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Organizing Committee

Ilana Brito

Assistant Professsor

Cornell University 

Ilana specializes both in the experimental and computational sides of microbiome research. Her lab employs a combination of microbial engineering, single-cell sequencing approaches, and novel computational algorithms applied to metagenomic data to better understand the relationship between human health and the microbiome. She has a long-standing interest in infectious disease and global health which percolate throughout her research.  She also loves trail running and running after her chickens. 

​Ana Maria Porras

Postdoctoral Researcher

Cornell University 

Ana is a Biomedical Engineer trained in the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering. In her postdoc, she is learning about gut microbes and the relationships with their hosts. Specifically, Ana is interested in the differences between the microbiomes of populations in developed and developing nations, and in understanding the effects of those differences on human health. Being from Colombia, this is a topic close to her heart. When she's not doing that, she likes to dance, swim, read, bake, crochet, and travel.

Abi Anima

Undergraduate Student

Cornell University 

Abi has been interested in the microbiome since she got a hold of a New Yorker article titled "Germs Are Us" six years ago. Under Ana's direction, she is currently developing tools to engineer gut microbes. She is a junior majoring in Biological Sciences and Philosophy, and would like to combine both in her career. She hopes to pursue a PhD and study the microbial components of inflammatory bowel syndrome. n her free time, Abi likes to sing, watch opera, write, and take candid shots of Ithaca.

For more information on the Brito lab, please visit our website: https://www.britolab.org/

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