fish @ UMass Lowell
Mike Myre @ UMass Lowell