People
Research Team
Haotian (Howie) Wu, PhD
- Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
His research focuses on identifying harmful environmental exposures and understanding the molecular targets that connect these environmental hazards with adverse health effects across the lifespan.
Laboratory Staff
Ivan Pantic
- Laboratory Coordinator
Ivan is an analytical chemist, with a strong background in environmental health research. He holds an MS in analytical chemistry from the University of Kragujevac, Serbia. Ivan's career includes coordinating epidemiological studies at the Harvard School of Public Health (Metals Epidemiology Research Group and Environmental Epigenomics Lab) and at the National Institute of Perinatology in Mexico City. Outside of the lab, he loves to bake and spend time with his daughters.
Gabriela Jackson
- Project Coordinator
Gabriela graduated from Barnard College in 2020 with a B.A. in Environmental Science and Spanish & Latin American Cultures. She is currently obtaining her MS in Environmental Health Data Science at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Her undergraduate research experience focused largely on plant ecology, soil dynamics, and Hudson River water contamination. Prior to transitioning to lab administration, she worked as a technician on the lab's many large-scale wet lab projects. In her free time, she enjoys gluten-free cooking, reading, and long walks around the city.
Fang Wang
- Senior Technician
Fang earned a master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Shanghai University in China. During her graduate studies, she mainly conducted research on the molecular mechanism underlying floury endosperm formation in maize. After completing her degree, Fang worked in the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, she works as a lab technician in the Baccarelli Lab. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling.
Gayatri Ketavarapu
- Lab Technician
Gayatri graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 2019 with a BA in Molecular Biology. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she moved to New York from California and conducted research for a few years in a synthetic protein engineering lab at NYU. She is currently pursuing her MPH in Epidemiology with a certificate in Molecular Epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. In her free time, Gayatri loves trying new restaurants, reading, crafting, and hanging out with friends and family.
Katie DeSantis
- Staff Associate
Katie graduated from Bates College with a B.A. in Biology with General Education Concentrations in Physics and The Human Body. Her undergraduate experience emphasized work in conservation biology and ecology. Prior to working in the Wu Lab, Katie worked in the Pearson Lab helping with projects releated to environmental toxicology, maintaining colonies of mice and African Turqouise Killifish. Katie now splits her time between the Wu and Kupsco labs. In her free time Katie likes to hang with her cat, Grandpaw Tony, and walk around the city trying new food!
Postdoctoral Scientists
Biancamaria Pierri
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Biancamaria obtained a Ph.D. in Translational Medicine of Development and Active Aging from the University of Salerno in Italy, where she also earned a BS and MS in Biology with honors. She conducted research at the National Reference Center for analysis and correlation study of environment, animals and humans (Zooprophylactic Institute of Southern Italy), focusing on human biomonitoring studies with a particular emphasis on DNA methylation analysis. She also contributed to multiple research projects related to COVID-19. As a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Baccarelli Lab, her interest is to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying aging and human diseases related to environmental exposure, by implementing Next Generation Sequencing methods and exploring genetic and epigenetic modifications. She is also pursuing a postgraduate specialization school in Medical Genetics at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy). In her free time, she loves good food, traveling, dancing, and relaxing by the sea.
Wending Li
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Wending Li received his Ph.D. degree in Occupational and Environmental Health from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. He has a broad research interest in environmental, occupational, and cardiometabolic health. His main research area resides in dissecting the role of microRNAs in multiple human health conditions with an environmental origin. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, jogging, and exploring nature.
Paolo Reho
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Paolo obtained his PhD degree in Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Pavia (Italy). He began his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland. There, his work focused on uncovering the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases. He has a genuine interest in exploring the interplay between genetics and environmental exposures in the development of human diseases and individual drug responses. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends, and watching soccer matches.
Students
Frequent Collaborators
Christina Eckhardt
- Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pulmonary Medicine
Christina earned her MD from the State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine and completed her residency training in internal medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at Columbia and completed an MS in patient-oriented research through the Mailman School of Public Health. Her research interests include inhalational exposures and epigenetic changes as a mediator of incident lung disease. Outside of the lab, her interests include triathlons, skiing, and playing soccer.
Christian Dye
Christian Ka’ikekūponoaloha Dye is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Laboratory of Precision Environmental Health, under the direction of Andrea Baccarelli. His research focuses on the interface between environmental exposures and metabolic diseases, utilizing epigenetic information to develop novel biomarkers of disease risk. Further, by utilizing epigenetic data, he seeks to elucidate the potential epigenetic mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Christian Dye received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa under the mentorship of Alika Maunakea, where he focused on identifying immunoepigenetic signatures in monocytes of chronic disorders, particularly insulin resistance syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and dementia. His long-standing interest in chronic diseases stem from his passion for his Native Hawaiian community, wherein his community is disproportionately at risk to adverse health outcomes. Christian Dye seeks to eventually bridge his work in epigenetic epidemiology with inclusive community-based research with underrepresented populations, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Vrinda Kalia
Vrinda Kalia received her Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from Columbia University after having received her MPH in the topic from the same university. She earned her undergraduate degree in pharmacy from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Karnataka, India. Her dissertation work determined the metabolic consequences of proteotoxicity and exposure to the persistent pesticide DDT in the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans. In the Baccarelli lab, her research focuses on using an exposomic framework to discover environmental drivers of aging. In her free time, she loves to cook, dance, and learning to animate.
