Image of Joel McManus - Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Joel McManus

Dr. McManus completed a B.A. in Chemistry at Hiram College and a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Chemistry from the University of WIsconsin-Madison working with Dr. David A. Brow studying pre-mRNA splicing mechanisms. After completing post-doctoral training with Dr. Brenton Graveley at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Dr. McManus started an independent research group. His lab uses a combination of experimental and computational approaches to study the roles of mRNA sequences and structures in regulating protein synthesis in human genes and in fungal pathogens. When not contemplating the mysteries of the riboverse, Joel enjoys running, hiking, and spending time with his family.

 

mcmanus@andrew.cmu.edu

Gemma May

Gemma is a researcher in the McManus Lab. She received her masters degree in Evolutionary Genetics in 2004 from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Since then, she has worked on HIV vaccine research at UW-Madison, evolution of gene expression at Yale University, alternative splicing and the modENCODE project at the U-Conn Health Center, and translation regulation and RNA structural biology at CMU. She specializes in developing massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) involving high throughput sequencing methods. Outside of the lab she enjoys yoga, cooking, and watching K-dramas.

 

gemay@andrew.cmu.edu

Image of Gemma May, Researcher
Image of Melisa Tosiano

Melisa Tosiano

Melisa is a PhD candidate in the McManus lab. Her thesis “Post-transcriptional Regulation Filamentation in Candida albicans” examines the role of P-body factors in the yeast to hyphal transition as well as associated changes to transcription and translation. She is a recipient of the Interinstitutional Program in Cell and Molecular Biology NIH T32 training grant and was selected for the Molecular Mycology: Current Approaches to Fungal Pathogenesis course in Woods Hole, MA funded through the Stupakoff Graduate Student Research Enrichment Award. Before her PhD program she developed an RT-qPCR HIV-1 assay and worked as a consulting toxicologist. Her research interests include fungal pathogens, genomics and genome editing of non-model fungi, and high throughput laboratory methods. Outside of the lab, she enjoys working out, live music, and spoiling her cat Sophie.

 

mtosiano@andrew.cmu.edu

Kara Delbridge

Kara graduated from the University of Tennessee with a major in biology and a minor in math. While there she took part in projects such as photosynthesis quantification; gas equilibriums of solutions; and leveraging anti-microbial peptide data sets. After graduation, she moved on to do a Post-Bac at the NIH. There she worked on image analysis and particle tracking of single molecule imaging of translation in live cells. Now that she is in the McManus lab, she looks forward to using her diverse background to dig deeper into translation regulation. Outside the lab she enjoys videogames, sewing and seeing friends.

 

kdelbrid@andrew.cmu.edu

A young female student stands confidently in a laboratory, wearing a purple shirt with her hands casually tucked into her pockets.
Image of Lucy Johnson, Post Baccalaureate

Lucy Johnson

Lucy is a postbac in the McManus lab. She is currently working on the project investigating the translation of the gene SNURF/SNRPN which is often affected in Prader-Willi Syndrome. Before working at Carnegie Mellon, Lucy’s undergraduate senior research project was working on reference-based genome assembly of cryptic bumblebee species native to Mesoamerica. Outside of the lab she enjoys soccer, track (sprinting), and binge watching TV.

 

luciaj@andrew.cmu.edu

Zeqing Jiang

Zeqing is an undergraduate in the McManus Lab, majoring in Biological Sciences and Computational Biology. She has worked on the structure and conservation of 5′ UTRs in the mammalian genome, focusing on identifying the most conserved 5′ UTR sequences using Multiz470way alignments and analyzing their functional relevance through Gene Ontology analysis. Currently, she is investigating specific 5′ UTR structural patterns and predicting whether specific upstream open reading frames (uORFs) could function as potential protein-coding regions. Outside the lab, she enjoys jazz dance and singing. She is also trilingual, speaking English, Mandarin, and Japanese.

 

zeqingj@andrew.cmu.edu

image of Zeqing Jiang

Lab alumni

Post-Docs

  • Salini Konikkat, Ph.D. Biological Sciences, 2016 (postdoc 2016-2018). Currently Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sharma Lab

Ph.D Students

  • Christina Akirtava, Ph.D. Biological Sciences, 2023. Postdoc with Jay Hesselberth at UC-Denver
  • Yizhu Lin, Ph.D. Biological Sciences, 2018. Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (http://linlab.sibcb.ac.cn/linlab/index.html)
  • Pieter Spealman, Ph.D. Biological Sciences, 2017.  Postdoctoral associate with David Gresham at NYU

Masters Students

  • Yuning Zheng, M.S. Computational Biology, 2025. Computational Biologist, Center for RNA Biomedicine at the University of Michigan
  • Rohan Munoth, M.S. Quantitative Biology and Bioinformatics, 2025. Bioinformatician, Columbia University
  • Simon Chow, M.S. Computational Biology, 2023. Programmer/Analyst at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Sanat Mishra, M.S. Quantitative Biology and Bioinformatics, 2023. Bioinformatician, Yale School of Medicine
  • Evan Corden, M.S. Computational Biologym 2023. Comp. Bio. Ph.D. student with Raluca Gordan at Duke University
  • Saina Mahera, M.S. Computational Biology, 2020. Bioinformatics Engineer at Personalis, Inc | Advancing Personalized Cancer Therapy
  • Ayushi Sood, M.S. Computational Biology, 2020. Senior Machine Learning Engineer at GSK
  • Brendan Wee, M.S. Computational Biology, 2019. Senior Engineer at Calico Life Sciences
  • Tianqi Tang, M.S. Computational Biology, 2018. Ph.D. student at USC
  • Myles Mao, M.S. Computational Biology, 2017. Data Scientist at Roche Sequencing Solutions
  • Chaohao Gu, M.S. Computational Biology, 2017.  Ph.D student at Baylor College of Medicine
  • Easwaran Ramamurthy, M.S. in Computational Biology, 2015. Senior Machine Learning/Computational Biology Scientist @ GenBio AI
  • Alan Shteyman, M.S. Computational Biology, 2014. Bioinformatics Scientist at MRIGlobal
  • Tara Tappen, M.S. in Biological Sciences, 2014. Nursing Student & Repro Health Worker
  • Naveen Chandromahon, M.S. Computational Biology, 2012.  Co-found Heragen and Carot Labs

Undergraduates

  • Emma Kulbida, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2025.
  • Cassia Williams-Rogers, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2023. (MD/PhD student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis)
  • Kiran Mirpuri, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2021. (Ph.D student at Dartmouth)
  • Valerie Collins, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2020. (MD student, Rutgers Medical School)
  • Lauren Nazzaro, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2019. (MD student, Rutgers Medical School)
  • Hunter Kready, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2019. (MD Drexel University; Dept of Emergency Medicine UPMC)
  • Alexander Muralles, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2019. (Sr. Bioinformatics Engineer @ BlueSphere Bio)
  • Laura Parella, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2016.  Employed at Epic
  • Alexis Oguh, B.S. Biological Sciences, 2014. (Ph.D student, Stoffers lab in the Genetic and Epigenetics group)