Christopher Mason, Ph.D.

Professor of Physiology and Biophysics

  • Director, WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction and WorldQuant Foundation Research Scholar
  • Professor of Computational Genomics in Computational Biomedicine in the Institute for Computational Biomedicine
  • Professor of Neuroscience in the Brain and Mind Institute (secondary appointment)

646-962-5643

1305 York Avenue, Room Y-13.15
New York, NY 10021

Lab website: http://www.masonlab.net

Techniques

Research Areas

Member of:

Research Summary:

We utilize computational and experimental methodologies to identify and characterize the essential genetic elements that guide the function of the human genome, with a particular emphasis on the elements that orchestrate the development of the human brain. Our lab creates detailed cell-specific molecular maps of genetic, epigenetic, transcriptional, and translational activity, creating a draft of the molecular recipe for the creation of the brain. We also develop methods to detect, catalog and functionally annotate variants in the genetic pathways that control developmental processes and how they are perturbed to create disease. We aim to understand of the functional elements of the human genome well enough to enable, eventually, the ability to repair, re-engineer, or fortify these genetic networks within human cells.

Recent Publications:

  1. Prajapati, SC, Meydan, C, Neelamraju, Y, Wang, Z, Fan, H, Dunham, N et al.. CCAAT-enhancer binding protein delta functions as a tumor suppressor gene in acute myeloid leukemia. bioRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.08.25.670309. PubMed PMID:40909626 PubMed Central PMC12407753.
  2. Lei, H, Du, S, Tong, X, Chan, WL, Leung, MHY, Bøifot, KO et al.. Global biogeography of airborne viruses in public transit systems and their host interactions. Microbiome. 2025;13 (1):193. doi: 10.1186/s40168-025-02173-z. PubMed PMID:40883783 PubMed Central PMC12395665.
  3. Harbi, E, Mason, CE. Use of Protein Arginine Methyltransferase Inhibitors in Gliomas. JCO Precis Oncol. 2025;9 :e2500518. doi: 10.1200/PO-25-00518. PubMed PMID:40865032 .
  4. Jafari, H, Brown-Burke, F, Pray, B, Sloan, S, Helmig-Mason, J, Hout, I et al.. The novel immunocompetent Eµ-SOX11CCND1 mouse model phenotypically and molecularly resembles human mantle cell lymphoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2025; :. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-25-0534. PubMed PMID:40857109 .
  5. McDaniel, JH, Patel, V, Olson, ND, He, HJ, He, Z, Cole, KD et al.. Correction: Development and extensive sequencing of a broadly-consented Genome in a Bottle matched tumor-normal pair. Sci Data. 2025;12 (1):1385. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-05752-9. PubMed PMID:40781089 PubMed Central PMC12334583.
  6. Harbi, E, Yarar, E, Mason, CE, Aschner, M, Altundag, A. Intranasal Terpene Treatment for Glioblastoma: the Neuro-Oncological Potential of Perillyl Alcohol. Neurochem Res. 2025;50 (4):254. doi: 10.1007/s11064-025-04505-9. PubMed PMID:40728696 .
  7. Amirali, A, Sharkey, ME, Choudhary, S, Babler, KM, Beaver, CC, Biswas, P et al.. Long term assessment of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and the transition to evaluate additional viral targets. Sci Total Environ. 2025;995 :180096. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180096. PubMed PMID:40712541 .
  8. Liu, S, Rodriguez, JS, Munteanu, V, Ronkowski, C, Sharma, NK, Alser, M et al.. Analysis of metagenomic data. Nat Rev Methods Primers. 2025;5 :. doi: 10.1038/s43586-024-00376-6. PubMed PMID:40688383 PubMed Central PMC12276902.
