Postdoctoral Fellow
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Megha Lal joined the Ruffner lab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as Postdoctoral Fellow in March 2021. She received her B.S. and M.S from the University of Delhi, India. She earned her Ph.D. in July 2020 from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, India where she studied the impact and regulation of imprinted microRNA clusters in human cancer using bioinformatic approaches. Her postdoc project focuses on investigation of the mechanisms of non-IgE mediated food allergies like eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). It is hypothesized that the inflammatory milieu stimulates epigenetic changes that triggers the clinical manifestations observed in the non-classical food allergies. Her research interest involves multi-omics data integration, data visualization and its clinical application. Skilled in next generation sequencing analysis with special emphasis on transcriptomics and epigenomics, she has developed a knack for presenting large, complex datasets into “easy-to-interpret” and “interesting” visualizations. In addition to the post-doc, she is also pursuing a Masters in Bioinformatics from NYU. She currently chairs the “Women in Science” committee at CHOP which provides support to fellow women post docs, discuss their personal and professional needs, offer career development and networking opportunities. She is an inquisitive person who enjoys learning new facts and acquiring knowledge. In her free time, she enjoys reading thriller/mystery fiction, dancing and traveling.
