Raul Rabadan, PhD, professor of systems biology and of biomedical informatics, has been named a 2020 Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate. Announced Nov. 18, Dr. Rabadan is one of 45 Columbia University faculty members who were selected for the annual list. 

The Highly Cited Researchers annual report recognizes researchers who have had major impacts in their fields. To be named to the list, researchers must produce multiple papers ranking in the top 1% globally by citations for their field and year of publication, demonstrating significant research influence among their peers.

Dr. Rabadan, founding director of Columbia's Program for Mathematical Genomics, also was named to the list in 2019, along with fellow Systems Biology faculty member, Xuebing Wu, PhD.

The Department of Systems Biology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center is pleased to welcome new faculty member, Mohammed AlQuraishi , PhD, effective Sept. 21. Dr. AlQuraishi joins Columbia as an assistant professor and as a member of Columbia’s Program for Mathematical Genomics. 

Prior to joining Columbia, Dr. AlQuraishi served as a fellow of systems pharmacology and systems biology at Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD in genetics and master’s in statistics from Stanford University. At Santa Clara University, he earned two bachelor’s degrees in biology and in computer engineering. 

A Bay Area transplant via Baghdad and Kuala Lumpur, Dr. AlQuraishi spent most of his teenage years in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to the east coast for postdoctoral work. Influenced by the dot-com boom of the early 2000s in the Bay Area, Dr. AlQuraishi founded two startups in the mobile computing space before focusing on a career in academia. His circuitous path to systems biology and academic research ultimately blended his genuine interest and expertise in computer programming, mathematics, molecular biology, and science more broadly.

“What drew me to biology is its similarity to software, the fact that cells are always executing a sort of program," he says. "And just like programs, cells are more than a parts list—they are complex and interconnected in myriad ways. To tame this complexity we need synthesis, and that is the promise and challenge of systems biology.”

One of the immune system’s oldest branches, called complement, may be influencing the severity of COVID disease, according to a new study from Drs. Sagi Shapira and Nicholas Tatonetti at the Department of Systems Biology.

Drs. Nicholas Tatonetti (left) and Sagi Shapira

Among other findings linking complement to COVID, the researchers found that people with age-related macular degeneration—a disorder caused by overactive complement—are at greater risk of developing severe complications and dying from COVID.

The connection with complement suggests that existing drugs that inhibit the complement system could help treat patients with severe COVID-19.

The study was published in Nature Medicine . For the full article , visit the Columbia University Irving Medical Center Newsroom. 

Raul Rabadan , PhD, is an expert in uncovering patterns of evolution in highly dynamic biological systems, including in complex diseases like cancer. As the author of Understanding Coronavirus , a new book published by Cambridge University Press in June,  Dr. Rabadan, who originally began his academic career in mathematical physics, has set out to provide readers an accessible overview that quells misinformation about the novel virus, its origin, causes, and spread.

Dr. Rabadan co-directs the Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics research program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) , is professor of systems biology and of biomedical informatics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons , and directs Columbia’s Program for Mathematical Genomics . He joined Columbia in 2008 right before the novel influenza, H1N1 or “swine flu”, emerged and quickly spread across the U.S. and the world.

At the time, Dr. Rabadan’s work honed in on understanding the genomic changes in a virus infecting a host and investigating how these changes contribute to the virus’ transfer to a different species. He continues to be fascinated by what can be gleaned from examining disease evolution.

When COVID-19 cases surged through the U.S., particularly in New York City in March, Dr. Rabadan—like many fellow scientists—contributed his research toward developing a treatment or vaccine. Scheduled to be on sabbatical this year, Dr. Rabadan instead remained quarantined with his family in New York City, shifting his attention to the new book and his own ongoing work in the genomics of cancer and COVID-19 research.

Read a Q+A with Dr. Rabadan, here . 

