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<!doctype html>
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<section class="intro" style="border:none">
<h1>Balliu Lab @ UCLA</h1>
<figure class="home-hero"><img src="media/banner/spring2026_lunch_b.jpg" alt="The Balliu Lab at a Spring 2026 lab lunch"><figcaption>The lab, Spring 2026</figcaption></figure>
<div class="read">
<p>We are a computational research group (est. July 2022) in the Departments of
<a href="https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/pathology">Pathology</a>,
<a href="https://compmed.ucla.edu/">Computational Medicine</a>, and
<a href="https://ph.ucla.edu/departments/biostatistics">Biostatistics</a> at
<a href="https://www.ucla.edu/">UCLA</a>. We develop novel statistical methods and
computational tools for analyzing high-dimensional repeated measures and intensive
longitudinal data, such as those arising from high-throughput genomic assays, mobile
phone and wearable sensors, and electronic health records.</p>
<p>We apply these methods to understand the genetic, molecular, cellular, and environmental
mechanisms underlying complex human traits and diseases, with a focus on metabolic and
psychiatric phenotypes.</p>
</div>
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</section>
<div class="home-cta"><a class="cta-btn" data-target="join" href="#join">Join us →</a><a class="cta-btn" data-target="reading" href="#reading">Papers we are reading →</a></div>
<section id="news">
<p class="label">News</p>
<div class="news">
<div class="d">Oct 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our IGVF consortium paper with the Plath, Luo, and Ernst labs on epigenomic heterogeneity and spatial organization during human cellular reprogramming is now available on <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.757424v1">bioRxiv</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Sep 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Bruna receives a WISH pilot research award from the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center and CTSI to study sex-specific digital signatures of depression.</p>
<div class="d">Aug 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our collaborative paper with the Dahl lab showing that cell-type-specific eQTLs underlie the genetic architecture of complex traits is now published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10577-6">Nature</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Aug 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Anshi, an incoming Biomathematics PhD student, is doing UCLA's <a href="https://grad.ucla.edu/life-at-ucla/diversity/california-alliance-for-graduate-education-and-the-professoriate-nsf-agep/ucla-competitive-edge-nsf-summer-transition-program-to-the-doctorate/">Competitive Edge Summer Transition to the Doctorate Research Program</a> with us. Welcome, Anshi!</p>
<div class="d">Aug 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our collaborative paper on the Digital Mental Health Study is now published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44482-026-00029-3">npj Digital Public Health</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Bruna presents at the <a href="http://computationalgenomics.bioinformatics.ucla.edu/">Computational Genomics Summer Institute 2026</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Karen receives the UCLA Faculty Women's Club Endowed Scholarship.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our <a href="https://github.com/BalliuLab/FastGxC">FastGxC</a> method for mapping context-specific eQTLs in bulk and single-cell data is now published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(26)00112-6">Cell Genomics</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Amaan receives the Abdelmonem A. Afifi Departmental Student Fellowship in Biostatistics.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Lise receives the Benjamin Huang Department Scholar Award for Excellence.</p>
<div class="d">May 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Karen receives the Dr. Ursula Mandel Scholarship, UCLA Division of Graduate Education.</p>
<div class="d">May 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Timothy awarded UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship Program funding for the second time.</p>
<div class="d">Apr 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our collaborative paper with the Pajukanta lab mapping single-cell eQTLs in subcutaneous adipose tissue is now published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72248-4">Nature Communications</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Mar 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Ronan joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Mar 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎓</span> Faye is accepted into the Human Medical Genetics and Genomics PhD program at <a href="https://www.cuanschutz.edu/graduate-programs/human-medical-genetics-and-genomics/admissions">CU Anschutz</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Nov 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Amaan joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Bruna attends the ASHG Annual Meeting.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Bruna attends the Apple Health Research Summit.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> The Digital Mental Health Study protocol paper is published on <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41256142/">medRxiv</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Timothy joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Sep 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Jenn joins the lab as our administrative assistant, here to save us all.</p>
