https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/research daily 0.75 2024-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1609813467576-1M6WNBVSDAP9Y0CRQBLX/website_lab_schematic.png Research Figure 1. Transcriptomic profiling of bacteria upon antibiotic exposure (above), and of human immune cells at single-cell resolution in systemic infections (below), can inform our understanding of these important states and be co-opted for clinical diagnostics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1609815496512-7C3KWEXQ4H6D1D9I1MB8/Mel_GoPhAST-R_schematic_screenshot.png Research Figure 2. Melanie Martinsen’s cool schematic explaining how transcriptional profiling after antimicrobial exposure can be exploited to distinguish susceptible from resistant pathogens, accelerating AST. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1609817491339-J8YJFOFQI783AVRFIAKP/MS1_overview_fig_data.png Research Figure 3. MS1 monocytes are enriched in sepsis. (a) The fraction of MS1 cells (relative to total CD45+ cells) is higher in patients with sepsis (URO, SEP) than in healthy controls or those with urinary tract infections with leukocytosis but no signs of sepsis (Leuk-UTI). Asterisk = false discovery rate (FDR) ≤ 0.003 by Wilcoxon rank-sum test. (b) t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (tSNE) plot of monocytes colored by embedded density of cells from sepsis patients (left; dark = enriched in sepsis), or by cell state (right), showing enrichment of MS1 in sepsis. (c) Top marker genes differentially expressed (FDR < 0.05 by Wilcoxon rank-sum test) in MS1 cells relative to other cells. (d) Flow cytometry readily identifies MS1 via cell surface markers (low HLA-DR and high IL1R2 in CD14+ monocytes), demonstrating marked enrichment in patients with urosepsis (URO). https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/home daily 1.0 2025-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1609097093581-JR3IMWRO3PSOYM5KPDFR/Roby_2018_crop.jpg Home - Positions & Affiliations Assistant Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School Faculty, Harvard PhD program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Education & Training Attending physician, Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases division, 2013-present Postdoctoral fellow, Broad Institute, 2012-2019; adviser: Deborah Hung, MD PhD Chief Resident, Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine, 2011-2012 Infectious Disease fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 2010-2011; 2012-2013 Internal Medicine resident, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2007-2010 MD, University of California at San Francisco, 2007 PhD, University of California at San Francisco, “Tetrad” program (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), 2007; thesis adviser: Wendell Lim, PhD MS, University of Chicago, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, 1998; thesis adviser: Tobin Sosnick, PhD BS, University of Chicago, Biological Chemistry, 1998 Interests & Hobbies Aside from science & medicine, Roby can mainly be found chasing his two young kids around. Before fatherhood, he used to enjoy tennis, frisbee, reading, hiking, camping, and climbing imitation or occasionally real rocks and sometimes mountains. Now he enjoys tennis, climbing, and reading himself to sleep. https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/philosophy daily 0.75 2021-01-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1609557314883-D6J9UI71ZAJVT44JBNFF/DEI_image.jpg Philosophy - Our lab aspires to be a kind, collaborative, and inclusive environment in which to pursue rigorous science that addresses important questions in infectious diseases. We value diversity of thought, experience, and therefore identity, and we believe that this diversity enriches the science we do, the questions we choose to ask, and the people we become. Science is a journey, and sometimes (at least in my experience) a difficult one, but it can be tremendously rewarding as well. Pushing the boundaries of knowledge is hard; it’s supposed to be. To paraphrase one of my first scientific mentors, Tobin Sosnick, if it was both easy and important, someone else would have done it by now. My goal is that our lab helps each other to recognize the important questions and to devise tractable experimental and computational approaches to answering them, and also to enjoy the process. I have found this one-page essay, “The importance of stupidity in scientific research”, to be surprisingly liberating as a young scientist; if you’ve read this far, I encourage you to read it. I am often most inspired by questions that I am not capable of answering alone, and because of that I have come to embrace collaborative science. I would not have made it as far as I have in science without incredible mentors, and I continue to rely on mine. I strive to provide scientific and career mentorship to my lab members - on how to identify and answer important scientific questions, to communicate scientific results in a clear and compelling manner at all stages of the scientific process, and to identify and achieve career goals. In order to do that to the level I aspire to for every member of my lab, I plan to keep my lab small (but mighty!). Poster adapted with gratitude from sammykatta.com https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/people daily 0.75 2026-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1758814867855-5JF7S1DCUS0ORKPVNLCU/2025.09.24_lab_dinner.