Department of Pharmacology
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Lab Members
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_52d934a4d78442a8ba71f99477fefaa9~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_50,y_0,w_200,h_200/fill/w_280,h_277,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_auto/a7cdac_52d934a4d78442a8ba71f99477fefaa9~mv2.jpg)
Irina Bochkis -
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor
Phone: 434-982-6752
imb3q@virginia.edu
Irina came to biology from an engineering background (B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering, Princeton University) and values the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to solve biomedical problems. She completed her Ph.D. training in Genomics & Computational Biology with Klaus Kaestner at University of Pennsylvania, where she studied transcriptional regulation in liver metabolism. For her postdoctoral fellowship, she trained with Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute, applying computational analysis of high-throughput data to epigenetic mechanisms in aging liver. Irina is both an experimental and computational biologist with extensive expertise in liver metabolism, transcriptional and chromatin regulation, and computational analysis of next-generation sequencing data.
Meet Our Team
These are our current lab members.
ALUMNI
![Yi_edited.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_72220c552a72459eaba091e62696bfe1~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_184,h_184,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Yi_edited.jpg)
Yi joined the Bochkis Lab in July 2021 as a Research Scientist. Her research studies the role of pioneer factor Foxa2 in modulating chromatin accessibility for ligand-dependent activation of nuclear receptors and investigates the regulation of heterochromatin at nuclear lamina in metabolic diseases, utilizing both experimental and computational methods.
![megan_murphy.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_00201ebe6b6a4692965b76db1cd98979~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_183,h_187,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/megan_murphy.png)
Megan Murphy
Post-Baccalaureate Researcher
Megan joined the Bochkis lab in September 2019 as an undergraduate researcher. She is a computer science major and biology minor who plans to pursue a career in the medical field post-graduation.
![IMG_0871_edited.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_0a8b2baa5e374e508171c3baab8c56ee~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_77,y_0,w_2097,h_2250/fill/w_178,h_191,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_0871_edited.jpg)
Abel joined the Bochkis lab in February 2021 as an undergraduate researcher. He’s a biochemistry major who’s planning to pursue a career in medicine after graduation.
![claire_woods.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_af0836550a1d4d1d8ed390aac24de0a5~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_177,h_191,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/claire_woods.png)
Claire Woods
Undergraduate Researcher
Biology & Studio Arts Major
Class of 2021
Claire joined the Bochkis lab in August 2019 as an undergraduate researcher. She is a biology and studio arts major who hopes to go to medical school after graduation and pursue a career in pediatric plastic surgery.
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Marissa Patrick
Undergraduate Researcher
Biomedical Engineering Major
Class of 2018
Marissa joined the Bochkis lab in March 2017 as an undergraduate researcher. After graduating from the Biomedical Engineering Program and the Bochkis Lab in 2018, Marissa began work in Technical Sales at IBM.
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_3cdc149dfc824a9c9dcb2e7cb2e21d05~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_183,h_183,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/a7cdac_3cdc149dfc824a9c9dcb2e7cb2e21d05~mv2.jpg)
Anthony DeNovio
Undergraduate Researcher
Biomedical Engineering Major
Class of 2019
Anthony has graduated as a biomedical engineering student from New York. His primary interests are genomic medicine and metabolism with a focus on genome-wide contributors to metabolic disease. He is currently attending the University of Virginia Medical School, where he wants to further his studies in a patient-centered environment.
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Andrew Price
Undergraduate Researcher
Biomedical Engineering Major
Class of 2019
Andrew joined the Bochkis lab in March 2017 as an undergraduate researcher, investigating the relationship between nuclear organization and metabolic disease development using ChIP-Seq. He is a graduate of the Biomedical Engineering program and is currently working in the Computational Biology Core at Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
![IMG_3497_edited.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a7cdac_4937ad3e1fae400ba7d54bf715caf539~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_180,h_180,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_3497_edited.jpg)
Xiaolong (Tom) Wei
Research Scientist