<div class="d">Sep 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Lena presents at the IGVF Annual Meeting.</p>
<div class="d">Mar 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Justin joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Dec 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Lise joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Dec 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Charlie joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Anthony joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Karen joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Lena gives a platform presentation at ESHG.</p>
<div class="d">Feb 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Personalized mood prediction from smartphones published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01035-6">npj Digital Medicine</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Lena gives a platform presentation at ASHG.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Bruna receives the Bruins-in-Genomics Outstanding Mentorship Award.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Lena officially joins the lab (n of 2!).</p>
<div class="d">Apr 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Faye joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jan 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Stephanie joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jan 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Yuxuan joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2022</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎉</span> The Balliu Lab is established.</p>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="research">
<section id="research">
<p class="label">Research</p>
<div class="theme">
<div class="txt">
<h3>Mapping local and distal gene regulation across contexts</h3>
<p>Gene regulation is context-dependent, changing across contexts, e.g., cell types, tissues,
and environmental conditions. We build fast, powerful methods to map local (cis, FastGxC)
and distal (trans, Crocotel) context-dependent regulatory effects in both bulk and
single-cell data.</p>
<p class="meta">Methods: <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(26)00112-6">FastGxC</a> (local) and <b>Crocotel</b> (distal, in progress)</p>
</div>
<figure><div class="fig-ph">figure coming soon</div></figure>
</div>
<div class="theme">
<div class="txt">
<h3>Prioritizing candidate disease genes and their contexts of action</h3>
<p>The majority of association signals from GWAS of complex traits localize to noncoding
variants with putative gene regulatory effects. We develop statistical methods (CONTENT)
to prioritize the candidate genes mediating these associations and the cellular contexts
in which they act.</p>
<p class="meta">Methods: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33212-0">CONTENT</a> (cross-context TWAS) and <b>scMAGNET</b> (causal TWAS, in progress)</p>
</div>
<figure><div class="fig-ph">figure coming soon</div></figure>
</div>
<div class="theme">
<div class="txt">
<h3>Environmental modulators of genetic risk</h3>
<p>Human traits are shaped by both genes and environment, yet their interplay is poorly
understood. We couple controlled cellular perturbations with population-scale RNA and
ATAC sequencing and new gene by environment methods to find modifiable exposures that
mediate genetic risk.</p>
<p class="meta">Gene by environment, cellular perturbation (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.08.014">paper</a>)</p>
</div>
<figure><img src="media/gxe.jpg" alt="Gene by environment figure"></figure>
</div>
<div class="theme">
<div class="txt">
<h3>Digital biomarkers from consumer devices</h3>
<p>Personal devices give continuous, low-burden, objective measures of behavior and
physiology. We turn passive smartphone and wearable data into validated, context-aware
digital biomarkers linked to clinical outcomes and genetics, including personalized
prediction of depressive mood.</p>
<p class="meta"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01035-6">STAND</a> and the
<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41256142/">UCLA-Apple Digital Mental Health Study</a></p>
</div>
<figure><img src="media/digital.jpg" alt="Digital phenotyping figure"></figure>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="publications">
<section id="publications">
<p class="label">Selected publications</p>
