Staff Directory
SRL Team
Derek D. Jones, Ph.D., SCYM(ASCP)CM
Senior Technical Director
jonesder@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-573-5603
Derek has more than 15 years of experience in immunology and flow cytometry, with a focus on B cell and plasma cell development and function. He specializes in high-dimensional flow cytometry and is involved in the cytometry community at the national and international level. Derek is an International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) SRL Emerging Leader (2019-2024).
William J. (Bill) Murphy, B.A., SCYM(ASCP)CM
Technical Director
william.murphy@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-3528
Bill has worked in the field of flow cytometry for over 20 years. He started his career in the Penn Cytomics lab in 2000, where he learned how to sort on a BD FACStar Plus and later a BD FACSVantage with Diva. After 8 years, Bill left and became a BD Field Service Engineer, where he learned to service multiple instruments from clinical (Calibur and Cantos) to research (LSR II and Fortessa) to sorters (Influx and Aria). While Bill enjoyed his time at BD, he eventually returned to Penn. Bill is now the Technical Director of the Penn Cytomics lab.
Richard D. Schretzenmair, B.S., SCYM(ASCP)CM
Senior Manager and Consultant
rds@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-3528
Rich is a senior research project specialist with over 30 years of continuous experience in clinical and research flow cytometry applications. He currently specializes in high dimensional panel design and extracellular vesicle measurement, and consults with users to help resolve advanced problems.
Andrew (Andy) Morschauser, B.S., SCYM(ASCP)CM
Sorter Operator
morscha2@pennmedicine.upenn.eud
215-898-3528
Andy has been active in flow cytometry since 1998, working in academic and industrial research. He has extensive experience in cell sorting, multiparametric panel design, and analysis. His expertise is in isolating cells from tissues relevant in rodent models for autoimmune diseases and inflammation. Additional skills include cell-based assays such as multiplex cytokine analysis, proliferation and cell killing assays, as well as PCR. Andy is an avid golfer, outdoorsman, and has worked with the New Jersey Schnauzer Rescue Network (NJSRN).
Jennifer Jakubowski, M.S., SCYM(ASCP)CM
Project Manager
jennifer.jakubowski@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-3528
Jen received her master's degree in Biomedical Sciences at Drexel University in Philadelphia. For the greater portion of her career, she has held leadership roles in the clinical healthcare setting in both the flow cytometry and digital pathology/image analysis laboratories at Drexel College of Medicine based at Hahnemann Hospital. Transitioning to a large academic research core facility, Jen has been excited to expand from 6-color clinical panels to 28-color high parameter translational research.
Samantha Pearson, M.S.
Resource Technologist
samantha.pearson@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-3528
Sam joined the team after finishing up her MS in Biotechnology from Thomas Jefferson University. She has a passion for aging biology but has fallen in love with flow cytometry since her internship with the core. She has 7 years of lab experience and is currently specializing in QA and cell sorting on the Influx for the team.
Charles H. (Hank) Pletcher, Jr., MCI
Cell Sorter Operator
pletcher@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-573-7048
Hank received his Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from the University of Maine, followed by his Master of Clinical Immunology from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. He joined the research community at Penn in 1987. Hank has a broad background in flow cytometric research applications and cell sorting, which includes serving on the faculty of the Annual Course in Cytometry. Having retired from his long-time position as Technical Director, Hank continues working part-time, primarily helping with cell sorting.
Hongen(Solomon) Wang, M.S
Resource Technologist
hongenwa@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-3528
Solomon received his master's degree in Biomedical Sciences at Jeonbuk National University in South Korea. His career began at the Human Immunology Core at UPenn. He has 7 years of laboratory experience and rich experimental skills in immunology. He is proficient at separating cells from human samples such as blood, bone marrow, and different types of tissues. Solomon dedicates most of his time as a cell sorter operator for the core.
Shifu Tian, M.S., SCYM(ASCP)CM
Cell Sorter Operator
shifu.tian@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Shifu specializes in pathogenic cell sorting and imaging flow cytometry. Shifu has an M.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. His previous research focus was on autoimmune mechanisms in different mouse models including EAE and EAU, where he was a senior research technologist in a microbiology lab that studied PMNs interaction with infectious human oral pathogens. Currently, Shifu is working at Penn Cytomics part-time while pursuing his MBA at Villanova.
Nikki Brake-Sillá, M.F.A.