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1667468017758-V1T8JCRGFYEBY34DTMB4/IMG_0513.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1652293853136-ATVBBN9LSUHCN7CYSLYO/lab_lunch_b012f9f0-c4d3-4ebf-92a4-b2accd4806bf.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1623341639244-3IQLJHKC7H07NET10M6F/IMG_3344%2B%25281%2529.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1623342062569-RDXN2TD8IQYWDU4YL5YJ/IMG_3339.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/36cbc134-2ec7-4e39-be0a-39b95d70a493/Dx_crew_8aef86ed-be1c-4464-a68a-2dbab8aeb820.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/5b9fdc03-1ad7-4430-bdd3-a5b9aa5ffd26/IMG_0911.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1686850184816-OF4DYS01GH3ZKNRXI0J6/IMG_1708.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1686850449279-H68IYJP3Z3P1S6C4BVSL/IMG_1833.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/87d85ac7-91c1-4963-add7-55001a8dde45/IMG_6006.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/1711189292219-57JVIHEVJ3JPGYAG41BB/IMG_5676.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/922c086f-6515-48b8-bed5-1596a4e2e615/2024.07_A4_lab_lunch_Eleanor_farewellIMG_7005.jpg People https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/64ea5fd1-2e78-4845-b75d-9da8bfe94790/2022.10_Roby_crop.jpg People - Roby Bhattacharyya, MD PhD Principal Investigator (2019 - ) As the PI of the Bhattacharyya lab (since 2019), Roby finds himself amazed at how abruptly he went from mainly doing science to mainly thinking, reading, and writing about science while trying to set up his lab members to succeed in actually doing it, and while he still enjoys the chance to wield a pipet here and there, lab members are increasingly surprised to see him doing so. He also attends on the inpatient Infectious Diseases consult service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Broadly, his goal for the lab is to create a friendly, happy, collaborative, and intellectually rigorous environment in which to study the responses of pathogens to antimicrobials, and of humans to infection, with the ultimate aim of improving the care of infected patients. You can read more about our lab’s philosophy here, and the details of our research projects here or in the descriptions of each lab member below. Email: rbhatt {at} broadinstitute {dot} org Twitter: @roby_bhatt https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/74869dc9-acd3-48fd-9133-3a374fa2fd53/PierrePic.jpg People - Pierre Ankomah, MD PhD Tobias Keene, D.D.S. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Tobias Keene brings a bit of unabashed Southern hospitality to all his patients. He moved to Washington, D.C. over thirty years ago as a freshman at Ivy College. Right after graduation, he attended World University’s School of Dentistry. Before opening Keene Dental in 1994, he worked for free clinics and some of the finest practices in the District. He is part of the 123 Dental Association and stays up-to-date on the latest dental discoveries. When not striving to keep his patients happy and healthy, he’s enjoys hiking with his family in Rock Creek Park. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/8ce65f41-3106-4bda-88cd-db1baaa30168/David1.jpg People - David Roach, MD Postdoctoral fellow (2022 - ) David was born and raised in Washington State with some extensive time spent running feral in Montana when his parents needed a break. After going to college in Helena, MT, he went to medical school and did his residency at the University of Washington in Seattle. Afterwards, he spent two years working as an overnight intensive care physician during Covid and at this point in his life it's pretty tough to ruffle his feathers. He came to Boston to pursue his infectious disease fellowship and splits his time at MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital doing clinical care. Interestingly, he was in the hospital in Seattle when the first Covid patient was admitted and in the hospital at MGH when the first monkeypox patient was admitted... there seems to be a pattern. When not being a harbinger of pandemics, he enjoys doing research on antibiotic resistance and is hoping to develop a cost-effective approach to diagnosing highly resistant bacterial infections in low-income areas around the globe, with a focus on Latin America. His research is on Klebsiella pneumoniae and the SHERLOCK system, so if you have any tips or tricks on either of those please let him know. If he is not working you can find him listening to country music, pining for Seattle, and cooking dinner for friends, come join! