Steen Laboratory

Current Lab Members

Judith Steen was educated in Africa, N.America and Europe. She studied chemistry and genetics at the University of Toronto. She moved to the University of Southern Denmark to work with Sir Peter Roepstorff, where she experienced mass spectrometry and discovered a world of immediate gratification. Judith loves chocolate and likes walking on the beach (on her hands). judith.steen@childrens.harvard.edu

Hanno Steen studied in many places starting at the University of Freiburg, Germany; UMIST, Manchester, UK; ETH, Zurich, Switzerland and the University of Southern Denmark with Matthias Mann. Hanno has his hair cut at Sal's Barbershop in JP. Hanno is a gourmet/and, and loves bikes and rowing! hanno.steen@childrens.harvard.edu

Saima Ahmed recently joined the Steen Lab with an enthusiasm to learn all about MS. She is primarily working on the LTQ, but hopes to one day master the FT and Orbi as well. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Umass Amherst. Whether it be a hike up Mount Sugarloaf, a weekend in the Berkshires, or just some coffee from Rao's, she will find any excuse to revisit the Pioneer Valley and reminisce with her college friends. saima.ahmed@childrens.harvard.edu

Omar Barnaby, a native Jamaican, earned his PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and furthered his studies as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. His thesis focused on the characterization/quantification of protein glycation during diabetes by Mass Spectrometry (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=omar%20barnaby). Omar has a keen interest in coupling novel separations/MS methodology to the quantification of proteins and PTMs during dementia, with a particular interest in Alzheimer's disease. He enjoys going on early morning runs and bike-rides. Omar also enjoys lifting weights and can often be found helping (torturing) others at the gym.

Stephane Belin, born in Saint-Etienne, France, is a joint postdoctoral fellow in He lab and Steen lab. He earned his PhD at University Claude Bernard Lyon I in the field of molecular biology to study the implication of ribosome biogenesis in physiology and pathological process. Stephane is currently pursuing a project to decipher the mechanism of mTOR mediated axon regeneration. mTOR is a major regulator of translation, the project will focus on the study of modification of the proteome, and particularly the modification of the translation machinery, during activation or inhibition of this pathway. stephane.belin@childrens.harvard.edu

Tue Bennike, a visiting student in the Steen Lab, was born and raised as a true Viking in the northern parts of Denmark. He obtained his MSc in Nanotechnology at Aalborg University (AAU) Denmark, and as of 2012 began his PhD. He is researching biological triggers of various inflammatory diseases through differential mass spectrometry. His work, furthermore, involves the optimization of MS methods and sample preparation. Whenever the mass specs are humming nicely, he enjoys running/biking/hiking, messing with computer networks, reading fantasy and sci-fi books and cooking international food.
tue.bennike@childrens.harvard.edu

 Sebastian Berger was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. After his graduation from the "German High School", he went to the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to start with his Bachelor of Science in "Molecular Biotechnology". Right after graduation as Bachelor, Sebastian joined the Master's program at the TUM for "Molecular Biotechnology". After this final graduation in 2011 he joined the Steen-Lab as intern for "Clinical Proteomics". This fall (2012) Sebastian will start with his PhD thesis here in our Lab. Sebastian's leisure activities include PHP programming, playing sports (especially Dragon Boating or eSports), and spending time with friends. sebastian.berger@childrens.harvard.edu

Kevin Broadbelt studied Neurobiology for his MPhil and Neuroscience with a focus on the Neuroanatomical and Neuropathology of the Prefrontal Cortex in Schizophrenia for his PhD at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  He has really enjoyed trying to utilize and apply mass spectrometry to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the neuropathology of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, looking at the proteome of key brainstem nuclei and focusing on key regulators known or unknown relatedto serotonin and may play a role in the pathogenesis.  Kevin still enjoys showing people where he is from on a world map and explaining, “everyone does not know everyone on the island” and still can’t figure out why he keeps moving more north despite his love/hate relationship with snow.  An avid sports fan, when not finding a game to watch, enjoys coming up with new flavors for barbequing, and driving extended scenic coastal routes to relax.  kevin.broadbelt@childrens.harvard.edu        
 

Ertugrul Cansizoglu graduated from Bilkent University Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in Turkey, Ertugrul continued on to receive his PhD from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in Molecular Biophysics. With a life-long interest in proteins and protein structure, he’s training to extend into the world of proteomics. He’s investigating the global protein network perturbations during the life of neurons. He’s arguably the worst fisherman in thegreater Boston area, nevertheless he’s still trying. ertugrul.cansizoglu@childrens.harvard.edu
 
 

