Lab News

We're excited to welcome Tiffany Chin as a new graduate student. Tiffany joins us from the Biology Program and is supported by the Pathways in Biological Sciences T32 program.

Kudos to Ashley Kumar and team, including our collaborators from Benner and Heinz labs at UCSD

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.03.722406v1

Manuscript accepted in BMC Genomics ‍titled “Novel candidate genes for vestibular function identified through GWAS in the hybrid mouse diversity panel”. Francesca Telese is a co-author.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-026-12810-y

Kudos to Carl Litif and team for characterizing the behavioral effects of the opioid fentanyl in a mouse model of Reelin haploinsufficiency

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.21.707172v3

https://www.mskcc.org/education-training/summer-scientific-undergraduate-programs/computational-biology-summer-program-cbsp

June 7th - June 13th, 2026 | Located in-person at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Manuscript accepted in Otology and Neurotology‍ ‍titled “Whole Genome Sequencing of Sporadic Vestibular Schwannoma Reveals Novel Genetic Changes”. Ashley Kumar and Francesca Telese are co-authors.

Manuscript accepted in Nature Protocols titled “Profiling active RNA polymerase II transcription start sites from total RNA by capped small RNA sequencing (csRNA-seq)”. Patricia Montilla-Perez and Francesca Telese are co-authors.

Kudos to Andy Mingyang Yao and Avi Libster for the development of FEDUPP: Feeding Experimentation Device Users Processing Package to Assess Learning and Cognitive Flexibility

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.14.670424

Manuscript accepted in Addiction Neuroscience titled “Corticotrophin-releasing hormone binding protein in the basolateral amygdala: divergent roles in cocaine and opioid addiction like behaviors”. Arnav Gurha, Avi Libster, and Francesca Telese are co-authors.

Manuscript accepted in Neuropharmacology titled “Perinatal Fentanyl Exposure Drives Enduring Addiction Risk and Central Amygdala Gene Dysregulation”. Our visiting graduate student Yeji Shin and Francesca Telese are co-authors.

Francesca Telese was quoted in the press release from UCSD and an article published by Genomeweb.

https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-awarded-8-million-to-uncover-genetic-foundations-of-substance-use-disorders

https://www.genomeweb.com/genetic-research/ucsd-tackle-genetics-drug-abuse-8m-grant-novel-rat-genetics-repository