At first, Xuebing Wu , PhD, was on track to pursue a research career in computer engineering. After taking a course by Dr. Yanda Li, a pioneer of bioinformatics, Dr. Wu’s interest quickly shifted and he soon got hooked on genomics research and computational biology.

Xuebing Wu, PhD

“Around that time—2003 to 2004—the human genome project had just been completed, and there had been lots of enthusiasm about using computational approaches to decipher the human genome,” he said. “I was excited to dive into this field that seemed wide open for research possibilities.”

Dr. Wu joined Columbia University’s Department of Systems Biology in the fall of 2018, with a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine’s Cardiology Division . He also is a member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia and the Columbia Data Science Institute , and his lab straddles basic science and computational biology. Dr. Wu and collaborators often consider how their work can make an impact in novel therapeutics. 

At the center of his interests is understanding the fundamental principles of gene regulation in human cells through integrative genomics approaches. His previous work has uncovered important roles of RNA sequence and structure signals in controlling the expression and evolution of the mammalian genome. His lab currently studies RNA-centric gene regulation, focusing on mRNA structures and mRNA translation. Dr. Wu and his team are increasingly turning their attention to the development of genomic technologies such as the revolutionary CRISPR/Cas system and a high throughput analysis technology called massively parallel reporter assays (MPRA), as well as novel computational tools and deep learning models to study gene regulation at a global scale. 

Raul Rabadan, PhD, (standing) with Francesco Brundu, postdoctoral research scientist in the Rabadan lab (Credit: Jeffrey Schifman)

Congratulations to Drs. Raul Rabadan and Xuebing Wu who were recently named a Highly Cited Researcher, according to the 2019 list from the Web of Science Group . Overall, Columbia University ranked 15th on the list of global institutions, with a total of 47 Highly Cited Researchers.

The Highly Cited Researchers list, which was released Nov. 19,  identifies scientists and social scientists who have produced multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication, demonstrating significant research influence among their peers.

Xuebing Wu, PhD

Dr. Rabadan is professor of systems biology , with a joint appointment in biomedical informatics, at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons . At Columbia, the Rabadan lab consists of an interdisciplinary team developing mathematical and computational tools to extract useful biological information from large data sets. In 2017, Dr. Rabadan established the Program for Mathematical Genomics , a multidisciplinary research hub that brings together researchers from the fields of mathematics, physics, computer science, engineering, and medicine, with the common goal of solving pressing biomedical problems through quantitative methods and analyses. He also serves as program lead for the Cancer Genomics and Epigenomics Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NYP/Columbia. 

A wide range of research topics, from studies related to pediatric cancer and glioblastoma to soil microbial communities and electronic health records analysis—were presented and discussed at this year’s Department of Systems Biology (DSB) retreat. 

Eugene Douglass, postdoctoral research scientist in the Andrea Califano lab, was one of the featured presenters at the two-day retreat. For a photo gallery, view the DSB Retreat Photo Album.

Held over two days for the first time, October 3 to 4 in Ellenville, NY, the retreat gave DSB faculty, post-docs, and students a chance to get away from the bustle of New York City, learn about their peers’ research, both from Morningside labs and CUIMC labs, and network. The department this year expanded its annual program over two days, encouraging more peer-to-peer connecting and devoted the spotlight specifically to research by young investigators. 

DSB researchers and graduate students participated in a poster competition held the first evening, and reviewed by Systems Biology faculty judges. At the end of the second day’s program, three Best Poster winners were announced by Andrea Califano, Dr, chair of the department. Poster competition winners this year were: Dafni Glinos , PhD, postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Tuuli Lappalainen at New York Genome Center/Systems Biology; Alexander Kitaygorodsky , a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Yufeng Shen; and Jordan Metz , an MD/PhD graduate student in the lab of Dr. Peter Sims. The poster winners gave presentations on the final day of the retreat and received a cash prize and an award certificate. 

Winning Research:

Dafni Glinos

Long-Read Sequencing to Study Allelic Effects on Transcriptome Structure