Nikki Brake-Sillá is a Black playwright and filmmaker with an invisible disability who tried to check out of the hospital with her infant, A.M.A. During the day, she works in a research lab and merges science and art to expose people to inherent bias in the medical system. She weaves stories that give urgency to folx who birth (Against Medical Advice), COVID frontline workers (Silos), and exposes the challenges of uterine transplant research trials (ReWombed). She has been commissioned by EST/Sloan, Revolution Shakespeare, Elevate Theatre, and Black Music City. Nikki received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.F.A. from the City College of New York. But what gives her the most joy is giving someone their likeness on screen and stage.
Faculty
Jonni S. Moore, Ph.D.
Facility Director
moorej@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Jonni is the founding Faculty Director of Penn Cytomics and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. She has led the SRL to 30 years of National Cancer Institute's highest level of recognition (exceptional) for a shared resource. One of the world’s leading experts in flow cytometry, she is looked to as a thought leader in cutting-edge applications of deep phenotyping flow cytometry in translational and clinical settings. Dr. Moore is also the founding director of the Clinical Cytometry Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and led that lab until 2016. She has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and is a frequent invited speaker at national and international meetings. She holds several patents for unique applications of flow cytometry in cardiology, toxicology and oncology. Building on her experiences in basic and translational research as well as clinical diagnosis, she has led the effort at Penn to bring technologies from the newly developing field of cytomics to investigators in diverse disciplines across the campus.
IT/PBR Team
Herbert Holyst
IT Manager
holyst@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-746-1729
Herb has been developing software systems for industry and academia for over 30 years. He currently leads a small team of developers to create a suite of custom web-based software solutions that has been adopted by a number of Penn SRL labs. His 20 years of industry experience of developing process control and quality control applications installed in process areas, gives him a unique perspective on dealing with unsupervised human/machine interactions. Quoted as saying, “If you make the easy way the right way, people will do it the right way.”
Christopher Sarnowski, M.A.
Senior Application Developer
csarnows@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-746-7784
Chris started working at Penn as a software developer in 2003 and has been with Path BioResource since 2013. Previously, he was a Database Administrator for CuraGen Corp., a Biotech research firm in New Haven, CT. He has an MA in Mathematics, and his hobbies include theater, sound design, and music.
Tara McSherry-Hurst, M.S.
IT Project Manager
taralmc@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Tara has a master’s degree in Information Systems and a background in business analysis and database design. She came to Penn in 2004 as a data analyst, but her position quickly transformed into a project management role. As part of the PBR team, Tara facilitates project planning, goal/milestone setting, and staff assignments to projects. She feels her overall role on the team is to better communication – among team members as well as with our clients. Additionally, Tara is a part of TTAB and supports both their biospecimen inventory system, OpenSpecimen, and a tool for searching free text surgical pathology reports, TIES.
Kyle Schueller, M.S.
Application Developer
kyle.schueller@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Kyle has always had a strong interest in both biology and mathematics. This led him to an M.S. in Computational Science where he focused on using Data Science for applications in the biological sciences. Software development has been one way for him to combine these seemingly separate fields into a single career.
Computational Biology
Matei Ionita, Ph.D.
Computational Consultant and Senior Data Analyst (Immune Health)
matei.ionita@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
A mathematician turned bioinformatician, Matei has been with at the University of Pennsylvania since 2015. After obtaining a PhD in mathematics, he completed a postdoctoral program in bioinformatics under the joint supervision of Professors Jonni Moore and Li-San Wang. Currently, he works on developing scalable methods for automated analysis of cytometry and functional genomics data. He enjoys the multidisciplinary nature of bioinformatics work and is excited about finding new applications for his mathematical toolbox.
Wade Rogers, Ph.D.
Consultant
waderogers137@gmail.com
Wade has more than 30 years of experience as a scientist, educator and innovator in industry and in academia, having worked in various disciplines including oil exploration, neuroanatomy, geology and computational biology. Today his interests are focused on developing computational algorithms for finding patterns in high dimensional biology, especially patterns in flow cytometric data.
Administration
Dawn Williams, MBA
Administrative Coordinator
dawnw@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-746-5772
Dawn received her MBA from the University of Phoenix and has been with Penn since 2014. Currently, she is the administrative coordinator for multiple different labs in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and has been with the Penn Cytomics team since 2017. Dawn manages daily departmental operations to keep the lab running smoothly and effectively. She is the liaison for employees and customers alike, ensuring expectations are satisfied for the organization. Dawn enjoys having gatherings, which she shares by bringing together GREAT PARTIES for her flow team!