Our Culture

Rather than adhering to a rigid mission, we allow the science to guide us down the right path to advance human health. Nate's own journey began in the microscope room with zebrafish, transitioned to interpretation of population and familial genetics in cardiac disease, and has most recently journeyed into advanced molecular profiling and computational biology. We'd be disappointed if our focus does not adapt again as we continue to grow as a scientific team.

We believe that the best discoveries emerge from the collective ambitions of individuals with complementary expertise and experiences. Our goal is to foster ambitious and rigorous collaborative science as an integrated team.

We only get one shot at this -- let's work on something awesome.

The Team
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Nathan R. Tucker, PhD

Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine

Nate is a native Upstate New Yorker with a BS in Biology from Syracuse University and PhD in Cell Biology and Genetics from Washington State University. He completed postdoctoral training on the genetic basis for cardiovascular disease risk at Massachusetts General Hospital and The Broad Institute where he was promoted to Instructor in 2017. From 2020-24, he led his group at the Masonic Medical Research Institute, moving to SUNY Upstate as an Associate Professor in 2024.

Nate loves all things related to the outdoors, with a special focus on fishing (especially of the ice variety) and gardening. He does tend to waste some time watching the New York Giants and reading up on whatever historical era he is currently fixated on (currently on a Victorian era exploration kick). He aims to keep lab spirits high through regular recitations of Nietzsche quotations.

Email: TuckerN@Upstate.edu

Mayuri Desai, MS, NYSCLT

Senior Research Support Specialist

Mayuri comes to the lab from Ahmedabad, India, where she received a BS and MS in Microbiology from Sardar Patel University. In 2002, she joined the MMRI in Utica NY, joining Nate's lab during the height of COVID to facilitate our molecular clinical testing operation in concert with the Mohawk Valley Health System. As testing operations wound down, she quickly became an integral research scientist in the group and moved with his group to Upstate in 2024. Over the years, she has broadly focused on the genetic basis of inherited arrhythmias and genetic testing within the clinical laboratory. She is also our CRISPR-editing champion and our resident stem cell expert, where she differentiates both ES and patient derived stem cells into cardiomyocytes for functional assessment of genetic variation.

Importantly, she keeps the lab apprised of the apparently innumerable Indian festivals and holidays, which we do our best to celebrate.

Email: Desaima@Upstate.edu

Robert S. Gardner, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Bob comes to the lab from Syracuse, NY with a BS in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from George Mason University. He completed postdoctoral work investigating the neural bases of cognitive aging at Syracuse University, and immune system modulation as a therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Since joining the lab, he has focused on generation and analysis of single cell data from myriad sources with a particular focus on chromatin regulation.

When not in the lab, Bob is always looking for new spots to go camping, gets excited for the start of each baseball season, and will travel far and wide to see live music.

Email: GardneRo@Upstate.edu

Andrew Kowalczewski, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Andy is from Elmira NY and received a BS in Physics from St Johns. He then worked in medical imaging research at the USAISR in Texas after spending time as a project aide for Endocrinology at SUNY Upstate. He returned to Upstate NY to get a MS in Applied Data Science and PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Syracuse University investigating the use of AI to advance hiPSC-derived cardiac models. In the lab, Andy is working to bridge his ML and AI experience with the high resolution omics and genetics for cardiovascular disease.

You can find Andy biking around town, hiking outside of town, and maybe jogging slowly in town. They also enjoy spending time with their dog Petey and cat Archie while drinking a lot of coffee.

Email: KowalczA@upstate.edu

Dominick Lomonaco, MS

Medical Student

Dom is from Binghamton, NY, with his BS and MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He is currently a second-year medical student here at SUNY Upstate. Dom joined the lab in May 2026 to work with the team on processing and preparing samples for whole-genome and single-cell sequencing, as well as learn a bit about clinical genetics along the way. He is looking forward to continuing to work in the lab during the rest of his time at Upstate.

Outside of the lab, Dom enjoys attending local trivia nights, finding live music, watching any sport that is on, and attempting to avoid wasting time on Tiktok. Stay strong Dom.

Email: LomonacD@upstate.edu

Omorinsola Olubayo

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow

Rinsola is from Lagos, Nigeria, and is a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major at Cornell College in Iowa. This summer she joins us for a ~10 week crash course in molecular and computational research, where she is investigating how diet influences brain molecular programs in rhesus macaques through computational approaches for single-nucleus RNA sequencing data.

Outside the lab, Rinsola enjoys eating ice-cream, playing the saxophone, writing poetry, and dancing (terribly) to Afrogospel music.

Katherine Rattray

PhD Student

Katherine is originally from New Windsor, NY, a town reluctantly caught at the unenviable intersection of "upstate" and "downstate" loyalties (Nate considers this downstate, Katherine disagrees). She earned her BA in Neuroscience & Behavior at Vassar College in 2024, after which she enrolled in the PhD program at SUNY Upstate Medical University. In the lab, she aims to initially focus on mapping chromatin interactions in health and disease, and she is excited to go in whatever new (fun) directions her doctoral work takes her.

Outside of lab, Katherine enjoys taking trips to Barnes & Noble and reading novels, playing piano, and attempting new recipes.

Email: RattrayK@upstate.edu

Genyu Wang, PhD

Research Scientist

Genyu earned her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from China Agricultural University and has conducted research across both academic and industry settings. Her work spans cancer biology, synthetic biology, and molecular biology, with recent research focused on how viral proteins, including spike protein, influence cellular pathways and molecular responses.

In the Tucker Lab, Genyu applies her multidisciplinary background and indomitable spirit to investigate mechanisms of cardiovascular disease using both wet-lab and computational strategies.

Outside of research, Genyu enjoys hiking, reading, and indoor swimming. Admittedly, it's a bit chilly up here for the outdoor kind most of the time.

Email: TBD

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You?

We welcome inquiries from those from scientists of all levels and from all disciplines. Wide-ranging experience and expertise is the root of creative collaborative science. Please reach out to Nate directly if interested in learning more about available opportunities.