Center for Computational Molecular Biology

“I like thinking about what makes us human. Genetics is really unifying - everyone has DNA! I'm really interested in Neanderthal introgression, which is more the evolutionary side of humanity, but I also like thinking about the genetics of human complex traits. There's so much misinformation about genetic determinism - people vastly underestimate the effect the environment plays on traits, so it's really fun to study the science behind everything and be able to help combat misinformation.”

Hometown: Montgomery, Alabama

Advisors: Rotating with Dr. Sohini Ramachandran and Dr. Emilia Huerta-Sanchez

Research Interests: Human population and evolutionary genetics

I decided to pursue a PhD because I want to become an expert in a subject and contribute to the field. I want to spend my job thinking through difficult biological problems. So far, I feel like I at least slightly understand papers better than I used to, and I feel like my research questions are becoming more specific and interesting. It's still a work in progress.

The hardest part of graduate school so far are my challenging classes. I'm looking forward to being more research-focused, but I imagine that will come with its own set of challenges too.

My favorite thing about my graduate program is the community at CCMB; everyone is really welcoming and easy to get along with.

After earning my PhD, I'm still deciding between going into academia or industry. I know I want to always stick to biological data science, and human population genetics if possible.

Outside of school, my husband and I walk our dog a lot. I also like reading, crafting (crocheting and knitting mostly), and binge watching Netflix.

Abby Kuntzleman graduated from Duke University in 2021 with degrees in biology and computer science. She spent two years inspiring a love for science in children as a STEM elementary school teacher before beginning at Brown as an NIH PREP Scholar. She is interested in studying human population and evolutionary genetics and will be rotating with Dr. Emilia Huerta-Sanchez and Dr. Sohini Ramachandran. She is also passionate about science and coding education outreach. Abby has received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) grant.