Former members
Click the picture to meet our legends
Hiro Furukawa – The PI
Hiro became a PI of the HF lab in late 2006. He wants to understand and control processes involved in neuronal plasticity, neurodegeneration, and cancer/neuron interactions. Formerly a chemistry major, he still has a tendency to decompose biology into chemistry. After spending many years at CSHL, he is ‘finally’ starting to appreciate biology as it is. Find out more about who he is in Hiro who?
Tsung-Han (Eric) Chou – Postdoctoral Fellow
Tsung-Han, aka Eric, completed his Ph.D. with Prof. Edward Yu at Iowa State University, where he worked on structural studies of proteins related to the carbon concentration of green alga. Eric has been making important breakthroughs in understanding the structures and functions of NMDA receptors.
Hyunook Kang – Postdoctoral Fellow
Hyunook grew up in Daegu, South Korea, and went to Seoul to study biology as an undergraduate in Seoul National University. He continued to pursue Ph.D. in Seoul National University where he studied structural biology in the laboratory of Dr. Hee-Jung Choi. In 2022, he joined the Furukawa lab. Hyunook is interested in understanding the molecular machine in neurons. In his spare time, he likes to play games, read books, and wonder around the city.
Ruben Steigerwald – Postdoctoral Fellow
After growing up in Hamburg, he moved to Münster to study pharmacy, where he completed his PhD in medicinal chemistry in Prof. B. Wünsch’s group. His research interests are ion channels, in particular NMDA receptor biophysics. Aside from that, he enjoys bouldering and playing the piano in his free time.
Keiichi Hasegawa – Postdoctoral Fellow
Keiichi grew up in Kobe, Japan. He obtained B.S. in Tokyo Institute of technology and M.S. in Tokyo University and then went to Cologne University for Ph.D. where he studied biochemistry and structural biology of plant immune signaling pathway. Keiichi is interested in structural perspective of pathogenesis of autoimmunity. Outside the lab, he likes to walk in nature and reading books.
Cristina Gonzalez Lopez – Collaborative Postdoctoral Fellow
Cristina grew up in Granada, Spain, where she studied pharmacy. During her studies, she completed internships at EMBL in Heidelberg, focusing on imaging mass spectrometry, and at DKFZ in Heidelberg, working on tumor immunotherapy. She then pursued her PhD at the University of Cambridge in the Fruk and Muñoz-Espín labs, where she contributed to the discovery of senescence biomarkers and developed nanoparticles for targeted delivery. In 2024, Cristina joined the Moses Lab at CSHL, collaborating with the Furukawa Lab on drug development projects, with a focus on understanding the targeting and mechanisms of antitumor drugs. Outside the lab, Cristina enjoys outdoor sports, cooking, and playing musical instruments.
Noriko Simorowski – Technician-III
Noriko grew up in Tokyo, Japan. She studied Chemistry (Science and Engineering) at Meisei University in Tokyo and worked in NIIH [National Institute of Infectious diseases], and the Institute of Medical Science/the University of Tokyo. She came to the U.S.A. to work in the lab of Hamaguchi lab at Fordham University before joining the HF lab. Noriko’s ability in research has been the major force for driving the HF lab to success for many years.
Sam Kleeman – Ph.D. Student
Sam is a graduate school student at CSHL School of Biological Sciences working in the Janowitz lab and in collaboration with the HF lab. He grew up in Cambridge, UK and went to Cambridge University to study pre-clinical medicine. He then moved to Oxford University, received his MD and worked as a clinician for two years in the UK before joining CSHL. Sam bridges the HF lab to the cancer biology community at CSHL. Outside of science, he likes cycling, traveling and wine tasting.
Rachel Polfer – Ph.D. student
Rachel is a graduate school student at CSHL School of Biological Sciences. She grew up in Orlando, Florida, and went to Mt. Holyoke to study biochemistry. She then moved to Columbia University to work on self-nucleic acid sensing by pattern recognition receptors in the lab of Dr. Hachung Chung before joining CSHL. Outside of science, she likes baking, swimming, and hiking.
Catherine Scalise – Scientific Administrator
Adriana Hincapie – Media Maker
Adriana grew up in Cali, Columbia. She made a big move to New York and started to work at CSHL in 2001. Adriana makes cell culture media and biochemical reagents, which are critical for all of our experiments. Apart from that, she is interested in studying and mastering scientific communications in English and Spanish. She likes exercising, cooking, and traveling.
Ming Wang – X-ray lab/Computing Facility manager
Ming is the manager for the x-ray and computation facility manager at CSHL. He has also been assisting the annual CSHL x-ray crystallography course for >20 yrs. He joined CSHL in 1998 after completing his research associate position in Medical College of Wisconsin. We have been lucky to have Ming who deeply appreciates and understands every aspect of x-ray crystallography.
Dennis Thomas – Cryo-EM Facility Manager
After his PHD study in the DeRosier lab at Brandeis, Dennis went on conduct studies in the Baumeister lab at MPI of Biochemistry in Munich. Dennis has been the facility manager for the CSHL EM facility since 2017. He also assists the annual CSHL cryo-EM course.
Collaborators
Stephen Traynelis (Emory University), Lonnie Wollmuth (Stony Brook University), Niko Grigorieff (University of Massachusetts Medical School), Stephen Tucker (Oxford University), Tim Grant (Morgridge Institute for Research/University of Wisconsin Madison), Ryohei Yasuda (Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience), Graham Collingridge (University of Toronto), Albert Lau (Johns Hopkins University), David Jane (Bristol University), Katharina Schmack (The Francis Crick Institute), David Jackson (CSHL), Tobias Janowitz (CSHL), Chris Vakoc (CSHL), John Moses (CSHL)