<p class="allpubs"><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KvHIH9nZaiUC&hl=en">Full list of publications</a> · <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=(Balliu%2C%20Brunilda%5BAuthor%5D)%20OR%20Balliu%2C%20Bruna%5BAuthor%5D">PubMed</a></p>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2026</div>
<div>
<p class="t">FastGxC: fast and powerful context-specific eQTL mapping in bulk and single-cell data</p>
<p class="a">Krockenberger L, … Zaitlen N, <b>Balliu B</b>. <span class="v">Cell Genomics</span><span class="role">senior author</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(26)00112-6">Paper</a><a href="https://github.com/BalliuLab/FastGxC">Software</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2026</div>
<div>
<p class="t">Adipose single-cell epigenome and transcriptome localize genetic risk for cardiometabolic disease and accelerated aging</p>
<p class="a">Lee SHT, Kar A, … <b>Balliu B</b>*, Pajukanta P*. <span class="v">Nature Communications</span><span class="role">co-last author</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72248-4">Paper</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2024</div>
<div>
<p class="t">Personalized mood prediction from patterns of behavior collected with smartphones</p>
<p class="a"><b>Balliu B</b>*, Douglas C, Seok D, … Sankararaman S, Flint J*. <span class="v">npj Digital Medicine</span><span class="role">co-corresponding</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01035-6">Paper</a><a href="https://github.com/BrunildaBalliu/stand_mood_prediction">Code</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2025</div>
<div>
<p class="t">Comparing self-reported and physiological sleep quality from consumer devices to depression and neurocognitive performance</p>
<p class="a">Akre S, Cohen ZD, … <b>Balliu B</b>, Craske MG, Bui AAT. <span class="v">npj Digital Medicine</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01493-6">Paper</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2025</div>
<div>
<p class="t">Assessing the feasibility of large-scale digital sensing for depression and anxiety: the Digital Mental Health Study</p>
<p class="a">Douglas CS, Congdon E, Huang C, Seok D, Cohen ZD, … <b>Balliu B</b>. <span class="v">medRxiv</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41256142/">Manuscript</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2022</div>
<div>
<p class="t">Multi-context genetic modeling of transcriptional regulation resolves novel disease loci</p>
<p class="a">Thompson M, Gordon MG, Lu A, … <b>Balliu B</b>, Zaitlen N. <span class="v">Nature Communications</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33212-0">Paper</a><a href="https://github.com/cozygene/CONTENT">Software</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2021</div>
<div>
<p class="t">An integrated approach to identify environmental modulators of genetic risk factors for complex traits</p>
<p class="a"><b>Balliu B</b>*, Carcamo-Orive I*, Gloudemans MJ, … Knowles JW, Montgomery SB. <span class="v">American Journal of Human Genetics</span><span class="role">co-first</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.08.014">Paper</a><a href="https://github.com/BrunildaBalliu/PerturbationGxE">Code</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="pub">
<div class="yr">2019</div>
<div>
<p class="t">Genetic regulation of gene expression and splicing during a 10-year period of human aging</p>
<p class="a"><b>Balliu B</b>, Durrant M, de Goede O, … Ingelsson E, Montgomery SB. <span class="v">Genome Biology</span><span class="role">first author</span></p>
<p class="lnk"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-019-1840-y">Paper</a></p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="software">
<section id="software">
<p class="label">Software</p>
<div class="tool">
<h3><a href="https://github.com/BalliuLab/FastGxC">FastGxC ↗</a></h3>
<p>Fast, powerful mapping of context-specific (cis) regulatory effects from bulk and
single-cell data. Up to 9 times more powerful, reducing computation from years to minutes.</p>
</div>
<div class="tool">
<h3><a href="https://github.com/cozygene/CONTENT">CONTENT ↗</a></h3>
<p>Multi-context transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS), developed with collaborators
as an extension of FastGxC.</p>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="news">
<section id="news">
<p class="label">News</p>
<div class="news" style="max-height:none;overflow:visible;padding-right:0">
<div class="d">Oct 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our IGVF consortium paper with the Plath, Luo, and Ernst labs on epigenomic heterogeneity and spatial organization during human cellular reprogramming is now available on <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.757424v1">bioRxiv</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Sep 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Bruna receives a WISH pilot research award from the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center and CTSI to study sex-specific digital signatures of depression.</p>