  9. McDaniel, JH, Patel, V, Olson, ND, He, HJ, He, Z, Cole, KD et al.. Development and extensive sequencing of a broadly-consented Genome in a Bottle matched tumor-normal pair. Sci Data. 2025;12 (1):1195. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-05438-2. PubMed PMID:40670386 PubMed Central PMC12267650.
  10. Park, J, De Gregorio, R, Hissong, E, Ozcelik, E, Bartelo, N, Dezem, FS et al.. The Spatial Atlas of Human Anatomy (SAHA): A Multimodal Subcellular-Resolution Reference Across Human Organs. bioRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.06.16.658716. PubMed PMID:40611896 PubMed Central PMC12224548.
  11. Chen, X, Fang, LT, Chen, Z, Chen, W, Wu, H, Zhu, B et al.. A benchmarking study of copy number variation inference methods using single-cell RNA-sequencing data. Precis Clin Med. 2025;8 (2):pbaf011. doi: 10.1093/pcmedi/pbaf011. PubMed PMID:40584741 PubMed Central PMC12204187.
  12. Lili, L, Kunces, LJ, Meydan, C, Pesce, S, Afshin, EE, Rickard, N et al.. A multi-omic study profiles women with PCOS to reveal unique gut microbiome compositions. Precis Clin Med. 2025;8 (3):pbaf012. doi: 10.1093/pcmedi/pbaf012. PubMed PMID:40584174 PubMed Central PMC12205306.
  13. Liu, X, Pataranutaporn, P, Fram, B, Werner, AZ, Sharma, S, Gauthier, NP et al.. Development and flight-testing of modular autonomous cultivation systems for biological plastics upcycling aboard the ISS. NPJ Microgravity. 2025;11 (1):23. doi: 10.1038/s41526-025-00463-2. PubMed PMID:40562752 PubMed Central PMC12198410.
  14. Li, D, Li, J, Johann, DJ Jr, Butler, D, Chen, G, Foox, J et al.. Augmenting precision medicine via targeted RNA-Seq detection of expressed mutations. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2025;9 (1):182. doi: 10.1038/s41698-025-00993-8. PubMed PMID:40514442 PubMed Central PMC12166063.
  15. Zajac, N, Vlachos, IS, Sajibu, S, Opitz, L, Wang, S, Chittur, SV et al.. The impact of PCR duplication on RNAseq data generated using NovaSeq 6000, NovaSeq X, AVITI, and G4 sequencers. Genome Biol. 2025;26 (1):145. doi: 10.1186/s13059-025-03613-7. PubMed PMID:40437619 PubMed Central PMC12117910.
  16. Sakamoto, T, Leca, J, Zhang, X, Meydan, C, Foox, J, Ramachandran, P et al.. Mutant IDH1 cooperates with NPM1c or FLT3ITD to drive distinct myeloid diseases and molecular outcomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025;122 (20):e2415779122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2415779122. PubMed PMID:40377995 PubMed Central PMC12107087.
  17. Porubsky, D, Dashnow, H, Sasani, TA, Logsdon, GA, Hallast, P, Noyes, MD et al.. Human de novo mutation rates from a four-generation pedigree reference. Nature. 2025;643 (8071):427-436. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08922-2. PubMed PMID:40269156 PubMed Central PMC12240836.
  18. Kolokotronis, SO, Bhattacharya, C, Panja, R, Quate, I, Seibert, M, Jorgensen, E et al.. Metagenomic interrogation of urban Superfund site reveals antimicrobial resistance reservoir and bioremediation potential. J Appl Microbiol. 2025;136 (4):. doi: 10.1093/jambio/lxaf076. PubMed PMID:40233938 PubMed Central PMC11999716.
  19. Gordeev, V, Hölzer, M, Desirò, D, Goraichuk, IV, Knyazev, S, Solo-Gabriele, H et al.. Leveraging wastewater sequencing to strengthen global public health surveillance. BMC Glob Public Health. 2025;3 (1):23. doi: 10.1186/s44263-025-00138-w. PubMed PMID:40119458 PubMed Central PMC11927347.
  20. Lee, R, Ong, J, Waisberg, E, Mader, T, Berdahl, J, Suh, A et al.. Potential Risks of Ocular Molecular and Cellular Changes in Spaceflight. Semin Ophthalmol. 2025; :1-11. doi: 10.1080/08820538.2025.2471443. PubMed PMID:40094398 .
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