Treehouse’s Where Do Our Graduates Go is a series that features our former graduate students in the Vaske Lab! Let’s catch up with Dr. Sanders, Dr. Pfile, and Dr. Anastopoulos.
Dr.Lauren Sanders
Where they are now:
Dr. Lauren Sanders is a staff scientist with Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, supporting the NASA Open Science Data Repository as the acting Project Scientist. She is also involved in leading the Artificial Intelligence for Life in Space working group (AI4LS). This work focuses on using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and space biological data to characterize risks to human health from spaceflight travel. Dr. Sanders is also the co-chair of the AI Analysis Working Group, an open science group for AI analysis of space biology data. Her recent publications are featured in Nature Machine Intelligence and Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. Dr. Sanders holds a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz, where her thesis in the labs of Dr. Olena Vaske and Dr. David Haussler focused on multi-omic analyses of cancer data and 3D organoid research on the developmental origins of pediatric brain cancers.
Dr. Jacob Pfeil
Where they are now:
After graduating from UCSC, Dr. Jacob Pfeil joined the computational oncology team at AbbVie Biotherapeutics. Jacob uses the training he received in Vaske lab and Treehouse to contribute to developing new cancer therapies. Jacob is now a senior scientist focused on developing new computational tools to predict responses to cancer immunotherapies. Dr. Pfeil holds a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz.
What is one thing you learned as a graduate student?
“Being a graduate student at UCSC taught me to challenge traditional ways of thinking about biomedical research and to take a multidisciplinary approach to achieve my research goals.”
Dr. Anastopoulos
Where they are now:
Dr. Anastopoulos is an AI Software Engineer at Unnatural Products Inc. In his role, Dr. Anastopoulos creates deep learning models, specifically graph and 3D convolution networks, to accelerate the design process for drug discovery. As a graduate student, he designed a convergence deep learning framework that integrates RNA-seq gene expression and drug chemical structures to predict drug activity, patient sensitivity, and resistance in a pan-cancer manner. Dr.Anastopoulos holds a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz.
What is one thing you learned as a graduate student?
“One thing I learned in graduate school is to not be afraid to explore new models, and innovate what exists out there! I would also like to highlight that we all suffer from imposter syndrome; your peers and even your mentors experience it, so I found that forming a community helps create a supportive environment.”
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