<div class="d">Aug 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our collaborative paper with the Dahl lab showing that cell-type-specific eQTLs underlie the genetic architecture of complex traits is now published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10577-6">Nature</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Aug 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Anshi, an incoming Biomathematics PhD student, is doing UCLA's <a href="https://grad.ucla.edu/life-at-ucla/diversity/california-alliance-for-graduate-education-and-the-professoriate-nsf-agep/ucla-competitive-edge-nsf-summer-transition-program-to-the-doctorate/">Competitive Edge Summer Transition to the Doctorate Research Program</a> with us. Welcome, Anshi!</p>
<div class="d">Aug 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our collaborative paper on the Digital Mental Health Study is now published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44482-026-00029-3">npj Digital Public Health</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Bruna presents at the <a href="http://computationalgenomics.bioinformatics.ucla.edu/">Computational Genomics Summer Institute 2026</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Karen receives the UCLA Faculty Women's Club Endowed Scholarship.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our <a href="https://github.com/BalliuLab/FastGxC">FastGxC</a> method for mapping context-specific eQTLs in bulk and single-cell data is now published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(26)00112-6">Cell Genomics</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Amaan receives the Abdelmonem A. Afifi Departmental Student Fellowship in Biostatistics.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Lise receives the Benjamin Huang Department Scholar Award for Excellence.</p>
<div class="d">May 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Karen receives the Dr. Ursula Mandel Scholarship, UCLA Division of Graduate Education.</p>
<div class="d">May 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Timothy awarded UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship Program funding for the second time.</p>
<div class="d">Apr 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Our collaborative paper with the Pajukanta lab mapping single-cell eQTLs in subcutaneous adipose tissue is now published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72248-4">Nature Communications</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Mar 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Ronan joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Mar 2026</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎓</span> Faye is accepted into the Human Medical Genetics and Genomics PhD program at <a href="https://www.cuanschutz.edu/graduate-programs/human-medical-genetics-and-genomics/admissions">CU Anschutz</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Nov 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Amaan joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Bruna attends the ASHG Annual Meeting.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Bruna attends the Apple Health Research Summit.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> The Digital Mental Health Study protocol paper is published on <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41256142/">medRxiv</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Timothy joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Sep 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Jenn joins the lab as our administrative assistant, here to save us all.</p>
<div class="d">Sep 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Lena presents at the IGVF Annual Meeting.</p>
<div class="d">Mar 2025</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Justin joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Dec 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Lise joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Dec 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Charlie joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Anthony joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Karen joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Lena gives a platform presentation at ESHG.</p>
<div class="d">Feb 2024</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">📄</span> Personalized mood prediction from smartphones published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01035-6">npj Digital Medicine</a>.</p>
<div class="d">Oct 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎤</span> Lena gives a platform presentation at ASHG.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🏆</span> Bruna receives the Bruins-in-Genomics Outstanding Mentorship Award.</p>
<div class="d">Jun 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Lena officially joins the lab (n of 2!).</p>
<div class="d">Apr 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Faye joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jan 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Stephanie joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jan 2023</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">👋</span> Yuxuan joins the lab.</p>
<div class="d">Jul 2022</div><p class="x"><span class="ni-ic">🎉</span> The Balliu Lab is established.</p>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="people">
