Group Members
Carsten O. Daub - Group Leader
carsten.daub@ki.se - +46852481224 - Twitter: @carsten.daub - Publications - CV
I am an Associate Professor (“Docent” in the Swedish academic system) and group leader for the Clinical Transcriptomics research group at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition at Karolinska Institutet. My educational background is in Chemistry (Masters in 2000 at Technical University Berlin) and Bioinformatics (PhD in 2004 at Max-Planck-Institute in Golm). I spent two years as postdoc with Erik Sonnhammer at Karolinska Institutet 2004-2006 after which I went to work with Yoshihide Hayashizaki at RIKEN Yokohama. In 2007 I became Team Leader and was leading the Bioinformatics Core Facility as Facility Director since 2008. In 2012, I moved back to Karolinska Institutet to lead the Clinical Transcriptomics research group to improve the understanding of gene regulation underlying diseases.
Faezeh Mottaghitalab - Post-doc
I am a postdoctoral researcher in bioinformatics at Daub Lab. With a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, a Master’s in Biophysics, and a Bachelor’s in Biology, my research focuses on uncovering the genetic and molecular mechanisms that underpin various biological traits.
As a member of the Dog Genome Annotation (DoGA) project, I work to identify and characterize functional elements in the canine genome, enhancing our understanding of how genetic variations affect behaviour and physiology. A key objective of studying the dog genome is to help address human-related issues.I develop and optimize bioinformatics pipelines for analyzing genomic data, providing insights into gene functions and interactions. My primary interest lies in studying the human brain, and in Dog Genome Annotation project we plan to use dogs as an animal model to gain insights that could inform our understanding of human neurological and behavioral traits. By integrating genomic, transcriptomic, and phenotypic data, I aim to elucidate the complex relationships between genes and behaviour.
I am committed to refining analytical techniques and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle challenging biological questions. My goal is to contribute to the broader understanding of the regulatory networks that govern gene expression and their impact on behavior, ultimately linking findings from canine genetics to advancements in human health.
Işıl Takan - Post-doc
Publications: Pubmed, Google Scholar
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Daub Lab at Karolinska Institute. I have a background in system biology and bioinformatics, with a focus on cancer biology and evolution. I received my PhD from Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir Biomedicine and Genome Institute, in 2022, where I applied computational biology approaches to investigate the molecular mechanisms of cancer across taxonomic groups. During my PhD, I also worked as a visiting research assistant in Pavlopoulou Lab at the IBG Center and gained experience in various bioinformatics tools and techniques, such as phylogenetic analysis, high-throughput data analysis, biological network analysis, text mining, database management, and web design. I am passionate about learning new things and solving challenging problems. I enjoy working in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment. The idea of searching for answers to questions about life by comparing different taxonomic groups is quite fascinating. I am incredibly excited to be a part of the project called Molecular Origins of Human Psychiatric Disorders: DogGenomeAnnotation Project to understand ourselves and, in essence, nature by looking at nature itself in Daub lab.
Rasha Fahad - PhD Student
I got my master degree in Biotechnology from the University of Queensland, AU in 2015 and joined Carsten’s group in 2019 as a Phd student. In my research I will study the RNA profile of different types of breast cancer tissues using spatial transcriptomics. I’ll investigate breast cancer types based on the pathological characterizations combined with their RNA profiles and I’ll identify breast cancer associated risks using sequencing data (genomic variants) and molecular profiling.
Rijja Hussain Bokhari - Data Manager
rijja.bokhari@ki.se , rijjahussain@gmail.com
I work as a Data Manager at Daub Lab. I have a master’s degree in bioinformatics from NUST (Pakistan). My previous research includes use of machine learning and molecular models to investigate drug targets. My expertise includes statistical analysis in R and Python and application of machine learning models. As a Data manager at Daub lab my major responsibilities include to overall organize data and metadata for the DoGA consortium and also to regularly update the DoGA Data Coordination Center (DCC), update the DoGA Consortium website and Daub lab website.
