Lucas Farnung, PhD

Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, HMS
Lucas completed his doctoral thesis at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Lab of Patrick Cramer). As a postdoctoral fellow and project leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Lucas worked to elucidate molecular mechanisms of transcription. His work focuses on processes at the intersection of transcription, replication, and chromatin.
EmaiL: Lucas_Farnung@hms.harvard.edu
Allison James, PhD

Post-doctoral researcher
Allison is a postdoc in the lab. Allison graduated from the Biological & Biomedical Sciences program in 2025. She joined the lab in 2021. Before coming to Harvard, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry at Duke University.
Email: ajames@g.harvard.edu
Martin Filipovski

Post-doctoral researcher
Martin is a postdoc in the lab. Martin graduated from the Biological & Biomedical Sciences program in 2025. He joined the lab in 2021. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Biophysics at Brown University.
Email: martin_filipovski@g.harvard.edu
Jon Markert, PhD

Post-doctoral researcher
Jon is a postdoc in the lab with a background in biochemistry and biophysics. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his PhD in the Luger lab at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Email: Jonathan_Markert@hms.harvard.edu
Manuel Osorio Valeriano, PhD

Post-doctoral researcher
Manuel is a postdoc in the lab. He completed his PhD in the Thanbichler lab at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany. Manuel is a Damon Runyon Fellow and has been awarded the Philip O'Bryan Montgomery, Jr., MD Fellowship.
Email: Manuel_OsorioValeriano@hms.harvard.edu
Sophie Roth

PhD candidate
Sophie is a graduate student in the Farnung lab. Before joining the lab in 2024, Sophie completed her International Master of Biomedicine program at Université du Luxembourg, Université de Strasbourg, and Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
Email: Sophie_Roth@hms.harvard.edu
Felix Steinruecke

PhD candidate
Felix is a graduate student in the Biological & Biomedical Sciences program. Felix joined the lab in 2022. Before coming to Harvard, he completed his Bachelor's degree in Biology and Computer Science at Duke University. Felix is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.
Email: felix_steinruecke@g.harvard.edu
Della Syau

PhD candidate
Della is a graduate student in the Biological & Biomedical Sciences program. She joined the lab in 2023. Before coming to Harvard, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UC San Diego.
Email: dsyau@g.harvard.edu
Alex Stone

PhD candidate
Alex is a graduate student in the Biophysics program at HMS and joined the lab in 2023. He obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Bioengineering from Cornell University and worked as a technician at the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine.
Email: alexander_stone@g.harvard.edu
Serena Harden

PhD candidate
Serena is a graduate student in the Harvard Biophysics program. She joined the lab in 2024. Before coming to Harvard, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto.
Email: serenaharden@g.harvard.edu
Jean Beltran Jusino

BBS graduate student
Jean is a graduate student in the Biological & Biomedical Sciences program. He joined the lab in 2025. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Biology at Davidson College.
Quentin Smith

Post-doctoral researcher
Quentin is a joint postdoc with Taekjip Ha. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Kent and he continued to do a research Master’s degree in Biochemistry. Most recently, he completed his PhD in the Rueda Lab at Imperial College London.
Email: quentin_smith@hms.harvard.edu
Allen P. Zinkle

Post-doctoral researcher
Allen ZInkle is an incoming postdoc in the lab starting in October 2025. He obtained his PhD from Columbia University.