<section id="people">
<p class="label">Meet the team</p>
<div class="banner">
<div class="bslide active"><img src="media/banner/fastgxc.jpg" alt="Celebrating the FastGxC publication" style="object-position:50% 30%"><span class="bcap">Celebrating the FastGxC publication</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/lise_award.jpg" alt="Lise receives the Benjamin Huang Department Scholar Award" style="object-position:50% 42%"><span class="bcap">Lise receives the Benjamin Huang Department Scholar Award</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/lise_award_b.jpg" alt="Lise receives the Benjamin Huang Department Scholar Award" style="object-position:50% 34%"><span class="bcap">Lise receives the Benjamin Huang Department Scholar Award</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/spring2026_lunch.jpg" alt="Spring 2026 lab lunch" style="object-position:50% 46%"><span class="bcap">Spring 2026 lab lunch</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/spring2026_lunch_b.jpg" alt="Spring 2026 lab lunch" style="object-position:50% 48%"><span class="bcap">Spring 2026 lab lunch</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/holiday_2025.jpg" alt="Lab holiday party, December 2025" style="object-position:50% 60%"><span class="bcap">Lab holiday party, December 2025</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/holiday_2025_b.jpg" alt="Lab holiday party, December 2025" style="object-position:50% 63%"><span class="bcap">Lab holiday party, December 2025</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/faye_ashg2025.jpg" alt="Faye presents at ASHG 2025" style="object-position:50% 38%"><span class="bcap">Faye presents at ASHG 2025</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/spring2025_lunch.jpg" alt="Spring 2025 lab lunch" style="object-position:50% 45%"><span class="bcap">Spring 2025 lab lunch</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/lena_poster2024.jpg" alt="Lena presents her poster at ASHG 2024" style="object-position:50% 30%"><span class="bcap">Lena presents her poster at ASHG 2024</span></div>
<div class="bslide"><img src="media/banner/lena_ashg2023.jpg" alt="Lena presents at ASHG 2023" style="object-position:50% 50%"><span class="bcap">Lena presents at ASHG 2023</span></div>
<div class="bdots"><button class="bdot active" aria-label="photo 1"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 2"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 3"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 4"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 5"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 6"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 7"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 8"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 9"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 10"></button><button class="bdot" aria-label="photo 11"></button></div>
</div>
<div class="roster">
<h3>Principal Investigator</h3>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/bruna_now.jpg" alt="Brunilda Balliu now" style="object-position:50% 40%"><img class="then" src="media/bruna_then.jpg" alt="Brunilda Balliu then" style="object-position:50% 22%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Brunilda Balliu</b><span> is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of
<a href="https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/pathology">Pathology & Laboratory Medicine</a>,
<a href="https://compmed.ucla.edu/">Computational Medicine</a>, Human Genetics, and Biostatistics at UCLA. She
received a BSc in Statistics from the
<a href="https://www.dept.aueb.gr/en/stat/content/department-statistics">Athens University of Economics and Business</a>
(Greece) and a PhD in <a href="https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/35195">Statistical Genetics</a> from
Leiden University Medical Center (Netherlands), advised by Prof. Dr.
<a href="http://jeaninehouwing.com/">Jeanine Houwing-Duistermaat</a> and
<a href="http://s-boehringer.org/">Stefan Boehringer</a>. She completed postdoctoral research at Stanford University
with <a href="http://montgomerylab.stanford.edu/">Stephen Montgomery</a>, focusing on methods to understand the role
of inherited variation in molecular and complex traits. She joined UCLA in 2018 as an Independent Fellow in
<a href="https://compmed.ucla.edu/">Computational Medicine</a> and later as faculty. Outside work, she has been
obsessed with salsa dancing since she saw
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkP6d0csYfM&ab_channel=BoscoOrtega">these two dancing</a>!</span></p>
</div>
