Assistant Professor, Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Affiliate faculty mentor: QCB graduate program

[google scholar]

Fenna received her BA at UC Berkeley and her Ph.D. from Harvard, where she studied the topography of cortico-cortical and cortico-cerebellar networks in human brains. In her postdoc with Steve McCarroll (Genetics @ Harvard Medical School and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research @ The Broad Institute), she used single cell sequencing approaches to study how brain cell types diverge across mammalian species. Fenna is an NIH Director's New Innovator Award recipient, a SFARI BTI Fellow, a Klingenstein-Simons Fellow, and a Pew Scholar. Unapologetic Celtics fan. Simply not that good at latte art.

Lab Manager;

Senior Research Specialist

Jessica received both her BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Toronto. Jessica has a broad interest in evolution and understanding how biological systems work. Prior to joining the Krienen lab, she worked in a number of academic labs and brings a wide range of skills to the team. She is an avid baker and loves plants!

Faculty Assistant

Jessica graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior with a minor in Chemistry. She supports several PNI labs as a faculty assistant. Outside of her role at PNI, Jessica loves to read and is trying to get through a long reading list.

Postdoc

Siting obtained her PhD in Neurobiology from the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences. During her graduate study, she mainly focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of brain development as well as the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders. Her current research interest is uncovering the genetic evolution that characterizes primate cortical development. She enjoys reading, running and climbing in her spare time.

Postdoc

Josephine received her PhD from Penn State, where she studied how different brain cell types grow during early development and helped create anatomical reference atlases for the developing mouse brain. She previously graduated from Emory University and completed a post-bac fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. Her current research interests include comparative brain evolution and mechanisms underlying neuroimmune development. When not in the lab, she loves baking, gardening, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with her three dogs.

Bioinformatician

Mike is a Research Software Engineer shared between the Krienen and Peña labs here at PNI. In both labs, Mike works on the computational analysis and integration of single-cell genomics data. He has a BS in Biochemistry from Brown University and a PhD in Genetics and Genomics from Cornell University, where, under mentor John Lis, he used functional genomics methods to study the mechanisms through which gene transcription is regulated. In his free time, Mike enjoys cooking, music, hiking, and shredding guitar.

Senior Veterinary Research Associate

Dede got his bachelor and DVM degrees from Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia. Dede has over 15 years' experience in laboratory animals research both in academia and translational contract research focusing primarily on the Non-Human Primate. Prior to joining the Krienen lab, he worked in several contract research organization in Singapore, Germany and Canada as well as the Bogor Primate Research Center in Indonesia. He loves traveling, watching movies and cooking.

PNI Ph.D. student

Yongqi received his B.S. from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In his undergraduate he spent one and half years at MIT studying autism in mouse models and identifying specific enhancers for striatal neuron types. He is interested in using bioinformatic and molecular tools to understand cognitive functions and how they are affected under disease conditions. Outside the lab, he is a passionate badminton player and enjoys many outdoor activities.

PNI Ph.D. student

Daisy graduated from Colby College majoring in neuroscience with minors in physics and computer science. After college, she worked at the Klengel lab and the Berretta lab at McLean Hospital studying the transcriptomics and epigenetics of stress-related psychiatric disorders. Currently, she is interested in using multi-omics to understand the molecular composition and cell type development in the brain across species. Outside the lab, she enjoys cooking, bouldering, and spending time with her cats.

PNI Ph.D. student

Ning studied computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a minor in bioinformatics. During this time, he learned how to analyze single-cell RNA sequencing data and develop bioinformatics methods for gene regulatory network inference at the Xia Yang Lab. He also interned with the Allen Institute for Brain Science, focusing on machine learning approaches to multi-omics data integration. At the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, he is working on cross-species comparisons in human and mammalian brain atlases, studying animal behavior using pose-tracking and latent state inference, and developing powerful, efficient, and scalable statistical machine learning algorithms for multi-modal data. In his free time, Ning enjoys performing piano, especially Chopin Etudes, such as Winter Wind, and piano concertos, such as Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto in C minor. He also plays the flute and enjoys wildlife photography.

Research Specialist II

Victor received a BSs in Genomics from UNAM and an Erasmus Mundus MSc in Evolutionary Biology from Uppsala University and LMU. For his thesis, he studied the behavioral and neural effects of prolonged olfactory exposure (Thomas Frank Lab) and implemented a protein structure-based method for genome annotation (Gilles Laurent Lab). He is broadly interested in brain evolution and molecular specializations. In his free time he enjoys running, exploring new places, and watching films.

Research Specialist II

Lakme received her Bachelor’s of Science in human biology from UC San Diego. Her studies were primarily focused on physiology and microbial genomics. Throughout her undergraduate studies she worked in research labs investigating the ants of Arizona’s mountains, diatoms off of San Diego’s coast, and the bacterial landscape of California’s nearshore microbial community. She hopes to pursue a career in clinical or anatomic pathology where she can continue exploring the mechanisms of human disease. In her free time, Lakme enjoys weightlifting, playing video games, and watching psychological thrillers.

Research Specialist I

Christopher graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.S in Neuroscience and a minor in English and Creative Writing. His thesis, as part of the Carrillo lab, studied the role of cell surface proteins in establishing synaptic connectivity in the Drosophila larval neuromuscular system. He used published scRNA-seq datasets and morphological techniques to map CSP expression across embryonic and larval motor neurons. He is broadly interested in using multi-omics to understand brain development. Outside of lab, he enjoys watching and playing soccer/basketball, weightlifting, and reading. 

Undergrad

Olivia '26 is a Neuroscience concentrator at Princeton University. She is interested in researching neurogenetics and developing genetically driven treatments for neurodegenerative diseases that do not currently have an effective treatment. Outside of the lab and classes, Olivia enjoys dancing, playing tennis, and baking.

Undergrad

Aomi ’26 is a prospective neuroscience major on the pre-med track at Princeton University. She is interested in learning about neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, and understanding their impact on the brain from a molecular perspective. Outside of the lab, Aomi enjoys going to the beach and hiking.

Undergrad

Tuba '26 is a neuroscience major considering a minor/certificate in bioengineering. She is passionate about studying neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and is particularly interested in neurodevelopmental conditions like autism. Outside of the lab, Tuba enjoys singing with the Princeton Tigerlilies and the Princeton Glee Club, reading, cooking, or being suspended acrobatically from aerial silks.

Undergrad

Nate is an Electrical Engineering student at Princeton University, pursuing a minor in Neuroscience while on the pre-med track. He is passionate about the intersection of technology and medicine, and is particularly interested in prosthetics, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), and single-cell RNA sequencing. Beyond academics, Nate enjoys hiking, leatherworking, and working with his hands.

Sunny Mudhar (Research Specialist I, now M.D. student at Albert Einstein

Reilly Nakamoto (Research Specialist II)

Zixuan Zhang (visiting student, Nagoya University)

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