The Weber Lab is composed of a dynamic group of students and postdocs with expertise ranging from biology to physics.

Steph Weber (she/her)

Associate Professor
Hi! My name’s Steph and I’m fascinated by the interplay between passive physical processes and active biological regulation. I grew up in Rochester, NY (USA, but right across the lake from Toronto, so basically Canada) and majored in Biology and Chemistry at Duke University. I fell in love with cell biology during my PhD at Stanford, where I studied bacterial chromosome dynamics with Julie Theriot and picked up some polymer physics from Andy Spakowitz. For my postdoc, I moved to Cliff Brangwynne’s lab at Princeton to investigate nucleolar assembly and size in worms. I took a brief “sabbatical” to teach full-time at Santa Clara University before coming to McGill in 2016. Now I’m lucky to work with the amazing people below as we explore spatial organization in various biological systems. Away from the lab, I enjoy hiking, jigsaw puzzles and college basketball (Go Devils!).

CV

Laeya Baldini

Postdoctoral Fellow

Hello ! I am Laeya, a post doc in the Weber lab coming from France. During my PhD, I had the chance to be immersed in the fantastic field of non-coding RNAs with Bruno Charpentier and Stéphane Labialle. I mostly used molecular biology tools to explore new partners and biological functions of small RNAs located in the nucleolus of human cells. I think that studying the phase behavior of the nucleolus has become a crucial step to better understand how molecular interactions are regulated by its compartmentalization. Now, I’m interested in studying how changes of the nucleolus structure affect its metabolic activity and the growth of the nematode C. elegans. Outside of the lab, I am a lover of hiking and art.

Omid Gholamalamdari

Postdoctoral Fellow

Hello! My name is Omid, and I’m a postdoc in the Weber Lab. I come from Tehran, Iran, where I received my BSc and MSc degrees in Biotechnology at the University of Tehran. During my time there, I discovered a passion for mountaineering and climbed many mountains located north of the city. For my PhD, I moved to Dr. Andy Belmont’s lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. There, I studied chromatin compaction, as well as the roles of nuclear bodies in genome organization. In the Weber Lab, I’m investigating how the material properties of nuclear bodies affect their functions. When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy biking, hiking, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.

Peng A

PhD Student, Biology

Hello! My name is Peng A. I am PhD student in Biology. I did my undergraduate in Biology at Sichuan University and my first graduate in Dental Medicine at West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University. In my previous study, I worked on epigenetic regulation on the DNA replication. Motivated by the idea of investigating the origin of life, I stepped into the exciting and promising phase transition field. I am excited to be part of the Weber Lab and to see how the non-membrane organelles unveil the secret of life.

Brendon McGuinness

PhD Student, Quantitative Life Sciences

Hi! My name is Brendon. I’m a PhD student at McGill in Quantitative Life Sciences both in the Guichard lab and the Weber lab. I did my undergrad in Physics and Computer Science also here at McGill. My research focuses on bridging levels of organization from the cell to ecosystem. I study different levels of self-organization in relation to how these dynamic processes drive patterns that ripple through all domains of life. Using both theory and microbial experiments I plan to look more closely at the dialogue between environmental flux, phenotypic diversity, and intracellular mechanisms.

Lucas Philipp

PhD Student, Quantitative Life Sciences
Dinoflagellates are unicellular aquatic organisms. They can cause red tides, and if coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis is disrupted, coral bleaching occurs. Dinoflagellates are the only eukaryote to not express histones and therefore cannot use histones to compact and structure their genome. Instead of “beads on a string”, 30 nm fibres, etc…, their chromatin appears to be packaged into a cholesteric liquid crystalline state. Phase separation may have an important role in determining which regions of their genome are condensed and therefore transcriptionally silenced. The goal of my thesis is to experimentally determine the conditions necessary for the condensed phase of dinoflagellate chromatin, and to explain, using thermodynamic theory, why such a phase transition occurs. I use microscopy, liquid-crystal physics, and phase field modelling as tools to explore my research question. I hold a BSc in Honours Biophysics from UBC. My hobbies include disc golf, collecting records, and daydreaming.

Sean Moore

PhD Student, Quantitative Life Sciences

Hello! My name is Sean. I am a PhD student in the Quantitative Life Science program at McGill. I did my undergraduate in biology and computer science at McGill as well. I am currently working on using algorithms to analyse images to obtain quantitative information about biological systems from microscope images. In my free time I love to play board games and read horror novels!

Lydia Hodgins

PhD student, Quantitative Life Sciences

Hello, my name is Lydia! I am a PhD student in the Quantitative Life Sciences program rotating in the Weber lab. I completed my Honours BSc at McMaster University in Medical and Biological Physics. I am fascinated by phase separation and the role it plays in the cell. For my rotation I will be studying the mobility of molecules crossing the interface of bacterial condensates. In my spare time I enjoy reading, playing the piano and exploring nature.

Sara Zdanovskis

MSc Student, Biology

Hello! My name is Sara and I am an MSc in Biology. My heart and soul are enveloped in euphoria just at the thought of cellular biology, which is why I am so excited to be working on the nucleolus within embryonic cells of C. elegans. I don’t really know why, but researching how all proteins and organelles function and come together to create this incredible unit of life that is the cell is something that brings me so much joy. Otherwise, at heart, I’m an old little lady who loves knitting and reading in my rocking chair. Also, I am MADLY in love with my dog.

Baljyot Parmar, Biology MSc student, Physics PhD student

Shadi Rajab, Biology MSc student; now Microbiologist at Bionetix

Alyssa Wu, Computer Science undergraduate; now intern at Morgan Stanley

Zixian (Ruby) Wei, Physics and Physiology undergraduate

Cyril Haller, Undergraduate Research Trainee; now graduate student at University of Cambridge

Carina Doyle, Biology PhD Student

James Wall, NSERC USRA recipient; now MD student at Queen’s

Pinaki Swain, Postdoctoral fellow, now Postdoctoral fellow at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Stefan Biedzinski, Postdoctoral fellow

Bora Dirilgen, Computer Science undergraduate, now Software Engineer at Morgan Stanley

Natika Bikraj, Microbiology and Immunology undergraduate; now Honours student in the Fixman lab

Nathael Javorcik, Biology Honours student; now MSc student at UofT

Megan Couture, Masters student; now Clinical Data Entry at the Jewish General Hospital

Alyssa Trantino, Biology undergraduate; now pursuing graduate studies in molecular/cellular biology

Bianca Granato, QLS rotation student; now PhD student in the LiJessen lab (McGill)

Anne-Marie Ladouceur, FRQNT Postdoctoral Research Fellow; now Microscopy Specialist at ABIF

Graydon Tope, Cellular and Molecular Biology undergraduate; now medical student at Sackler

Albright Kim, Biochemistry undergraduate; now pursuing a minor in Computer Science

Matias Claus, Pharmacology undergraduate; now medical student at McGill

Philip Siekierski, Physics undergraduate

George Perlman, Biology undergraduate; now MSc student in the Swardfager lab (UofT)

Alex Diaz-Papkovich, QLS rotation student; now PhD student in the Gravel lab (McGill)

David Cohn, McGill SURA and NSERC USRA recipient; now MSc student in the Wan Lam lab (UBC)

James Goldberg, NSERC USRA recipient; now PhD student at UPenn

Hannah Burr, QB Honours student; now postbaccalaureate in the Tanner lab