<h3>Doctoral students</h3>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/lena_now.jpg" alt="Lena Krockenberger now" style="object-position:50% 30%"><img class="then" src="media/lena_then.jpg" alt="Lena Krockenberger then" style="object-position:50% 38%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Lena Krockenberger</b><span> is a PhD candidate in the Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Graduate Program at UCLA. Lena earned a BS in Biology with a specialization in Bioinformatics from UC San Diego in 2022. Lena joined the Balliu Lab in June 2023 and works in statistical genetics and computational genomics, developing methods to understand how genetic variation regulates gene expression across biological contexts. Lena is currently developing methods to detect trans-genetic regulatory effects and to uncover the molecular mechanisms linking genetic variation to complex disease. Outside the lab, Lena enjoys soccer, running, and trying new restaurants throughout Los Angeles.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/karen_now.jpg" alt="Karen Li now" style="object-position:50% 28%"><img class="then" src="media/karen_then.jpg" alt="Karen Li then" style="object-position:50% 32%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Karen Li</b><span> is a Biomathematics PhD student in the Department of Computational Medicine. She joined the Balliu Lab in June 2024. She received a BA in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2022) and an MS in Biostatistics at Yale University (2024). She is broadly interested in developing statistical and computational methods in statistical genetics and genomics in bulk and single-cell data. Her current work focuses on developing a fine-mapping framework to identify candidate causal genes and contexts for complex human traits and diseases. Outside of research, she enjoys playing tennis, collecting and listening to vinyl records, and daydreaming about relaxing on a beach in the Maldives!</span></p>
</div>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/tim_now.jpg" alt="Timothy Shen now" style="object-position:50% 38%"><img class="then" src="media/tim_then.jpg" alt="Timothy Shen then" style="object-position:50% 38%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Timothy Shen</b><span> is a PhD student in Biostatistics at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Timothy received a BS from UC Davis in 2025 and joined the Balliu Lab in October 2025. Timothy develops scalable, interpretable machine learning methods with applications in epigenetic aging and digital phenotyping, currently focusing on predicting mood from wearable sensor data to identify digital phenotypes that are strongly predictive of mental health outcomes. Outside of research, Timothy obsesses over public transportation and finding ways to get people to ride the train, and loves all things food and running.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot"><img class="now" src="media/amaan_then.jpg" alt="Amaan Jogia-Sattar" style="object-position:50% 20%"><img class="then" src="media/amaan_then.jpg" alt="Amaan Jogia-Sattar" style="object-position:50% 20%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Amaan Jogia-Sattar</b><span> is a Biostatistics PhD student in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Amaan received an MS in Biostatistics from UCLA in 2026 after a BA in Public Health with a minor in Data Science from UC Berkeley in 2024. Amaan joined the Balliu Lab in November 2025 and develops statistical and computational methods for high-dimensional molecular data in statistical genetics and functional genomics, currently focusing on statistical modeling of dynamic genetic regulation during cellular reprogramming using single-cell multiome data. Outside of research, Amaan enjoys tennis, exploring Los Angeles, and spending time with Louie, the family dog.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot placeholder">RB</span>
<p class="person"><b>Ronan Bennett</b><span> is a Bioinformatics PhD student. Ronan joined the Balliu Lab in March 2026.</span></p>
</div>
<h3>Undergraduate researchers</h3>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/lise_now.jpg" alt="Lise Tucker now" style="object-position:50% 42%"><img class="then" src="media/lise_then.jpg" alt="Lise Tucker then" style="object-position:70% 24%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Lise Tucker</b><span> is an undergraduate in the UCLA Computational and Systems Biology / Bioinformatics BS/MS Departmental Scholar Program. Lise joined the Balliu Lab in December 2024 and works on novel cis-eQTL mapping methods for single-cell RNA-seq data, recently studying how partitioning genetic regulatory effects at cell-type resolution can recover GWAS-like properties that are often hidden in bulk tissue eQTLs. Outside of research, Lise enjoys hiking, baking, and playing soccer, ultimate frisbee, and tennis.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/justin_now.jpg" alt="Justin Ng now" style="object-position:52% 28%"><img class="then" src="media/justin_then.jpg" alt="Justin Ng then" style="object-position:42% 30%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Justin Ng</b><span> is a Statistics and Data Science undergraduate at the UCLA College of Letters and Science. Justin joined the Balliu Lab in March 2025 and researches digital phenotyping, using wearable and smartphone data to predict depression severity, with an interest in leveraging technology and data science for social good. Outside of research, Justin enjoys hiking, cooking, and exploring new cuisines.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot" title="then and now"><img class="now" src="media/charlie_now.jpg" alt="Charlie Wang now" style="object-position:50% 30%"><img class="then" src="media/charlie_then.jpg" alt="Charlie Wang then" style="object-position:48% 16%"></span>