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/0ab6d5f3-5114-4a2f-9f54-bcf1da50fb7a/Dipesh_Capture4.jpg People - Dipesh Solanky, MD Postdoctoral fellow (2024 - ) Born not too far away in New Jersey but raised quite further away in Arizona, Dipesh studied Genetics/Cell Biology at Arizona State University, received his MD at Mayo Medical School in Minnesota, and completed medicine residency at University of California, San Diego. His interest in molecular biology and ID began in high school as a summer intern at a biomedical research lab helping to design a homegrown, PCR-based assay for detecting Mycoplasma infection in pancreatic cancer cell lines. His interest in microbes only multiplied thereafter, working in a lab studying biochemical properties of antimicrobial clay-mineral mixtures during undergrad, and then doing clinical research on Clostridioides difficile infection during medical school and residency. He also spent time at the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia, where he helped investigate healthcare-associated outbreaks, implement infection prevention and control programs, and research antibiotic utilization and antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria colonization in Latin America. Dipesh was finally drawn back to the East Coast where he is completing his infectious diseases (ID) fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital here in Boston. His research in the Bhattacharyya Lab draws on his prior experiences to now confront an entirely different pathogen: using the SHERLOCK platform to diagnose high-risk types of HPV. Outside of work, Dipesh enjoys hiking, cooking, exploring new restaurants in the Boston area, and eating fermented foods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/e63b3a96-2eb1-4b66-b231-a17ddea02744/AlysonYee_IMG_0012.JPG People - Alyson Yee, MD PhD Postdoctoral fellow (2025 - ) Alyson was born in Washington, DC and spent her early days visiting various art and science museums. She first came to Boston for undergraduate at Tufts, where she studied biology and French. She then got to combine these interests on a Fulbright grant to France to work in a cheese lab, studying the aromatic compounds produced by different strains of dairy bacteria. She then attended the University of Chicago for her MD and her microbiology PhD, on the gut microbiome in preterm infants. She trained at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for Emergency Medicine residency and is now a research fellow, working clinical shifts in the Emergency Department at Beth Israel and its affiliated community hospitals. She is delighted to join the Bhattacharyya lab to help unravel the mystery of immune responses in sepsis. When not in the lab or the hospital, she enjoys running, reading, eating cheese, and visiting museums https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/76a6aa95-28ea-4125-96b2-9f553d1dc0bb/Austin_IMG_0959.jpg People - Austin Moore, MD PhD Postdoctoral fellow (2026 - ) Austin was born and raised in Austin, TX and attended The University of Texas at Austin (yes, he knows) before moving to Dallas to attend medical school at UT Southwestern. He completed an MD/PhD focused on fatty liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma, with firm, unshakeable plans to become a pediatric oncologist. After moving to Boston to complete pediatric residency, he saw the light and became fascinated by the field of Infectious Diseases, and he is now a clinical fellow in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases division at Boston Children's Hospital. He is joining the sepsis group in the Bhattacharyya Lab, with an interest in exploring how immune responses in sepsis differ between children and adults. Outside of the lab and hospital, Austin can be found spending time with his wife and baby-turned-toddler daughter, playing board games, finding excuses to sing and play trumpet, and watching college football. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/d3f0af0d-5a6e-4f25-97c4-db10ef5a10ef/JenniferSu_IMG_1913.png People - Jennifer Su, BS Graduate Student (2024 - ) Jennifer grew up in the Bay Area and completed her undergrad education at UCLA, where she majored in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. There, she studied the molecular and mechanical basis by which progenitor and stem cells are regulated in the Jimmy Hu lab. Upon graduating in 2021, she ventured out to the East Coast for the first time to work as a research associate in the Tyler Jacks lab across the street at Koch Institute MIT. For two years, she elucidated the transcriptional subtypes of pancreatic cancer and explored the rising field of cancer neuroscience through spatial transcriptomics. Jennifer is now pursuing her PhD in the Harvard BBS program. Currently, she is interested in uncovering the molecular mechanisms behind the inoculum effect. Despite believing Boston is a food desert (controversial opinion), she enjoys exploring new cafes and restaurants during her free time. Her favorite cafe is Ogawa, which she frequented 39 times the first year she discovered it! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/87af59aa-5ce3-4cd6-8aef-e4b4441adf99/ZoeP_pic.jpg People - Zoe Pasetsky, BS Graduate Student (2025 - ) Zoe grew up in Brooklyn, NY and earned her B.S. in Biological Engineering from MIT. As an undergraduate, she conducted research in the Bryson Lab, contributing to the development of a fluorescent reporter to study bacterial cell death within live macrophages. After graduating in 2024, she joined Harvard’s BBS PhD program. In the Bhattacharyya Lab, Zoe is investigating genetic factors in Klebsiella pneumoniae that contribute to multidrug resistance. Outside of research, she can be found in the gym training for her next Olympic weightlifting competition! