Biography

Riley Drake is an graduate of Boston College where she studied Biology.  Riley is interested in applying single-cell genomics to study interactions between cancer and the immune system in the context of the tumor microenvironment.  Riley utilizes currently existing technologies to profile tumors; she also hopes to optimize processing protocols for preserving the transcriptional profiles of resected tissues, allowing them to be profiled at a later date.

Before moving to Boston for school, Riley did two rotations in the Powell Lab at Johns Hopkins University where she studied the role of the mTOR-pathway on the differentiation, and metabolic tendencies, of different helper T cell subsets.  She spent her rotation in Lauer Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital drinking lots of espresso and studying the effect of Hepatitis-C infection on the proliferation and functionality of CD8 killer T cells.  Cohosted in the Lander and Sabatini Labs, Riley attempted to CRISPr to identify genes essential of the survival of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).   On weekends, Riley can be found taking pictures, climbing rocks, crawling through caves or coordinating educational programs.

Single-cell RNA sequencing of liver fine-needle aspirates captures immune diversity in the blood and liver in chronic hepatitis B patients
  • Genshaft et al.,
  • Hepatology,
  • 2023
  • Cell Atlas
  • Biology
  • Immunology
  • R&D
  • Technology
  • Genomics
  • Alex Genshaft
  • Mike Vilme
  • Riley Drake
  • Ira Fleming
  • Nancy Tran
  • Constantine Tzouanas
  • Jasmin Joseph-Chazan
  • Alex K. Shalek
Vitrification preserves murine ovarian follicular cell transcriptome in a 3D encapsulated in vitro follicle growth system
  • Wang et al.,
  • Biology of Reproduction,
  • 2023
  • Genomics
  • R&D
  • Immunology
  • Technology
  • Biology
  • Riley Drake
  • Daniela Russo
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • Brittany Goods
Single-cell transcriptomics of staged oocytes and somatic cells reveal novel regulators of follicle activation
  • Chen et al.,
  • Reproduction,
  • 2023
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • R&D
  • Technology
  • Daniela Russo
  • Riley Drake
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • Brittany Goods
Cellular and transcriptional diversity over the course of human lactation
  • Nyquist et al.,
  • PNAS,
  • 2022
  • Medicine
  • Cell Atlas
  • Biology
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Sarah Nyquist
  • Patricia Gao
  • Riley Drake
  • Kellie Kolb
  • Ben Mead
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • Brittany Goods
Clinical implementation of single-cell RNA sequencing using liver fine needle aspirate tissue sampling and centralized processing captures compartment specific immuno-diversity
  • Genshaft et al.,
  • bioRxiv,
  • 2021
  • Computational Methods
  • Biology
  • Cell Atlas
  • R&D
  • Technology
  • Genomics
  • Infectious Disease
  • Immunology
  • Alex Genshaft
  • Mike Vilme
  • Riley Drake
  • Ira Fleming
  • Nancy Tran
  • Constantine Tzouanas
  • Jasmin Joseph-Chazan
  • Alex K. Shalek
Cellular and transcriptional diversity over the course of human lactation
  • Nyquist et al.,
  • bioRxiv,
  • 2021
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Cell Atlas
  • Immunology
  • Vincent Miao
  • Patricia Gao
  • Riley Drake
  • Kellie Kolb
  • Ben Mead
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • Brittany Goods
Impaired local intrinsic immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection in severe COVID-19
  • Ziegler et al.,
  • Cell,
  • 2021
  • Biology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Immunology
  • Computational Methods
  • Cell Atlas
  • Genomics
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Vincent Miao
  • Andrew Navia
  • Josh Bromley
  • Micayla George
  • Riley Drake
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
Leukocyte dynamics after intracerebral hemorrhage in a living patient reveal rapid adaptations to tissue milieu
  • Goods et al.,
  • JCI Insight,
  • 2021
  • Medicine
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Brittany Goods
  • Riley Drake
  • Ira Fleming
  • Alex K. Shalek
Impaired local intrinsic immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection in severe COVID-19
  • Ziegler et al.,
  • bioRxiv,
  • 2021
  • Genomics
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Infectious Disease
  • Microbiology
  • Carly Ziegler
  • Vincent Miao
  • Andrew Navia
  • Josh Bromley
  • Micayla George
  • Riley Drake
  • Alex K. Shalek
  • José Ordovas-Montañes
Longitudinal transcriptomics define the stages of myeloid activation in the living human brain after intracerebral hemorrhage
  • Askenase et al.,
  • Science Immunology,
  • Biology
  • Immunology
  • Genomics
  • Medicine
  • Brittany Goods
  • Shaina Carroll
  • Riley Drake
  • James Gatter
  • Alex K. Shalek
Leukocyte dynamics after intracerebral hemorrhage in a living patient reveal rapid adaptations to tissue milieu
  • Goods et al.,
  • biorXiv,
  • 2020
  • Genomics
  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  • Biology
  • Brittany Goods
  • Riley Drake
  • Ira Fleming
  • Alex K. Shalek
Loss of DNA methyltransferase activity in primed human ES cells triggers increased cell-cell variability and transcriptional repression
  • Tsankov et al.,
  • Development,
  • 2019
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Marc Wadsworth II
  • Sam Allon
  • Ben Mead
  • Riley Drake
  • Alex K. Shalek
Optofluidic real-time cell sorter for longitudinal CTC studies in mouse models of cancer
  • Hamza B. et al.,
  • PNAS,
  • 2019
  • Biology
  • R&D
  • Cancer
  • Technology
  • Computational Methods
  • Jay Prakadan
  • Andrew Navia
  • Peter Winter
  • Riley Drake
  • Alejandro Gupta
  • Alex K. Shalek
Linking single-cell measurements of mass, growth rate, and gene expression
  • Kimmerling R.J. et al.,
  • Genome Biology,
  • 2018
  • Physics
  • Cancer
  • Genomics
  • Biology
  • Technology
  • R&D
  • Jay Prakadan
  • Alejandro Gupta
  • Riley Drake
  • Alex K. Shalek
Linking single-cell measurements of mass, growth rate, and gene expression
  • Kimmerling et al.,
  • BioRxiv,
  • 2018
  • Genomics
  • Technology
  • Chemistry
  • Jay Prakadan
  • Alejandro Gupta
  • Riley Drake
  • Alex K. Shalek