People

Matthew Rockman, PI

mrockman at nyu.edu

Matt is an evolutionary developmental quantitative geneticist, working to understand how the material causes of inheritance and development influence phenotypic variation and evolution.

Matt is known for dispensing sage advice to folks in the lab, typically “We have a worm for that,” or “Have you tried adding more worms?”

Sophie Tintori, postdoc

sophia.tintori at nyu.edu

Sophie is interested in the molecular variants that increase or decrease animals’ tolerance to ionizing radiation. In her research she is comparing the radiation sensitivities of wild nematodes from all over the world, including the contaminated areas in and around Chernobyl. By investigating the cell biology and genetics behind the differences in sensitivity, Sophie hopes to better understand some of the strategies that already exist for living in high-radiation environments.

Conor Gilligan, PhD student

cpg324 at nyu.edu

Conor is a lifelong New Yorker studying the ecology and population genomics of the marine polychaete Streblospio benedicti. He plans to extensively sample phenotypically dimorphic estuarine populations throughout the tri-state in order to glean novel insights into the genetic basis of local adaptation in the face of extensive gene flow.

Jacqueline Jackson, PhD student

j.jackson at nyu.edu

Jacqueline is interested in animal behavior and discovering the factors that influence life-history traits of species. She aims to understand the effect of reproductive interference on Caenorhabditis species survival and reproductive success.

Jose Salome Correa, PhD student

jsc761 at nyu.edu

Jose is interested in population biology and comparative genomics to study the genetic basis for adaptation and selection. He uses bioinformatic approaches, molecular tools, and field-work, to study these topics in Caenorhabditis nematodes.

Sol Sloat, PhD student

sas958 at nyu.edu

Sol is interested in the genetics and evolution of sex ratios. He combines molecular tools, population biology, field work, and quantitative genetics to investigate a unique class of sex-ratio bias driven by sperm competition within Caenorhabditis nematodes. Sol aims to understand both the mechanistic basis of the sex-ratio distortion and the ecological forces that drive it.

Patrick Ortiz, Masters student

pao272 at nyu.edu

Pat is an active duty U.S. Army officer currently pursuing his Masters in Biology.  Pat’s main efforts in the lab revolve around providing assistance to an ongoing research project comparing the radiation sensitivities of wild nematodes collected from the Chernobyl exclusion zone.  His research interests include studying mechanisms responsible for sensitivity and resistance to various forms of radiation in nematodes.   

Carolina Rios, undergraduate researcher

cr2663 at nyu.edu

Carolina Rios is a senior in the department of Biology, pursuing the ecology track with a minor in mathematics. She is currently working on a project utilizing the natural intraspecific variation of Streblospio benedicti to determine the influence of larval defenses on the rate of predation.

Arielle Martel, lab manager and research technician

Arielle manages laboratory operations and carries out research on genomic variation in nematodes and diatoms. Multiple robots do her bidding. In parallel with her work in the lab, Arielle is pursuing a Master’s in Public Health, with a focus on planning for major disasters. The Rockman lab has been free of major disasters since she arrived.

amartel at nyu.edu

Dan Needleman and Reza Farhadifar

Dan is the Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard, and Reza is a Research Scientist at the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Biology. They are working in the lab at NYU to develop new methods to bring quantitative genetic evidence to bear on fundamental cell-biological questions.