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/b05ae751-c0c9-478e-bc52-eb129ef209db/Leslie.png People - Leslie Lopez, BS Research Associate (2024 - ) Leslie grew up in Warminster, PA and graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Biochemistry & Biophysics. Although an aspiring astronomer at first, her interest in microbiology emerged from mentors and teachings in high school and college and she's been exploring weirdly sensible things bacteria do ever since. Now in the Bhattacharyya lab, she's helping investigate the mechanism behind the inoculum effect in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales. Outside of the lab, Leslie loves hiking western Mass, watching films, and hunting down the ingredients for the best matcha latte. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/bf841c03-cf86-4369-836f-6ffd940adcb5/AidanG_photo.png People - Aidan Greenaway, BS Research Associate (2025 - ) Aidan grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and Computational Biology. His undergraduate research in En Cai’s lab involved developing analysis pipelines for the localization of T cell membrane proteins. Leaving the Steel City for Boston, he is joining the Bhattacharyya Lab to continue work on understanding sepsis immunopathogenesis. Outside the lab, Aidan enjoys exploring new areas on walks, listening to all kinds of music (disco is his current obsession), and playing board games with friends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/df73fc63-982a-4f9c-895d-fe5fec469d8e/Shriya_1714571790879.jpeg People - Shriya Bhat Undergraduate Researcher (2024 - ) Shriya is from Dallas, TX and is studying Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard College. In high school, she studied the grape-candy smelling bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and became engrossed in its biofilm forming mechanisms and the secret cross-talk that occurs between different actors in polymicrobial communities. Since then, she has conducted research at various research settings, from academic institutions to biopharma, becoming fascinated by the molecular basis for gene expression and omics and gene-editing technologies. She is currently working with Dr. David Roach to develop rapid bacterial diagnostics using CRISPR-Cas enzymatic systems: her long term goal is to practice medicine with the hopes of deploying cutting-edge molecular tools in the clinic. Outside the lab, you can find her swimming at the MAC, indulging in any East or South Asian cuisine, or picking up another random hobby (of recent interest has been crochet). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/24b7f560-3899-4d01-a97f-03d0318094f1/AidanW_pic.jpg People - Aidan Wang Undergraduate researcher (2025 - ) Aidan is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is an undergraduate student at Harvard College. As part of the Bhattacharyya lab, Aidan is conducting research in the field of antifungal resistance under Dr. Liz Yee. During his free time, he enjoys trying new restaurants around Boston and playing sports with friends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/63886a2d-8cc0-4ca9-89f9-c7ff615c8ad1/Mel_temp_e4qAaqoH.jpg People Melanie Martinsen, research associate (2019-2021). Current position: MD-PhD student, Brown University https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/3227b705-5e90-4aaa-a1de-30067b2fba16/Matzko_0E44C3A6-0865-468C-9BB6-E2DDD67512D6.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/ab1ab819-db08-4701-9503-615d04a65811/Alasdair_IMG_7377.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/588a4c25-d2ad-40a7-ab2d-556112f6e77b/Kyra_Lab_Website_Photo.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/7c959985-3ef3-43a4-a345-fb5ffc071c99/Alex_1920_x_1080.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/46c7558f-b2a2-4e3b-9c75-f0285233ec1e/Selama.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/f3777493-99e7-4e9c-bb14-3a50e6851786/eleanor.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/cf5d4b76-4292-4efc-8bef-5957e4ec8766/Eden_lab_pic.jpeg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/03a31608-656f-4c3b-80dd-8830e97d3ab6/Pun_1685704626071.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/b1def3b4-7078-4d38-8de2-6492f1148b8a/Alyssa+Lab+Pic.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/412ebbf2-70f4-4f0f-83a6-3b37e020fbb0/NoahB_pic.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/32c8ab6c-8e57-4c16-982e-c0004f0dac3d/Liz.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe877f2a897d33f7e6e753e/8cb1e6ac-d883-4949-8245-87403bd0d7c7/Jonathan_DSC_0040.jpg People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/publications daily 0.75 2026-07-11 https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/humblebrags daily 0.75 2026-07-11 https://www.bhattacharyyalab.org/contact daily 0.75 2023-08-07