BLEKHMANLAB

Lab Members

• Former Lab Members

Ran Blekhman, Ph.D.

Professor

blekhman ~ uchicago.edu
(773) 834-4533
BlekhmanLab.org
X
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Pronouns: he/him
Name pronunciation: Rahn

Ran Blekhman is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, where he leads a computational lab working at the interface of human genomics and microbiome research. His lab integrates large-scale genomic datasets and develops computational and deep learning approaches to characterize host-microbiome interactions, understand how they influence health, and translate findings into actionable insights for disease prevention and treatment. Before joining UChicago in 2022, Dr. Blekhman spent nine years as faculty at the University of Minnesota. He completed his postdoctoral training at Cornell University and earned his Ph.D. in Human Genetics from The University of Chicago. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Biology from Tel Aviv University.

Rich Abdill, Ph.D.

Senior Data Scientist

rabdill ~ uchicago.edu
@richabdill
Google Scholar
Website

Rich is interested in analysis of large-scale publicly available data to learn about global variation in the microbiome. As a lab manager, he is leading our work on the Human Microbiome Compendium, and is involved with various other projects in the lab. Rich was previously a PhD student in our lab at the University of Minnesota and received his PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in 2022. After his PhD Rich worked as a computational biologist at the University of Pennsylvania before joining us at UChicago as a computational lab manager. Before graduate school Rich was a system programmer at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, and previously held positions as developer and engineer at Amazon Web Services, Target, and USA Today. Rich holds a B.A. in print journalism from the University of Maryland.

Marco Rossi, Ph.D.

Bioinformatician

mrossi3 ~ uchicago.edu
Google Scholar

Marco joined the lab in 2023 as a bioinformatician as part of the Host-Microbe Research Core in the Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Inflammatory Intestinal Disorders (C-IID). Marco holds a Ph.D. in Integrated Biomedical Sciences and an M.S. in Biotechnology, both from Rush University Graduate College, where he worked on machine learning analysis of the gut microbiome in cancer.

Mark Swanson, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate
NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow

zrw5436 ~ uchicago.edu
Google Scholar
Pronouns: he/him

Mark is interested in the co-evolution of hosts and their microbial communities, and his research focuses on using wild mammals as a model for understanding the mechanisms controlling this symbiotic relationship. Mark joined the lab in 2021 after completing a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University, and has previously worked in The Field Museum of Natural History and the LSU Museum of Natural Science.

Pamela Ferretti, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

pamela.ferretti ~ uchicago.edu
Bluesky
Google Scholar
Website

Pamela joined our lab at UChicago in January 2023 as a Postdoctoral Associate. Her research is focused on characterizing patterns of microbial transmission in mother-infant pairs and in social groups, both in human and animal hosts. Before joining the lab, Pamela completed her PhD at EMBL with Peer Bork, and her MS at the University of Trento with Nicola Segata.

Sambhawa Priya, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate
Chicago DFI Fellow

priyas ~ uchicago.edu
@sambhawa_priya
Google Scholar
Website

Sambhawa's research focuses on using machine learning approaches for understanding host-microbiome interactions. She is using large data sets, including omics data and electronic health records to shed light on the intricate links between the microbiome and disease. Sambhawa was a PhD student in our lab at the University of Minnesota between 2016-2021, and returned in 2024 after a postdoc position at the Broad institute. Sambhawa holds an M.S. degree in Computer Science from Lehigh University.

Lauren Gonsalves, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate
Institute of Translational Medicine TL1 Postdoctoral Fellow

lgonsalves ~ uchicago.edu
Google Scholar
LinkedIn

Lauren joined our lab in 2025 after completing a PhD in microbiology at the University of Washington, where she worked on Staphylococcus aureus adaptation to antibiotics in cystic fibrosis. Lauren's research in our lab focuses on the interaction of the gut microbiome and bile acids, and she is co-mentored by Sonia Kupfer as an Institute of Translational Medicine TL1 postdoctoral fellow. Lauren holds a BS in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development from the University of Minnesota.

Sabrina Arif

Graduate Student, Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology

sjarif ~ uchicago.edu
@microsabz
Google Scholar
Name pronunciation: suh-BREE-nuh ARE-eef (rhymes with “CAR”-“reef”)
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Sabrina is a graduate student in the Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology program at UChicago. Sabrina's research aims to understand how the gut microbiome regulates host genes, and how this regulation is affected by differences in microbiome composition across human populations, environments, and health. Before joining the lab in 2021 Sabrina was a researcher in Ryan Hunter's lab at the university of Minnesota, and she holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Ashwin Chetty

Graduate Student, Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology

achetty ~ uchicago.edu

Ashwin's research focuses on developing and applying machine learning techniques for integrating microbiome and host genomic data. Ashwin joined the lab in 2021 and is a graduate student in Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology at the University of Chicago. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and an M.S in Computer Science, both from the University of Chicago, where he performed research on methods to track and visualize cell movement trajectories in microscopy data.

Katja Della Libera

Graduate Student, Ecology and Evolution

katjadellalibera ~ uchicago.edu
Website

Katja joined the lab in 2022 as a graduate student in Ecology and Evolution at UChicago. Katja's research focuses on understanding the ecology of the human gut microbiome and associated host cells using metabolic modeling approaches and genomic data. Katja holds a B.S. from Minerva University with a double major in Earth’s Systems and Data Science.

JJ Colgan

Graduate Student, Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition

Digestive Health and Diseases T32 Fellow

jjcolgan ~ uchicago.edu

JJ is a graduate student in the Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition graduate program at UChicago. Before joining the lab in 2023, JJ completed a both a B.S. (in biology and bioinformatics) and an M.S. at Loyola University Chicago, where he worked with Michael Burns examining the microbiome in Celiac disease. JJ is co-mentored by Eugene Chang, and his research interests revolve around understanding the impact of gut bacterial metabolism on host health and disease.

Liz Gibbons

Graduate Student, Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology

Genetic Mechanisms and Evolution T32 Fellow

gibbonsliz ~ uchicago.edu
Google Scholar

Liz joined the lab in 2023 as a graduate student in the Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology program. She holds a BS in Plant Biology and Computational Math, Science, and Engineering from Michigan State University. Before joining the lab, Liz worked as a bioinformatician at the Van Andel Research Institute, where she performed research in quantitative genetics. At the Blekhman Lab, Liz works on integration of microbiome data and host single-cell genomic data.

Tess Brunner

MD-PhD Student, Microbiology

Medical Scientist Training Program

tbrunner ~ uchicago.edu
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Tess is an MD-PhD student and co-advised with Sam Light as a graduate student in Microbiology. She holds a BS from Wesleyan University, and before joining UChicago worked as a research technician in the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, where she studied the vaginal microbiome. In our lab, Tess is interested in the evolutionary forces acting on the gut microbiome of patients undergoing medical treatment in different disease contexts.

You?

We are looking for researchers to join our group! See this page for more details, and contact Ran Blekhman with informal enquires.