Furman Lab

Dr. David Furman is Director of the Stanford 1,000 Immunomes Project at Stanford School of Medicine, Associate Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and Chief of the AI Platform at the same institute. He obtained his Doctoral degree in immunology (summa cum laude) from the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for his work on cancer immune-surveillance. During his Postdoctoral training at the laboratory of Professor Mark M Davis (Stanford), he conducted cutting-edge research in Data Science and Systems Immunology to predict clinical outcomes using multi-omics technologies in large human cohorts. The aim was to answer scientific questions with strong potential for translational medicine, including the effect of immunity in age-related disease and longevity. Dr. Furman moved to University of Bordeaux, France, where he was appointed as Visiting Scientist and investigated the involvement of the endocrine and immune systems in human aging and in kidney transplantation. After France, Dr. Furman helped create the Systems Biology Department at the Sidra Medical Research Center in Doha, Qatar. Dr. Furman was then re-appointed at the Stanford School of Medicine to assume the role of Consulting Professor at the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection (ITI), and his work involved the use of high-bandwidth/high throughput technologies to measure immune function in humans and Machine Learning tools to better define the role of the immune system in disease and longevity.

Dr. Furman is inventor of over 20 patents and has published dozens of scientific articles with over 6,000 citations in top peer reviewed journals such as The Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cell, etc. Current i10 index of Dr. Furman is 32.

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  Minja Belic  Senior Bioinformatics Scientist

  Minja Belic holds a BS and MS in electrical and computer engineering, as well as a PhD in biomedical engineering and technologies from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her doctoral research focused on applying artificial intelligence in kinematic analysis for diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonisms. She brings extensive industry experience, having worked on R&D teams specializing in computer vision, radar signal processing, electrophysiological signals, inertial sensors, and more. She joined the Buck Institute in December 2024 to explore innovative methods for analyzing biological, sensor, and image data to advance research on biomarkers of aging.

  MBelic@buckinstitute.org

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  Alexander Chebykin  Dominican University Graduate Student

  Alex received his B.S. in clinical laboratory sciences from University of Minnesota. After a career in medical diagnostics, he joined both Furman and Winer labs in January 2023 as a Master’s student from the Dominican University of California to pursue his interests in the biology of aging research. In his spare time, Alex enjoys physical exercise, boxing, hiking, and reading.

  AChebykin@buckinstitute.org

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  Matias Fuentealba, PhD  Postdoctoral Researcher

  Matias is a computational biologist and Doctor in Aging from University College London (UCL). In his doctoral thesis at UCL, he worked with Professor Linda Partridge on the prediction of novel genetic and pharmacological interventions to modulate aging and improve healthy lifespan. He developed several computational methods for this purpose which were strongly validated by experiments and the existing literature. Matias has demonstrated to be very prolific, in addition to being highly motivated and independent, leading several initiatives and collaborations during his career. In April 2022, he joined the Furman Lab with the goal to study the parallels between space flight and terrestrial aging and bring to light novel compounds with the potential to delay age-related pathologies.

  MFuentealba@buckinstitute.org

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  Heather Halaweh  Administrative Lab Manager

  Heather received her biological sciences degree and spanish minor from UC Santa Barbara. Caring for patients as a chairside dental assistant inspired Heather to pursue a career in the field of research. After leaving dentistry, completing a Business Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Santa Rosa Junior College, and gaining professional lab experience, she joined the Furman Lab as an Administrative Lab Manager. Heather grew up in Sonoma County and enjoys gardening, dancing, and playing the piano.

  HHalaweh@buckinstitute.org

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  Max Manwaring-Mueller  Postbaccalaureate Researcher

  Max is a Molecular, Cellular and Developmental biologist from UC Santa Cruz (UCSC). During his undergraduate years, he worked in the Hinck lab to investigate triple negative breast cancers and potential therapeutic targets of the PI3K/Akt pathway. In August 2023, Max started as a post baccalaureate research assistant in both the Winer and Furman labs. Here, he works in the wet and dry labs to study mechanoimmunology and simulated microgravity's effects on the immune system and to transform raw lab data into compelling analytics and insights.

  mmanwaring-mueller@buckinstitute.org

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  Nikola Markov, PhD  Bioinformatics Scientist

  Nikola Markov is a postdoctoral fellow who joined the Furman lab in Sept 2020. He received his Ph.D in Neuroscience for his studies of the structural organization of the Macaque cortical network. He holds a B.S in Cell Biology and Physiology from the University Claude Bernard in Lyon France. He moved to the US in 2011 to join the labs of Michael Higley and Xiao Jing Wang where he applied optogenetic methods to study the synaptic properties of a novel fronto-occipital projections playing role in establishing visual attention. He later joined the lab of Timothy Bushman where he built new experimental systems for primate and rodent behavior control and developed high density multi-electrode devices to record neural activity in animals performing a gating of working memory task. After a short stint at Stanford university he has joined the Buck institute to expand his understanding of the role of chronic inflammation in the processes of aging especially as it relates to the neural system.

  NMarkov@buckinstitute.org

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  Fiona Senchyna  Bioinformatics Researcher

  Fiona received her BS in biological and biomedical science at Maynooth University, Ireland. She moved to the Bay Area in 2016 and began working in a clinical microbiology lab. There, she was introduced to bioinformatics and helped develop a cell free molecular assay for the detection of invasive fungal infections. Her interest in the intersection of biology and computer science led her to pursue a MS in the latter at San Francisco State University, which she graduated from in 2023.

  FSenchyna@buckinstitute.org

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  Kevin Schneider  Bioinformatics Researcher

  Kevin completed his B.S. in computer science and B.S. in bioinformatics at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2005, where he researched Archaea and implemented a genome browser based off the UCSC Human Genome Browser. He completed his Ph.D. in molecular biosciences and bioengineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2012. His research, at the interface of the wet and dry lab, focused on bacterial genome evolution; he computationally derived a DNA marker to resolve bacterial phylogenies and analyzed the evolution of an anciently acquired plant-like gene in a large culture collection. He continued at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as a postdoctoral researcher until 2018. He researched centromere evolution, providing an alternative explanation of the centromere paradox, and completely assembled five of the centromeres of maize. His interests in human health and nutrition led him to several small startup companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. At Sound Agriculture he implemented machine learning algorithms to identify small molecules, increasing plant growth and health, and developed novel epigenetic tools to accelerate trait development. As a data scientist at Edifice Health, a Stanford University spinoff, he led the clinical research team and piqued his curiosity on aging, inflammation and the immune system. He joined the Furman lab in 2023 to help with the mission of the Buck Institute and expand his knowledge and understanding of systemic inflammation and the aging process.

  KSchneider@buckinstitute.org

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  Fei Wu, PhD  Postdoctoral Researcher

  Fei completed his Ph.D. degree in interdisciplinary aging studies at Tulane University in 2021. He holds an M.Sc in medical sciences from Institute for Ageing, Newcastle University, and was a scientist in QIAGEN(Suzhou). His research focused on host-pathogen interaction in senescent cells. He hopes his work leads to a better understanding of the aging process and contributes to extending the healthy life span of human beings.

  FWu@buckinstitute.org