— Current Members —

Esteban Mazzoni

Principal Investigator

As an undergraduate, I joined a research team investigating the molecular cascade during normal to tumorigenic cellular transformation. This early incursion into research made it clear that understanding embryonic development is required to gain insights into malignant cellular transformation. Therefore, I took advantage of the powerful Drosophila genetics to understand neuronal differentiation during my Ph.D. Since my postdoctoral research, I have aimed to apply basic developmental biology principles and a “model organism” mindset using stem cell differentiation to understand mammalial cell fate decisions.

**Email: Ernesto.GonzalezStivala@nyulangone.org**

Ernesto Stivala

Post Doctorate

Ernesto is an MD PhD from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, where he also trained as a psychiatrist, with a master’s degree in Psychoneuropharmacology from Universidad Favaloro. His research focuses on understanding the differential sensitivity of neurons in neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and FTD. Outside the lab, he is a passionate Boca Juniors fan and member, always waiting for the next match.

Henry Thomas

Post Doctorate

Henry is interested in the mechanisms that control gene expression and allow each cell to access the genetic information required for its function. After completing his undergraduate studies at the LMU in Munich, Germany, Henry joined the lab of Christa Buecker at the Vienna Biocenter Center in Austria for his PhD where he studied how sequences in the genome - called enhancers - mediate transcriptional activation. He is now combining the expertise of the Mazzoni and the Lionnet labs to apply single-molecule imaging approaches and study the very proteins that interpret these enhancer sequences: so-called transcription factors.

Emma Nguyen

Post Doctorate

Emma graduated from University of California, San Diego in La Jolla with a major in Molecular Biology in 2020. During her time at UCSD, she studied the selfish chromosome PSR in Nasonia vitripennis at the Akbari Lab. She is currently interested in learning the cell intrinsic differences between spinal motor neurons and cranial motor neurons that result in differential sensitivity during Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) disease progression.

Bhavana Ragipani

PhD Candidate

Bhavana graduated from New York University with a Bachelors in Neural Science in 2018 and Masters in Biology in 2019. During her time at NYU she worked in the Ercan Lab studying the molecular mechanism of X chromosome specific condensin complex in C. elegans. In the Mazzoni Lab she is working on understanding formation and regulation of epigenetic memory in Hox clusters during motor neuron differentiation by taking advantage of synthetic DNA technologies. Tackling questions on how interactions between chromatin and transcription can initiate and maintain early gene patterning from transient signals.

Omar Qassab

PhD Candidate

Omar carried out his undergraduate studies in Biology at New York University in 2021, during which he studied the role of calcium signaling in regulating gene expression at the Blau Lab. He then stayed at NYU to pursue his PhD. Omar joined the Mazzoni Lab in 2022 to investigate HOX transcription factor diversification.

Sheila Alizadeh

PhD Candidate

Sheila is a doctoral student co-advised by Dr. Esteban Mazzoni and Dr. Dan Littman. She completed her undergraduate at Northwestern University with a major in Biophysics and Biochemistry, and a minor in Chemistry in 2022. During her undergraduate, she worked in the labs of Dr. Moriaki Yasuhara, Dr. Holger Russ, and Dr. Reza Vafabakhsh in the broad topics of evolution, immunology, and biophysics respectively. Presently, she studies mechanisms of epigenetic memory as they appear in T cell differentiation.

Sophie Li

MD/PhD Candidate

Sophie graduated from Georgia Tech in 2019 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. In the Davis Lab at Emory University, she worked on 3D printing functional heart valves capable of growth and remodeling. Afterward, she studied how cytotoxic T cells change across the human lifespan at the National Institute on Aging before beginning medical school at NYU in 2020. Sophie joined the Mazzoni Lab in 2023 to uncover the transcription factors that control cell fate in the ventral spinal cord. She is broadly interested in the application of stem cells for regenerative medicine.

Cadmus Cai

PhD Candidate

Cadmus graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2023 with a degree in Biochemistry and a minor in Environmental Sciences. In the Edmondson Lab, he studied the critical glycosylation gene PMM2 and how its dysfunction led to varying degrees of lasting structural and functional deficits in the developing brain. This sparked a continued interest towards understanding the principle mechanisms that govern development. Cadmus joined the Mazzoni Lab in 2024, where he is now utilizing a synthetic HoxA cluster to understand the rules that govern mammalian Polycomb recruitment: a fundamental, yet poorly understood mechanism of gene regulation.

Brenda Leyva Garcia

PhD Student

Brenda graduated from Smith College with a degree in Neuroscience and Chemistry in 2022, where she studied dorsal cell fate in zebrafish development in the Barresi Lab. After graduating, she worked at the Broad Institute in the Fishell Lab, identifying enhancers to target interneuronal subtypes in the mouse cortex. Brenda joined the Mazzoni Lab in 2026, where she is broadly interested in the genetic mechanisms behind Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) pathology in motor neurons, and their applications to further the study of neural development and maturation.

Rebecca Kern

PhD Student

Rebecca completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 2025 at Heidelberg University, Germany, majoring in developmental and stem cell biology. She conducted her master’s thesis research in the labs of Lauren Saunders and Lázaro Centanin where she studied cellular behavior and plasticity in chimeras derived from two different fish species, zebrafish and medaka. This led to a more specific interest in the molecular mechanisms that regulate how transcription factors shape different cellular identities during development. Under co-mentorship in the Mazzoni and Lionnet labs, Rebecca is now studying how disease-causing mutations in HOX transcription factors alter their binding and regulatory properties.

Leah Santana

Masters Student

Leah completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Bard College in 2019. In the Jain Lab, her research regarded an RNA riboswitch in B. subtilis. In the Burden Lab, her research regarded a muscle-specific kinase in neuromuscular disease. Leah joined the Mazzoni Lab in 2025, where she is looking at RNA splicing defects in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Olivia Peixoto

Research Associate

Olivia grew up in Brazil and graduated from Northwestern University in 2025 with a degree in Cell and Developmental Biology. Her interest lies in the molecular mechanisms of DNA damage and repair and how they shape cell fate.