Current Members
Assistant Professor
Genetics | Bioinformatics
Genetics | Bioinformatics
kaixiong.ye@uga.edu
706-542-5898
Kaixiong received his Bachelor's degree in Biology from Wuhan University. He worked briefly at the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) as a bioinformatician before he joined graduate school at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. degree in Nutritional Genomics under the supervision of Dr. Zhenglong Gu. He received his postdoctoral training in Computational Biology with Dr. Alon Keinan. Kaixiong started his own research group at UGA in 2018. Kaixiong's research has been driven by his curiosity of the evolution and diversity of life, and by his passion for improving human health.
Yitang earned his Bachelor of Medicine at Henan University in China. He received his Master of Public Health in Biostatistics from the University of Florida. Yitang joined the Ye lab in the fall of 2018 as a visiting student and later transitioned into a graduate student in the Ph.D. program in Genetics. His research interests include polygenic adaptation and Mendelian randomization.
Shuang Yang
Graduate Student in Genetics
shuang.yang@uga.edu
Shuang received her Bachelor's degree at Henan Agricultural University and her Master's degree at China Agricultural University. Shuang joined the Ye lab in Fall 2019 as a graduate student in the Genetics Ph.D program. She is mainly working on the molecular mechanism of regulatory genetic variants in FADS genes and their effects on LC-PUFAs production.
Huifang Xu
Graduate Student in Genetics
huifang.xu@uga.edu
Huifang received her bachelor's degree in Forestry (Plant Resources Utilization) from Nanjing Forestry University. She received her master's degree in Genomics from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she was involved in conducting research on human disease genetics. Prior to joining UGA, she worked as a research assistant at BGI-Shenzhen. Huifang joined the Ye lab in Spring 2022 as a graduate student in the Genetics Ph.D. program. Her research interests reside in quantitative genomics and gene-diet interaction. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and hiking.
Susan Adanna Ihejirika
Graduate Student in Bioinformatics
susan.ihejirika@uga.edu
Adanna received a B.Sc. in Biology from Georgia Southern University. For her Honors Capstone Project and Thesis, her research focus was using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to create human ovarian cancer models. Adanna joined the lab in the Spring 2022 semester as a Bioinformatics doctoral student. Her research focus is quantitative human genetics and gene-diet interactions in complex human traits. In her free time, Adanna enjoys dancing, working out and trying out new hobbies because there’s never a shortage of new things one could learn!
Saurav Kumar Choudhary
Graduate Student in Bioinformatics
saurav.choudhary@uga.edu
Saurav received his Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Amity University and Masters in Computational Biology from Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology – Delhi (IIIT-D), India. He joined Ye lab in Spring 2023 as a Bioinformatics doctoral student. His research focus is on Omics Data analysis including integration of functional omics and GWAS. Saurav’s hobbies include playing cricket, cooking and reading books.
Yueqi Lu
Graduate Student in Genetics
yueqi.lu@uga.edu
Yueqi received her bachelor's degree in Bioengineering from South China University of Technology. Before joining UGA, she worked as a research assistant in Bioinformatics at BGI-Shenzhen. Yueqi joined Ye lab in Spring 2024 as a graduate student in the Genetics Ph.D. program. Her research interest focuses on integrated omics analysis of complex diseases/traits. She enjoys cooking and trying new recipes.
Lu Wang
Graduate Student in Genetics
luwanglw@uga.edu
Lu joined the Ye lab in Spring 2024 as a graduate student in the Genetics Program with a strong interest in human population genetics and evolutionary genetics. Her Bachelor of Science was in Physics while she has always been fascinated by life sciences. She wishes to apply her skills to quantitative studies in biology and hopes to increase our understanding of the physical world by a bit. Outside the lab, Lu is absolutely a cat person.
Claire Cheng
Undergraduate Researcher
claire.cheng@uga.edu
Claire is an undergrad student who is majoring in genetics with a minor in computer science who joined the lab in Spring 2021. She plans for a bioinformatics career after graduate school. Her interest includes running, the Frenemies podcast, and her dogs.