<p class="person"><b>Charlie Wang</b><span> is a Statistics and Data Science undergraduate at the UCLA College of Letters and Science. Charlie joined the Balliu Lab in December 2024 and works on novel cis-eQTL mapping methods for single-cell omics data, currently refining the FastGxC R package for submission to the Journal of Statistical Software. Outside of research, Charlie enjoys poker, food, and a variety of sports.</span></p>
</div>
<h3>Staff</h3>
<div class="person-photo">
<span class="headshot placeholder">JS</span>
<p class="person"><b>Jennifer Shedrack</b><span> is the lab’s administrative assistant. Jenn joined in September 2025.</span></p>
</div>
<h3>Alumni</h3>
<p class="person"><b>Feiyang Huang</b><span>, Master student in Biostatistics. April 2023 to October 2025. Worked on statistical methods for leveraging digital behavioral phenotypes to predict mood disorders. Now a PhD student at CU Anschutz.</span></p>
<p class="person"><b>Stephanie Weber</b><span>, Master student in Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics at Keck Graduate Institute. January 2023 to April 2024. Worked on methods for allele-specific expression analyses. Now Business Development Associate at Fulgent Genetics.</span></p>
<p class="person"><b>Yuxuan Xia</b><span>, Undergraduate student in Computational and Systems Biology. January 2023 to April 2024. Worked on methods for QTL mapping in single-cell data. Now a DVM candidate at Cornell.</span></p>
<p class="person"><b>Anthony Zhao</b><span>, Undergraduate student in Computer Science. October 2024 to January 2026. Worked on novel multiple-testing methods and methods for mapping regulatory effects in single-cell omics data.</span></p>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="reading">
<section id="reading">
<p class="label">Reading Club</p>
<p class="read" style="color:var(--muted);font-size:18.6px">Live standings from our lab reading tracker this month (since August 2026).</p>
<div class="rc-top">
<div class="rc-col">
<p class="label sub">This month</p>
<div class="leaderboard" id="leaderboard"><p class="lb-loading">Loading standings…</p></div>
</div>
<div class="rc-col">
<p class="label sub">Monthly champions</p>
<div class="champions" id="champions"><p class="lb-loading">Loading…</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<p class="label" style="margin-top:46px">Papers we are reading</p>
<div class="paperlist" id="paperlist"></div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="join">
<section id="join" class="join">
<p class="label">Join us</p>
<div class="read">
<h3>Postdoctoral researchers</h3>
<p>We have an opening for quantitatively skilled PhDs to study the impact of genomic variation on
the gene regulatory networks of reprogramming as part of the
<a href="https://www.genome.gov/Funded-Programs-Projects/Impact-of-Genomic-Variation-on-Function-Consortium">IGVF consortium</a>
(shared with the Zaitlen lab). If interested, <a class="eml" data-u="bballiu" data-d="ucla.edu" href="#">email me</a> with a short
statement of research interests, your CV, and contact information for three references.</p>
<h3>Graduate students</h3>
<p>We take UCLA students from Bioinformatics, Biomathematics, Biostatistics, Genetics and Genomics,
Neuroscience, and related programs. We mentor students with a strong quantitative foundation who
want to develop new methods, as well as those from diverse backgrounds interested in analyzing
large-scale datasets. If you would be a good fit, <a class="eml" data-u="bballiu" data-d="ucla.edu" href="#">email me</a> with your
research interests and CV.</p>
<h3>Undergraduate students</h3>
<p>We are not accepting undergraduates this quarter. If you think you might be a good fit in the
future, <a class="eml" data-u="bballiu" data-d="ucla.edu" href="#">email me</a> with your research interests and CV.</p>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<div class="page" data-page="contact">
<section id="contact">
<p class="label">Contact</p>
<div class="contact-grid">
<div>
<h3>Brunilda Balliu</h3>
<p>Assistant Professor. Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Computational Medicine, Human Genetics, and Biostatistics, UCLA.</p>
<p><a class="eml" data-u="bballiu" data-d="ucla.edu" href="#"></a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h3>Find us</h3>
<p>Balliu Lab<br>Department of Computational Medicine<br>Center for Health Sciences (CHS), UCLA Fielding School of Public Health<br>650 Charles E. Young Drive South<br>10th Floor, Room CHS 107-100<br>Los Angeles, CA 90095</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=UCLA+Center+for+Health+Sciences+Los+Angeles">Directions →</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="read">Interested in joining the lab? See the <a href="#join" data-target="join">Join</a> page.</p>
</section>
</div>
</div>
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<div>Balliu Lab @ UCLA · Departments of Pathology, Computational Medicine and Biostatistics · Los Angeles, CA</div>
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