Hu:Members
Laboratory of Genomic Data Science and Epigenome Biology
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology
School of Medicine
West Virginia University
Principal Investigator
Gangqing (Michael) Hu, Ph.D
07/2019 - Present: Tenure Track Assistant Professor
07/2019 - Present: Director of the Bioinformatics Core
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology
School of Medicine
West Virginia University
07/2013-06/2019: Staff Scientist
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
07/2009-06/2013: Postdoctoral Associate
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
09/2004 - 08/2009: Ph.D. in BME
Peking University, Beijing, China
09/2000 - 07/2004: B.S. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Peking University, Beijing, China
Post Doctoral Fellows
Lei (Leo) Wang
10/2021 ~ Present
Joined as a postdoc in Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology at WVU. Leo obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Fudan University in 2014. Afterward, he has served Xinyang Normal University as a faculty and the Institute of Biophysics CAS as a guest fellow. He is interested in combining computational (dry) and experimental (wet) approaches to uncover transcriptional regulatory mechanisms on oncogenic processes, tumor microenvironment, and drug responses. In his free time, he enjoys music，reading, and walking.
Mohammad Iqbal Nouyed (Naved)
07/2025 ~ Present
[Place holder for self-intro]
PhD Students
Halima Akhter
01/2021 ~ present
Joined as a PhD student in Computer Science at WVU in Spring 2021. Halima got her Bsc. in Computer Science from Stamford University Bangladesh (class of 2014). Afterwards, she has worked as a software engineer in several multinational companies, focusing on machine learning and human-computer interactions. She likes to work with BIG data, implement computational algorithms, and figure out innovative ways for data visualization. Besides, she enjoys reading books, listening to music, and writing blogs on computer programming.
Weijun Yi
08/2021 ~ present
Joined as a PH.D. student in Computer Science at WVU. Weijun got his bachelor’s in Information Management from Central China Normal University (class of 2000) and MBA from Wuhan University (class of 2007). Since Fall 2017, he has studied at the department of computer science. He has possessed the professional knowledge on computer science, especially in data mining with machine learning and deep learning techniques. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and travelling with families.
Medical Students
Lauren Keplinger (Class of 2028)
02/2025 ~ present
Lauren joined the lab in 2025 as a first-year medical student at West Virginia University School of Medicine. She graduated from West Virginia University in 2024 with a degree in Chemistry. At WVU, she is vice president of Walk With A Future Doc and secretary of Parents in Medicine. She is also a member of the Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine Track. Her academic interests include the performance of artificial intelligence in dermatologic image analysis and the use of artificial intelligence to improve learning outcomes in medical training. In her free time, Lauren enjoys cooking, spending time with her husband and family, and playing with her cats.
Alexsandra Smith (Class of 2029)
09/2025 ~ present
Alexsandra joined the lab in 2025 as a first-year medical student at West Virginia University School of Medicine. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2024 with a degree in Biology and a minor in Health and Wellbeing. At WVU, she is involved in the Dermatology and Anesthesiology Interest Groups and serves as the chair of her class’s Wellness Committee.
Her academic interests include the ethical integration of artificial intelligence into clinical workflows and the use of AI to improve healthcare access in rural communities. In her free time, Alexsandra enjoys trying new coffee shops, taking spin classes, and walking her dog on the rail trail.
Angelina Hartley (Class of 2029)
11/2025 ~ present
Angelina joined the lab in 2025 as a first-year medical student at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. She graduated from Baylor University in 2024 with a BS in Neuroscience, and spent her gap year working as a medical assistant in a dermatology clinic. This experience sparked her interest in the intersection of dermatology and AI, and she looks forward to exploring additional ways AI can assist medical practice. She also serves as a member of the Academic Council for her MS1 class and as a secretary of a medical language club at WVU.
Undergraduate Students
Evelyn Shue (Class of 2027 at Duke; Pre-Med)
08/2021 ~ present
Evelyn joined the lab as a high schooler in 2021. She is a college junior majoring in Biology and Cultural Anthropology at Duke University on the pre-med track, and will be attending the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai after graduation under the Flexmed Early Assurance Program. She is interested in social determinants of health and AI's impact on the fields of science and medicine. In her free time, she likes filming documentaries, drawing/painting, and winter sports.
Lab Alumni
Aniello Infante (Bioinformatician)
Olamide Adegbamigbe (undergraduate summer intern)
Muhammad Shahid (Postdoctoral Associate)
Nikki Cannon (undergraduate student worker; next stop NIH)
Sean Elliott (lab research assistant)
Jasleen Gandhi (master student; next stop NIH)
Drake Aesoph (master student)
Lev Invanov (undergraduate summer intern)
Rachel_Mangano (IMMB undergraduate internship; next stop Vanderbilt)
Emily Lecea (IMMB undergraduate internship; next stop Dartmouth)
Tulika Sharma (Postdoctoral Associate)
Jinge Wang (Postdoctoral Associate; next stop Polygon Health Analytics)
Sebastian Adam Dziadowicz (PhD student; next stop CSHL)
Li Ma(Postdoctoral Associate)
Angela Wu (UCSD; Undergraduate student volunteer)
