About Our Lab

We are a team of biologists, computer scientists, and computational biologists working to develop new data science approaches that help address key challenges in cancer biology, with a focus on understanding the cellular hierarchies and stromal elements that underlie tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. Lab photo gallery >>

Aaron Newman, PhD
Principal Investigator
Associate Professor of Biomedical Data Science
Investigator, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (San Francisco)
Member, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
Member, Stanford Bio-X
Member, Stanford Cancer Biology and Immunology Programs
Farnaz Khameneh
Lab Manager
I am a lab manager and life science research professional in the Newman Lab with a passion for cancer research. I perform both technical and functional experiments to help the team interpret, validate, and refine their computational findings. When I am not doing experiments in the lab, I love spending time with my daughter and close friends.
Wubing Zhang, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
I am a computational biologist working on single-cell and spatial genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. During my PhD, I developed computational methods to understand tumor-immune regulation and targeted protein degradation. During my spare time, I like skiing, snowboarding, playing basketball, and watching comedies.
Chloe Steen, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
I am a computational biologist from Norway. I have a B.Sc and M.Sc in Molecular Biology, but switched fields to computational biology for my PhD. My interests lie in studying tumor evolution and heterogeneity, with a special focus on lymphomas. In my spare time I enjoy running and playing board games.
Minji Kang
PhD Student
I am a PhD student in Computer Science. I am interested in decoding molecular biology data to discover insights into the mechanisms underlying human diseases. Outside of research, I love listening to music, playing the piano, and taking photos.
Erin Brown
PhD Student
I am a PhD student in the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME) program with a background in math, physics, and data science. My interests lie in applying computational methods to better understand cancer mechanisms and improve patient outcomes. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, hiking with my dog, and exploring the Bay Area with friends.
Rachel Gleyzer
PhD Student
I am a PhD student in Cancer Biology interested in using machine learning to derive biological insights from sequencing data. During undergraduate, I studied tumor-associated lymphangiogenesis and helped develop software to compare laboratory models of cancer to patient tumors. Outside of the lab I enjoy hiking, ballroom dancing, horseback riding and traveling to new places.
Jeremy D'Silva
PhD Student
I am a PhD student in the Cancer Biology program. My project is to understand how the spatial organization of distinct cell types in the tumour microenvironment influences cell state and contributes to tumour progression. I have a background in tumour evolution and mathematical biology (especially infectious disease modelling). Outside of lab, I play chamber music (violin) and sing lieder.
Janella Schwab
PhD Student
I am a PhD student in Bioengineering interested in exploring genetic determinants of engineered immune cell infiltration and efficacy. I have a background in mammalian synthetic biology and antibody characterization for cancer immunotherapy in academia and industry. Outside of the lab, I hike and backpack as often as I can, bake, and paint.
Susie Avagyan
Master's Student
I am a Research Assistant pursuing my master's degree in Biomedical Data Science. I have a strong passion for complex disease research from a multi-omics perspective with the use of ML/DL methods and with translational applications to precision medicine. Outside of classes and research, I love hiking, dancing and watching movies.
Samuel Ho
Medical Student
I am a medical student broadly interested in using computational methods to address clinically relevant issues. Having done mostly wet lab and social science research in undergrad, I am excited to delve into bioinformatics research during medical school. In my free time, I enjoy running, swimming, and reading.
Ken Chen, MD/PhD
Clinical and Research Fellow
I am a physician and biologist interested in the interplay between biological aging and the development of cancer as well as cancer prevention and interception. During my PhD, I developed microfluidic devices and studied the mechanisms linking organelle dysfunction with DNA damage during aging. Outside the lab, I enjoy mountains and exercise.

Lab Alumni

Xikun Zhang
PhD Student
Current: Research Scientist, OpenAI
Jose Juan Almagro Armenteros, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Current: Informatics and Predictive Sciences Research, BMS
Felix Teufel
Research Intern
Current: Machine Learning Scientist, Lila Sciences
Hyun Soo Jeon
Master's Student
Current: Associate Computational Biologist, Dicerna
Bogdan Luca, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Current: Principal Scientist, BMS
Nicholas Midler
Master's Student
Current: ORISE fellow, Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority
Alex Lozano, MD/PhD
PhD Student
Current: Resident, University of Toronto
Gunsagar Gulati, MD/PhD
PhD Student
Current: Resident, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Milad Vahid, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Current: Data Scientist, Sanofi
Farshad Farshidfar, MD/PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Current: Tenaya Therapeutics, Inc.
Anoop Manjunath
Undergrad
Current: Stanford Medical School
Brandon Turner
MD candidate
Current: Harvard Radiation Oncology Residency Program
Mark Berger
Rotation student
Current: Software Engineer at Robinhood
Francisco "Kiko" Ilagan
Undergrad
Current: Software Engineer at Facebook
Minjeong "MJ" Lee
Administrative Associate
Current: Industry
Candace Liu
Rotation student
Current: Stanford PhD student