Welcome to the World of Circular DNA!
Thank you to the Beckman Foundation for highlighting our work on Circular DNA! Click here to read the story.
Note: This website will migrate to www.circulome.net in 2022
I'm Massa and I work at the interface of Biophysics, Bioengineering, and Genomics. Currently, I am an Arnold O. Beckman and AHA Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University.
My projects are focused on understanding the fundamentals of how multicellular organisms process information and respond to genetic and environmental change. This, in turn, requires identification and analysis of intercellular variation. Cellular heterogeneity is evident from the various cell types that make up our bodies, yet elements that manifest genomic diversity are seldom annotated and questions of their biogenesis and function remain largely unanswered. Thus, we often assume that all cells within an organism operate according to the same static genome. My work, a fusion of biophysics and genomics, challenges this assumption by providing evidence for cell-type-specific, programmed genomic heterogeneity at a number of previously assumed-to-be static genomic elements.
Future work is focused on the following questions:
- How much variation is there between differentiated cells in a single organism and among individuals?
- Which variations drive functional diversity and competition between stem cells within a single lineage?
- How do differentiated cells program differential chromosome dynamics?
- Which variants facilitate repeated adaptations to new environments?
The outcome will be novel tools in synthetic biology, single-cell biophysics, and mathematical modelling. By combining these tools with expertise in physics, bioengineering, and human and model-system genomics, my future group will aim to lay the necessary groundwork for elucidating how cells collectively perform systems-level functions in healthy and diseased states.
Science Benefits from Diversity!!
The quality of the scientific-research enterprise, and its ability to meet the needs of, and positively impact the lives of individuals, communities, nations, and the world is inextricably linked to the individuals/scientists involved. Each person’s unique life experiences yields a unique approach to novel problems. As a result, diversity is essential to success in the sciences, yet there have been systemic barriers to minorities (underrepresented with respect to race, ethnicity, or gender) who wish to enter STEM careers.
Education
“Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle.” –George R.R. Martin
Stanford University Medical School
2015- Present
Stanford Medicine Dean's and Arnold O. Beckman Fellow
University of Texas at Dallas
2015
PhD in Biomedical Engineering
University of Texas at Dallas
2013
PhD in Molecular Cell Biology and Biophysics
University of Leeds
2012
Visiting Researcher
University of Texas at Dallas
2010
MS in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of Texas at Dallas
2008
BS in Cell Biology and Biophysics (Fast Track)
Richland College, DCCCD
2005-2006
Various classes in various disciplines
Sights from the Road*
*All pictures below are copyrighted and not to be used without permission
