The Desai Lab

Melinda keeps the lab running. You can find her at HUH 403, x68062.

Caroline joined the lab in 2023. She earned her Ph.D. in theoretical biophysics at Princeton, working with Bill Bialek. In the Desai Lab, Caroline is using a combination of experimental, theoretical, and computational methods to analyze the structure of high-dimensional genotype-phenotype maps.

Tatiana joined in 2024. She earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto, working with David Guttman and Darrell Desveaux. In the Desai Lab, she's mapping the coevolutionary dynamics between naturally evolved viral antigens and the human immune response.

Joao earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, advised by Oskar Hallatschek. He joined the lab in 2024 and is working on how affinity landscapes shape the coevolutionary dynamics of pathogens and the host immune system.

Krishna earned his Ph.D. in Physics from IIT Bombay. Before joining the Desai Lab in 2026, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University, working with Pankaj Mehta. His research lies at the intersection of statistical physics, evolutionary biology, and machine learning. In the Desai Lab, he is developing machine-learning approaches to understand genetic interactions, genotype–phenotype relationships, and the prediction of complex traits across genetically diverse populations.

Jack joined the lab in 2021. He is working on molecular barcoding methods in the E. coli long-term evolution experiment, and is also broadly interested in evolutionary theory.

Alex joined the lab in 2023 after earning her B.Sc. in Biological Engineering from MIT. She is using computational and synthetic biology approaches to model the evolution of antibodies within the germinal center; her research aims to uncover the extent to which B cell trajectories are constrained during affinity maturation.

Jenya received her specialist degree in bioengineering and bioinformatics from Moscow State University in 2023 and then joined the lab. She is interested in fundamental evolutionary mechanisms and is studying them using artificial evolutionary experiments on yeast.

Shreyas earned his BA in Natural Sciences (Zoology) at the University of Cambridge in 2022, and joined the lab in 2023. He is working on long term experimental evolution in yeast and E. coli, with a focus on evolutionary dynamics, coexistence, and diversification.

Caelan graduated from Kutztown University with a BS in Physics in 2021 and joined the lab in 2023. She develops theoretical models to understand underlying epistatic structure in genotype-phenotype maps and is interested in the dynamics of that structure under different environmental conditions.

Kellianne graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BA in physics and philosophy in 2021. She joined the Desai Lab in 2024, and works on theoretical models of allele frequency trajectories in the presence of recombination and strong background selection.

Tamar joined the lab in 2025. She graduated from the Technion with a BSc in Biomedical Engineering and Physics, and a MSc in Biology, advised by Roy Kishony. She is interested in evolutionary genetics and in combining experimental and computational methods to study microbe-immune interactions and co-evolution.

Nicholas earned his B.A. in Physics from Princeton in 2025, where he studied theoretical and experimental biophysics with William Bialek and Thomas Gregor. He joined the Desai Lab in 2026 and is developing theoretical and machine-learning methods for understanding high-dimensional genotype-phenotype maps.

Lilja joined the lab in 2026 after earning her BA in Biology (Ecology & Evolution) from Washington University in St. Louis. She is interested in high-throughput methods for generating protein genotype-phenotype maps and in downstream applications of these maps for predicting evolutionary dynamics and designing new protein sequences using ML.