Reem Abu-Shamma

Graduate student

Reem joined the lab in 2023. She combines human and chimpanzee cortical organoids with genetic screening to investigate genomic regions and mechanisms involved in unique human brain development.

Reem received her bachelor’s degree from UCLA where she began research in the Sagasti Lab, studying skin morphogenesis in zebrafish with confocal microscopy. She later joined the Pathogen Genomics lab at KAUST, Saudi Arabia as a postgraduate intern, generating CRISPR knock-in lines in the malaria parasite. In 2023, she graduated with an M.S. in Bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University, where she also worked as a research assistant in the lab of Tatiana Larman, and used 3D intestinal organoids to study colorectal cancer.

Reem is a member of the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (YJBM) editorial board and enjoys science writing for a general audience. Outside of the lab, she frequently travels, practices yoga, and plays tennis.