Alex Nguyen Ba

Alex N. Nguyen Ba

Title/Position
Assistant Professor
✅ Accepting Graduate Students

Research

We are a group of experimental biologists, computer scientists, and physicists broadly interested in quantitative genetics and evolution. We use high-throughput and high-resolution approaches to tackle the big questions in these fields by building on the latest advances in synthetic biology and computer science. Projects aim to develop new technologies to comprehensively explore the mutational landscape of cells and understand what evolution acts on. We work closely with theorists and statistical biologists to leverage the vast amount of information that can now be produced using high-throughput robotic liquid handling and next-generation sequencing techniques. Our research has implications in precision medicine, vaccine design, and more broadly, microbial evolution.

To find out more about research in the Nguyen Ba Lab, visit our 'Research' page


Current Lab Members

  • Anita Nikolsky, MSc Student
  • Keerath Bhachu, MSc Student
  • Kortni Kindree, MSc Student
  • Arnaud N'Guessan, PhD Student
  • Jimmy Issa, PhD Student (co-supervised with Dr. Rob Ness)

Lab Opportunities

Highly motivated and talented students are always welcome at the Nguyen Ba Lab. To find out more about available opportunities for undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral fellows, visit the 'Opportunities' page on our website. 


Publications

To see a complete list of publications, please click here

  1. N'Guessan A, Tong WY, Heydari H, Nguyen Ba AN: Refining the resolution of the yeast genotype-phenotype map using single-cell RNA-sequencing. eLife. 2023.
  2. Chochinov CA: A matter of mutations: A novel high throughput approach to comprehensively score all single nucleotide variants in putative oncogenes. MSc Thesis. 2023.
  3. Claussnitzer M, Parikh VN, Wagner AH, Arbesfeld JA, Bult CJ, Firth HV, Muffley LA, Nguyen Ba AN, Riehle K, Roth FP, Tabet D, Bolognesi B, Glazer AM, Rubin AF: Minimum information and guidelines for reporting a Multiplexed Assay of Variant Effect. Genome Biology. 2023.
  4. Jagdish T, Nguyen Ba AN: Experimental evolution in a massively multiplexed and high-throughput era. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev.. 2022 Aug;75:101943.
  5. Bakerlee CW*, Nguyen Ba AN*, Shulgina Y, Rojas Echenique JI, Desai MM: Idiosyncratic epistasis leads to global fitness-correlated trends. Science. 2022, May 6;376(6593):eabm4774.
  6. Nguyen Ba AN*, Lawrence KR*, Rego-Costa A*, Gopalakrishnan S, Desai MM: Barcoded Bulk QTL mapping reveals highly polygenic and epistatic architecture of complex traits in yeast. eLife. 2022 Feb 11;11:e73983.
  7. Chochinov CA, Nguyen Ba AN: Bulk-fitness measurements using barcode sequencing analysis in yeast. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2477:399-415.
  8. Bakerlee CW*, Philips AM*, Nguyen Ba AN, Desai MM: Dynamics and variability in the pleiotropic effects of adaptation in laboratory budding yeast populations. eLife. 2021, Oct 1;10:e70918.
  9. Tung S, Bakerlee CW, Phillips AM, Nguyen Ba AN, Desai MM: The genetic basis of differential autodiploidization in evolving yeast populations. G3. 2021, Aug 7;11(8):jkab192.
  10. Johnson MS, Gopalakrishnan S, Goyal J, Dillingham ME, Bakerlee CW, Humphrey PT, Jagdish T, Jerison ER, Kosheleva K, Lawrence KR, Min J, Moulana A, Phillips AM, Piper JC, Purkanti R, Rego-Costa A, McDonald MJ, Nguyen Ba AN, Desai MM: Phenotypic and molecular evolution across 10,000 generations in laboratory budding yeast populations. eLife. 2021;10:e63910.
  11. Kuzmin E*, VanderSluis B*, Nguyen Ba AN, Wang W, Koch EN, Freisen H, Usaj M, Khmelinskii A, Usaj MM, van Leeuwen J, Kraus O, Tresenrider A, Pryszlak M, Hu M, Varriano B, Hanchaard J, Costanzo M, Caudy A, Unal E, Knop M, Moses AM, Myers CL, Andrews BJ, Boone C: Exploring whole-genome duplicate gene retention with complex genetic interaction analysis. Science. 2020, Jun 26;368(6498):eaaz5667.
  12. Zulauf K*, Green A*, Nguyen Ba AN, Jagdish T, Reif D, Seeley R, Dale A, Kirby J: Microwave-generated steam decontamination of N95 respirators utilizing universally accessible materials. mBio. 2020, Jun 25;11(3):e00997-20.
  13. Jerison ER, Nguyen Ba AN, Desai MM, Kryazhimskiy S: Chance and necessity in the pleiotropic consequences of adaptation for budding yeast. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2020, Apr;4(4):601-611.