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Current Members

Taylor Aucutt

Taylor Aucutt, BS

Lab Technician

I graduated from the University of Utah in 2020 with a major in biology–emphasis in cellular and molecular biology, alongside minors in chemistry, psychology, and ceramics. I have been a part of the Camp Lab since 2016, during which time I have had opportunities to participate in UROP for three semesters, present the Camp Lab research twice, and publish an abstract in the 2020 Undergraduate Research Journal. My major responsibilities in the lab include (but are not limited to): Processing bio-specimens, RNA/DNA extractions, and maintaining samples and lab organization. I intend on attaining a PhD in biology and continue contributing to the research community.

Brian Avery

Brian Avery, PhD, MStat

Biostatistician

Brian is a recovering cell biologist, geneticist, and teacher who made the leap to statistics and genetic data analysis. He actually enjoys data munging (ew!), thinks data visualization is fun, and thinks every project should be reproducible. Brian likes tinkering with new methods, especially computational tricks and statistical learning techniques. He bounces between R and Python and has a soft spot for Linux systems. When not nerding out, he enjoys making espresso, reading sci-fi, gardening, and biking.

brian.avery@hci.utah.edu

Brandt Jones

Brandt Jones

Lab Manager

I have been involved in research at the University of Utah since 1990. I have been running the lab for Nicki Camp since 2012. As lab manger, my current duties include the daily laboratory operations, training students, and assisting in experimental design and application. I develop and ensure standard operating procedures are maintained and adhered to. I am also responsible for coordinating with collaborators here at the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute as well as national and international collaborators.

brandt.jones@hsc.utah.edu

Thanh Le

Thanh Le

Undergraduate, Lab Aide

I am on a PreMed route double majoring in Health, Society, and Policy alongside International Studies - Global Health. I hope to become a physician in order to support low-income populations. I am a first generation student from a low-income household and I aspire to become better through the pursuit of education. I discovered Dr. Camp’s research through the PathMaker program at HCI. I'm passionate about our labs research as many of my family members have been affected by cancer. I am excited about being part of this research.

Michael Madsen

Michael Madsen

Biostatistician

I am a biostatistician who has worked with Nicki Camp since 2016. I have primarily focused on genetic analysis of complex diseases in large pedigrees and multi-dimensional transcriptomics. As my daughters would say, "I like looking at pictures of dots." My happy place is floating on a river somewhere in Southern Utah.

myke.madsen@hci.utah.edu

Camila Nieto

Camila Nieto

Undergraduate, Lab Aide

I have been working in the lab since 2018. As a current University of Utah student, the experience I have gained while working in the lab has been tremendously rewarding. My job is to help with extractions, recording of data, and organizing lab equipment. My goal is to pursue a career in the medical/research field once I graduate.

Rob Sargent

Rob Sargent, BSc

Programmer/Software Engineer - Camp Lab

Focused mainly on the SGS software suite, including file preparation, project deployment, and cloud-based SaaS execution. Still skating after all these years.

rob.sargent@utah.edu

Sandie Strauss

Sandie Strauss

Program Manager

As a division manager in the Internal Medicine Department at the University of Utah for 20 years, I was responsible for the administrative, financial, human resources, and logistical operations of the division. Since leaving that position in 2015, I have thoroughly enjoyed working part time as program manager for the amazing Nicki Camp and her fabulous team. It provides the perfect balance of work and leisure.

sandra.strauss@hci.utah.edu

Justin Williams

Justin Williams

Senior Clinical Research Coordinator

I’m involved in sample collection, processing, and data management for the Camp Lab. My primary focus is on hematological malignancies and breast cancer. I coordinate the consenting of patients and collection of samples to be used in various applications such as genotyping and sequencing. Together with these samples, I collect and prepare clinical data variables that are used as part of in-house applications as well as national and international collaborations.

Outside of work I enjoy camping, fishing, hiking, and soccer.

justin.williams@hci.utah.edu

Former Members

Mahathi Challapalli

Graduate Student, Biomedical Informatics

I recently graduated with a MS in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Utah, with an emphasis on handling genomic data. As a graduate assistant at the Camp lab during my MS studies, I focused on breast tissue and breast tumor whole transcriptome data, high-density SNP genotyping data, pathology and mammographic density data. I explored issues of harmonization, and designing tools to associate these different data types. It was an immense pleasure to work at the Camp lab and be part of the team.

Julie Feusier, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
julie.feusier@hci.utah.edu

Julie Feusier received her PhD studying de novo retrotransposition rates in human families. She is interested in studying the genetics and transcriptomics in human disease. Her main project in the Camp Lab is to find ways to better characterize the transcriptome in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Nathan Harris, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
nathan.harris@hci.utah.edu

Nathan is a postdoctoral research associate in the Camp and Hanson labs. He finished his MS and PhD in anthropological genetics at the University of Utah. His past research projects in anthropology centered around natural selection in the human genome and introgression of archaic hominins. His current research interests include patterns of multiple cancer types within families and developing genomic profiles for cancer susceptibility.

Rosalie Waller, PhD

Graduate Student, Biomedical Informatics

The goals of my dissertation were to develop approaches to address and model heterogeneity to identify genomic variation involved in myeloma risk and prognosis. My dissertation focused on three projects. The first described a novel family-based method designed to overcome heterogeneity statistically and identified the first familial susceptibility variants for myeloma. The second project interrogated exome sequencing in a small number of familial or early-onset myeloma cases at common loci associated with blood cancers. The third project shifted to disease prognosis and tumor variation and described a novel framework for transcriptome data using multiple independent traits, called spectra. These translational bioinformatics approaches addressed a critical gap – how to search omics datasets to determine factors that contribute to human complex disease.

I am now a postdoctoral research associate at the Mayo Clinic studying germline-tumor interactions in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas.