Lab Members
Volker Hovestadt, PhD
Assistant ProfessorJoined the lab: 2020
volker_hovestadt[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@hovestadt.bsky.social
Google Scholar
Volker is a computational biologist, cancer researcher, and principal investigator of the Hovestadt lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His main research interest is the genomic characterization of childhood brain tumors and leukemias, with the goal to better understand their developmental origins and tumor driving mechanisms. Volker grew up in southern Germany and studied Biochemistry and Systems Biology at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He then performed his PhD research with Dr. Peter Lichter at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. Volker set foot in Boston when joining the lab of Dr. Brad Bernstein at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in 2016. When not studying cancer genomes, Volker is often found outside enjoying American life with his three kids.
Salvatore Benfatto, PhD
Postdoctoral fellowJoined the lab: 2022
salvatore_benfatto[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@sbenfatto.bsky.social
Google Scholar
Salvo is a bioinformatic researcher and computational biologist. His scientific interests orbit around cancer genomics, personalized medicine and complex systems. He grew up in southern Italy where he studied Biology and obtained his PhD at the University of Messina. After that he moved to Verona in the Functional Genomics Lab of Prof. Massimo Delledonne and then he joined the "DDC - DNA Damage in Cancer" team led by Dr. Balca Mardin at BioMed X Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. As postdoc in the Hovestadt Lab at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute he works at the edge of explainable artificial intelligence and cancer research, aiming to disentangle the DNA methylation patterns in brain tumors.
Sabina Stefan, PhD
Postdoctoral fellowJoined the lab: 2022
sabina_stefan[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@sabina_stefan
https://www.sabinastefan.com
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Sabina is a post-doctoral fellow in the Hovestadt lab, working on applying machine learning techniques to better prognosticate patients with medulloblastoma. She earned her PhD from Brown University in biomedical engineering under Prof Jonghwan Lee where she developed computational tools to gather insight from various forms of data, particularly related to the brain and cortical vasculature. In her free time, you’ll likely find her running, lifting, or playing with her pup.
Til Steinicke
M.D. student, visitingJoined the lab: 2023
til_steinicke[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@til-steinicke.bsky.social
Google Scholar
Til is a fourth-year medical student and a Master's student in experimental medicine at the University of Münster (Germany). He joined the Hovestadt lab in April 2023 to work on his MD thesis, supported by a BIF MD Fellowship. Before coming to Boston, he completed research stays at the University of Cambridge and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, as well as an internship at the German Parliament. In his free time, he enjoys spending time outside with friends, playing soccer, or going for a run.
Ida Larsson, PhD
Postdoctoral fellowJoined the lab: 2024
ida_larsson[a]dfci.harvard.edu
Google Scholar
Ida is a computational biologist from Sweden. She received her MScEng in Medical Biotechnology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2018 and then moved on to doctoral studies at Uppsala University under the supervision of Professor Sven Nelander. She earned her PhD in 2023, which focused on modeling the intratumoral heterogeneity and plasticity of the adult brain tumor glioblastoma. Ida joined the Hovestadt Lab in January 2024 as a Postdoctoral Fellow, supported by a fellowship from the Swedish Research Council. Her work will leverage single cell technologies to understand the clonal evolution of medulloblastoma. In her free time, Ida enjoys outdoor activities like skiing, skating or hiking. She is also an avid foodie and looks forward to exploring all that Boston's food scene has to offer.
Liv Jürgensen
M.D. student, visitingJoined the lab: 2024
liv_juergensen[a]dfci.harvard.edu
Google Scholar
Liv is a fourth-year medical student at Charité Berlin with a keen interest in oncology, neurology, immunology, and bioinformatics. She joined the Hovestadt Lab in January 2024, supported by the Ingeborg-Rapoport Fellowship. Before coming to Boston, she conducted research in immunology and pediatric rheumatology for her MD thesis at the German Rheumatism Research Center (DRFZ) in Berlin in the Mashreghi/Kallinich Lab. Using molecular biological techniques such as single-cell transcriptomics and flow cytometry, she investigated the pathomechanism of a previously undescribed gain-of-function mutation causing autoinflammation and immunodeficiency. In the Hovestadt Lab, Liv aims to enhance diagnostics for brain tumors. She is leveraging advanced computational techniques to develop a single-cell guided epigenetic classification tool for pediatric low-grade gliomas.
Negin Moghiseh
M.D. student, visitingJoined the lab: 2026
negin_moghiseh[a]dfci.harvard.edu
https://negin-moghiseh-40b331.gitlab.io/
Negin is currently in the fourth year of her medical studies at Heidelberg University and joined the Hovestadt Lab in February 2026 to pursue her thesis in the field of acute leukemia. Her research focuses on computational analyses of DNA methylation patterns derived from long-read sequencing data to explore approaches for improved disease monitoring. Alongside her medical training, she has a strong interest in programming and data-driven research. She previously worked as a student research assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute and at the Neuropathology Institute in Heidelberg, where she gained experience in applied computational methods. She is particularly interested in the intersection of oncology and machine learning, combining computational approaches with molecular and genomic data to better understand cancer biology.
We are hiring!
Postdoc / Studentyour_email[a]dfci.harvard.edu
We currently have openings for creative and aspiring computational biologists, physician scientists, and experimental biologists to join our team. If you are interested in studying pediatric cancer using single-cell genomics and computational algorithms, please get in touch with Volker at volker_hovestadt[a]dfci.harvard.edu.
Lab Alumni
Sander Lambo, PhD
Postdoctoral fellowTime in the lab: 2023-2026
Current position: PI at Karolinska Institutet
sander_lambo[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@lambosander
Google Scholar
Fabio Boniolo, PhD
Postdoctoral fellowTime in the lab: 2022-2025
Current position: Co-founder of Polyphron
fabio_boniolo[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@FabioZB_I
Google Scholar
Lisa Gabler, PhD
Postdoctoral fellowTime in the lab: 2022-2024
Current position: PI at Medical University of Vienna
lisa_gabler[a]dfci.harvard.edu
@LisaGblr
Google Scholar
Estelle Rollinger
M.D. student, visitingTime in the lab: 2025-2026
estelle_rollinger[a]dfci.harvard.edu
Casey Jarvis, MD
Medical residentTime in the lab: 2025-2026
casey_jarvis[a]dfci.harvard.edu
David Noël Hof
M.D. student, visitingTime in the lab: 2024-2025
david_hof[a]dfci.harvard.edu
Amelie Amann
M.D. student, visitingTime in the lab: 2023-2025
amelie_amann[a]dfci.harvard.edu
Sizhu (Evelyn) Jiang
Master's studentTime in the lab: 2023-2024
sizhu_jiang[a]dfci.harvard.edu
