Yakshi first made her way into research as an undergraduate at DTU in Delhi, India, where she worked on sequencing pediatric genetic disorders. This inspired her to do a Master's in Human Genetics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After that, she joined Rockefeller as a Research Assistant in David Allis' lab, where she studied Cancer Epigenetics. In the Wahba Lab, Yakshi has made a full transition to basic science research, studying the role of small RNAs in DNA damage and repair. 

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Outside of lab, Yakshi can be found in the kitchen trying to replicate her mom's Indian cooking.

Xander grew up in Chicago and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 with a major in biochemistry. At Penn, he studied genetic conflict at the fruit fly telomere. This inspired him to pursue a post-baccalaureate research position at the NIH, where he continued to study epigenetics and fell in love with fission yeast while working on mechanisms of RNA-mediated gene silencing. Xander joined Rockefeller as a graduate student in 2023, where he hopes to study the impact of epigenetics on adaptive evolution.​

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Outside of the lab, Xander can be found cooking, biking, or walking very quickly around NYC.

Liz received a BA in Computer Science from Columbia University in 2019. As an undergraduate, she studied how mice sense sugar besides its taste. After college, she worked at Regeneron as a Research Associate in the Neurodegeneration group. For years she regarded viruses as merely gene delivery vehicles or synapse tracers, but had a change of heart, so she hopped on the bandwagon and headed west to work with RNA viruses (especially their polymerases) and neutralizing antibodies at the University of Washington. In the Wahba Lab, Liz hopes to study the contribution small RNAs to phenotypic variation in C. elegans.

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Outside the lab, you can find Liz climbing on rocks, riding her bike (eating Xander's dust), or experiencing the magic of live performance.

Kimberly is a founding member of the Wahba lab, showing up at Rockefeller even before Lamia did! Kimberly is an expert teacher, having spent the last decade teaching math and science to middle and high school students in the NYC public school system. The COVID era re-ignited her passion for research, which she had gotten a taste of while an undergraduate at Williams College, studying heat shock proteins in zebrafish. In the Wahba Lab, she is exploring small RNA pathways in non-C. elegans nematodes. 

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On the weekends you can find Kimberly running tours of the Morris-Jumel Mansion, the  oldest surviving house in Manhattan!

Ipek grew up in Istanbul, Turkiye and made her way to the US as an undergraduate. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 2024 with a double major in CS and Biology. There, she studied the initiation of the cardiac cell lineage and the evolutionary conservation of the cardiac gene regulatory network in sea squirts. In the Wahba Lab, she is working to understand the evolutionary dynamics and long-term implications of endogenous siRNA-mediated gene silencing via RNA sequencing experiments and statistical data analysis.

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In her free time, Ipek likes to read fiction for a change.

Maryam is a Hunter College Yalow Scholars alum and graduated in 2023 with a major in Human Biology and minor in Chemistry. As a native New Yorker, Maryam has found her way around Rockefeller since 2022. As an undergraduate, she studied dopamine receptor genomic synteny and identified whether BLAST was a reliable tool in determining gene orthologs and homologs in the Jarvis Lab.  In 2024, she joined the Liu Lab where she used single molecule and biophysical techniques to study mutated Rett syndrome protein MeCP2. In the Wahba Lab, Maryam is working towards understanding epigenetic mechanisms of ivermectin resistance in C. elegans, which has implications for better understanding anti parasitic resistance. 

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Between the Liu and Wahba Lab, Maryam enjoys snacking, exploring the city, and being the lab photographer.