Alex joined the lab in Spring 2021 as a first-year student majoring in Biology and Statistics on the pre-medicine track. In the future, she plans on pursuing a career as an allergist or data scientist. She likes getting involved in the Athens community by volunteering at the local animal shelters. In her free time, she enjoys playing guitar, cross-stitch, and graphic design.
Nitya Modulla
Undergraduate Researcher
nitya.modulla@uga.edu
Nitya joined the lab in the Spring of 2021 as a first year Environmental Health major. She is working towards attending medical school after her undergraduate studies. In her free time she enjoys being outdoors with friends, watching kdramas, and painting. She is looking forward to taking part in computational research in the lab.
Aryaman Singh
Undergraduate Researcher
aryaman.singh@uga.edu
Aryaman joined the lab in Fall of 2021 as second year Genetics and Computer Science double major. He is working towards attending medical school after his undergraduate degrees. His interests include golf, chess, ultimate frisbee, classical literature, and volunteering in the Athens community through tutoring. He would also recommend reading Dune.
Elaina Barrickman
Undergraduate Researcher
elaina.barrickman@uga.edu
Elaina is a third year genetics major, planning to attend medical school after undergrad and become a physician. She volunteers at Athens Heart center. In her free time, she enjoys playing golf, reading, and traveling.
Kennedi Scales
Undergraduate Researcher
kennediscales@uga.edu
Kennedi joined the lab in the Fall of 2022 as a second year Genetics and Sociology double major. After graduation, she wants to pursue an MD-PhD program to become a physician-scientist. In her free time, she enjoys playing the guitar and singing as well as reading and exercising.
Hy Do
Undergraduate Researcher
hy.do@uga.edu
Hy is a third-year Genetics major with a minor in Computer Science. In the near future, he plans to attend grad school. His fields of interest are biotechnology and public health. In his free time, Hy enjoys reading, exercising, sketching, and painting.
Alexander Norman
Undergraduate Researcher
alexander.norman@uga.edu
Alex joined the lab in the spring of 2023, as a second-year Genetics and Biology major. He plans to pursue medical school post-graduation and intends to become a physician. He is part of the UGA Redcoat Band and in his free time likes to read, compete in Crossfit and Spartan, and volunteer at Piedmont Hospital.
Gabby Smith
Undergraduate Researcher
gabrielle.smith2@uga.edu
Gabby joined the lab as a third-year Genetics major in the fall of 2023. She is working towards attending medical school after her undergraduate studies. In her free time she enjoys baking cakes, reading, going to the Botanical Gardens, and hanging out with friends.
Edgard A. Díaz
Undergraduate Researcher
edgard.diaz@uga.edu
Edgard joined the lab as a third-year genetics major in the fall of 2023. He intends on pursuing graduate school. He occasionally volunteers at the University Cancer and Blood Center. In addition, he is a Resident Assistant at Boggs Hall facilitating community involvement for first-year students. In his free time, he enjoys playing survival horror games, practicing the guitar, and outdoor activities such as fishing, marksmanship, and hiking.
Jaela Krone
Undergraduate Researcher
jaela.krone@uga.edu
Jaela joined the lab in the Spring of 2024 as a third-year genetics major with a public health minor. She plans to attend grad school either for genetic counseling or to pursue epidemiology. She enjoys exploring restaurants in downtown Athens, and in her free time, you may find her singing, reading, or baking.
Happy Ye
Lab Happiness Manager
Golden Retriever
DOB: 07/16/2018
Happy was born in Ireland and immigrated to the US while she was eight weeks old. She joined the Ye lab in September 2018 and is now growing up with the group. She is in charge of sniffing around and digging out researchers buried in papers, codes, and test tubes. When not at work, Happy enjoys munching bones, sticks, and anything chewable.