Christa Caggiano, Computational Geneticist

Hi! I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Genomic Health at Mt Sinai, working with Eimear Kenny. Previously, I was a bioinformatics PhD student at UCLA, advised by Noah Zaitlen. I have my bachelor’s degree in biological physics and art history from Brandeis University. At Brandeis, I worked in the Rosbash Lab, where my thesis was on the transcriptional accessibility of circadian genes.

My scientific interests now fall broadly in genetic medicine and applying advanced statistical techniques to big biological datasets. Currently, I’m working on two main projects. The first is developing statistical and technological methods to find biomarkers for ALS. Our first publication on this work can be found here. I am also working on using genetics to understand fine-scale population health. This work is at the intersection of population genomics, epidemiology, and data science. Beyond my research, I am keenly interested in health justice and equitable application of biomedical discoveries to all people.

Outside of science, I like art and design. My favorite museums include the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Leeum Museum in Seoul, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.