Ruchi Chauhan has a MSc in Biotechnology. Currently, she is learning and employing success strategies (sometimes bordering on survival) switching between keeping up with her three year old son and understanding APC mediated ubiquitination mechanisms in the context of SMN protein stability and interactions (essential for motor neurons and spliceosome function). She also uses neuronal cultures and LC-MS based quantitative proteomics to study SMN protein regulation and function. Before joining the Steen Lab, Ruchi has worked on p53 and TATA binding protein as potential biomarkers in autoimmune disorders (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India), in vitro heterochromatin assembly (FMI, Basel, Switzerland), sumoylation activity in PRC2 protein complex (MCB Dept, Harvard, USA) and differential methylation on Igf2-H19 genes in cancer (Cambridge University, UK). She is fascinated with Urdu poetry and MIT corridors. ruchi.chauhan@childrens.harvard.edu

Ali Ghoulidi

(description coming soon)
ali.ghoulidi@childrens.harvard.edu

Kristina Hempel, a native German, studied Biochemistry and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Greifswald, Germany, in the field of bacterial proteomics where she analyzed the proteome of Staphylococcus aureus using UPLC-ESI-mass spectrometry. She really loves working with the Orbitrap and Q-Exactive to now identify and quantify membrane proteins of DRG neurons. Tina wants to strengthen her mass spectrometric skills and learn everything about new protein quantification methods and New England. She enjoys the MFA, the Boston Red Sox, reading, walking on the beach, and the company of her colleagues. kristina.hempel@childrens.harvard.edu 

                                 

Waltraud Mair joined the Steen lab by the end of 2011 in order to do her PhD project. She earned a B.Sc. in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg, and a M.Sc. in Systems Biology at ETH Zurich, where she played around with applied mass spec proteomics for the first time. In the Steen lab she will focus on deciphering the role of Tau protein and its post-translational modifications in Fronto-temporal Dementia (FTD) utilizing a number of quantitative MS tools developed in the Steen lab. Waltraud tends to get enthusiastic about anything that is connected to Brazil and apart from that, she enjoys sports, dinner-and-a-movie nights, and chocolate. waltraud.mair@childrens.harvard.edu
 

Gary McDowell is from Belfast, Northern Ireland and went to high school in the Highlands of Scotland before studying for a BA, MSci and finally PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK.  He is Irish or British depending on which team he is watching and whether or not he is in Southie.  His background is originally in chemistry and protein folding, but he continued studying protein biochemistry in the model organism Xenopus laevis.  After discovering the joys of frog whispering, he has moved to the Steen lab to try combining proteomics and frog embryology, hopefully without getting too many tadpoles stuck in the LC systems. gary.mcdowell@childrens.harvard.edu

Jan Muntel obtained his Diploma in Biochemistry and his Ph.D. from the University of Greifswald in Germany. His thesis focused on the development of mass spectrometry based proteome quantification methods. He joined the Steen group end of 2011 as a postdoctoral fellow. Momentarily he is adapting the FLEXIQuant approach, which characterizes the post-translational modification state of a protein, to a large scale technology. This in combination with MRM acquisition methods will provide information for hundreds of proteins related to cancer-specific pathways. In general he's into developing sexy MS methods and hugging all sorts of statues in public spaces, though he hates fish and can't stand people putting shortcuts onto QTRAP computer desktops. In his free time he loves admiring the Bostonian skyline and sunsets over Cambridge during long distance runs or Dragon Boat practices on the Charles River. jan.muntel@childrens.harvard.edu
 

John Sauld was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and came to the United States as a teen in hopes of furthering his education. As the most recent member of the Steen Lab, John is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Science program in Biomedical Science and is engaging the world of proteomics with a whole heart and open arms. John's leisure activities include volunteering and mentoring troubled youths (and/or fellow Steen lab members) in his community, playing sports, and spending time with friends and family. john.sauld@childrens.harvard.edu
 

 Oliver Serang studied for a B.S. in Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University and his Ph.D. in Genome Sciences from the lab of William Noble at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he acquired a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody. Since he was a child, he's loved thinking about algorithms and software that, like the hunting dogs of the 21st century, can solve difficult and time-consuming puzzles we could never chase down on foot. In particular, he thinks a lot about efficient and robust inference, graphical models, shotgun proteomics, and biomarker detection. Oliver is a big fan of jumping into freezing water, the smell of wood fires, and the peptide PHADTHAI/L. He can also be found at www.colorfulengineering.org. Oliver. Serang /at/ Chidrens. Harvard. edu
 

Ceren Uncu was born in Antalya, Turkey. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Istanbul University. After working as a high school biology teacher in Istanbul she decided to move to the US and became a member of  the Steen Lab. She loves spending her time with friends and family and really enjoys watching sunset on the beach. ceren.uncu@childrens.harvard.edu