Gabriele Gambero - MSc Student
I have a background in Medical Biotechnology (Bachelor's degree) and I am currently at the end of my Master's in Bioinformatics for Computational Genomics at the University of Milan and Politecnico di Milano (Italy). In September 2024 I joined Carsten Daub’s group as a Master’s student for a thesis project. During this time, I’ll use data derived from the spatial transcriptomics analysis of breast cancer samples to develop a machine-learning algorithm capable of highlighting: patterns in mRNA expression, cell subtypes and tissue heterogeneity. I have programming skills in R, Python and SQL. I also have knowlegde of bioinformatics tools, pipelines and machine-learning methods. On the other hand, I really enjoy spending time in nature, hiking or in my vegetable garden.
Axel Rey - Summer Student
axel.rey1@etu.univ-cotedazur.fr
I am currently in the 4th year of engineering school at Polytech Nice Sophia Antipolis in the south east of France. Although initially I entered the "Biological Engineering" sector, I will specialize in Bio-informatics at the end of my course. I joined Carsten Daub’s team at the Karolinska institutet for a 4-month internship. This is a study stage of Spatial Transcriptomics and single cell sequencing in breast cancer. In my personal life, I love everything about sports, hiking and nature.
Lyra Cromwell - Summer Student
I am a bachelor's student in the Mathematical and Computational Biology program at Harvey Mudd College near Los Angeles, USA. I am working as a summer intern in the Daub Lab through the AI-UPP NSF IRES grant, pursuing a project under the lab's spatial transcriptomics/breast cancer umbrella. My research interests range across biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, molecular genetics, and more, especially when computation and data science come into play. Outside the lab, I enjoy traveling, baking, and crochet.
Hilal Peker - Summer Student
I am a third year medical student at Haliç University in Turkey. I will be joining Carsten Daub’s Lab group as a summer Erasmus+ intern for two months. I plan to work on characterizing breast cancer with Spatial Transcriptomics and to gain deeper understanding of this technology during my internship.
Eric Zhou - Summer Intern
I am a senior mathematics major at Carleton College in Northfield, MN in the US. I am a summer research intern in the Daub lab through the NSF-IRES AI-UPP program. I will be working on a project that aims to classify breast cancer subtypes using spatial transcriptomics data as well as single cell RNA-seq data for deconvolution. I am interested in learning about ways that mathematical and computational methods are used to conduct research in cancer biology and immunology.
Been here, done that ...
Previous team members
Yi Li , MSc Student (2025)
Stefan Altendorfer , MSc Student (2025)
Tahmina Akther , PhD Student (2024)
Corentin Meyvaert, Master, Summer intern (2024)
Ilayda Kaytaran, Undergraduate, Summer intern (2024)
Maaike van Rattingen, Master student (2024)
Maxime Hayakawa, Undergraduate (2024)
Kacper Maciejewski, Undergraduate (202)
Meg Mukherjee, Master student (2023)
Cevi Bainton, Undergraduate, Summer intern (2023)
Aleksandra Czerkowicz, Undergraduate, Summer intern (2023)
Marissa Nicole Esteban, Undergraduate, Summer intern (2023)
Molly Murray, Undergraduate, Summer intern (2022)
Ismael Richard Valenzuela, Summer intern (2022)
Maxime Hayakawa, Master student (2022)
Nicolas Stefanelli, Undergraduate, Summer intern (2021)
Anna Kerber, Master student (2022)
Audrey Piraud, Summer intern (2022)
Sabina Gansberger, Master student (2022)
Matthias Hörtenhuber, PhD student (2015-2022)
Abdul Kadir Mukarram, PhD Student (2015-2021)
Enrichetta Mileti, PhD Student (2014-2021)
Fiona Roß, Master Student (2021)
Kelvin Kwok, Postdoc (2017-2021)
Ahmad Ali, Master student (2020)
Filip Runebou Läärä, Master student (2020)
Irene Stevens, Bioinformatics Lab Technician (2018-2019)
Marine Tessarech, Master student (2019)
Michaël Dong, Bioinformatics Lab Technician (2016-2018)
Amitha Raman, Lab engineer (2013-2018)
Niyaz Yoosuf, Postdoc (2014-2018)
Jiarui Mi, Master student (2017-2018)
Marta Dias, Erasmus master student (2015-2016)
Johanna Labate, Erasmus summer student (2015)
Olga Hrydziuszko, Postdoc (2012-2014)
Nancy Yu, Postdoc (2012-2014)
Wenjing Kang, Masters student (Feb-June 2014)
Jacqueline Nowak, Masters student (April-August 2014)
Kubra Altinel, Erasmus summer student (2014)