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. 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; :. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08922-2. PubMed PMID:40269156 .
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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 .
  5. Chaib De Mares, M, Arciniegas Castro, E, Ulloa, MA, Torres, JM, Sierra, MA, Butler, DJ et al.. Distinct bacteria display genus and species-specific associations with mycobionts in paramo lichens in Colombia. FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2025;101 (2):. doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiaf010. PubMed PMID:39880798 PubMed Central PMC11800485.
  6. Kim, J, Schanzer, N, Singh, RS, Zaman, MI, Garcia-Medina, JS, Proszynski, J et al.. DOGMA-seq and multimodal, single-cell analysis in acute myeloid leukemia. Int Rev Cell Mol Biol. 2025;390 :67-108. doi: 10.1016/bs.ircmb.2024.08.001. PubMed PMID:39864897 .
  7. Readhead, BP, Mastroeni, DF, Wang, Q, Sierra, MA, de Ávila, C, Jimoh, TO et al.. Alzheimer's disease-associated CD83(+) microglia are linked with increased immunoglobulin G4 and human cytomegalovirus in the gut, vagal nerve, and brain. Alzheimers Dement. 2025;21 (1):e14401. doi: 10.1002/alz.14401. PubMed PMID:39698934 PubMed Central PMC11772737.
  8. Daniels, CA, Abdulkadir, A, Cleveland, MH, McDaniel, JH, Jáspez, D, Rubio-Rodríguez, LA et al.. A robust benchmark for detecting low-frequency variants in the HG002 Genome In A Bottle NIST reference material. bioRxiv. 2024; :. doi: 10.1101/2024.12.02.625685. PubMed PMID:39677813 PubMed Central PMC11642750.
  9. Topper, MJ, Guarnieri, JW, Haltom, JA, Chadburn, A, Cope, H, Frere, J et al.. Lethal COVID-19 associates with RAAS-induced inflammation for multiple organ damage including mediastinal lymph nodes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024;121 (49):e2401968121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2401968121. PubMed PMID:39602262 PubMed Central PMC11626201.
  10. Guarnieri, JW, Kim, J, Wallace, DC, Mason, CE, Muratani, M, Beheshti, A et al.. Methodologies for Mitochondrial Omic Profiling During Spaceflight. Methods Mol Biol. 2025;2878 :273-291. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4264-1_15. PubMed PMID:39546268 .
  11. Dewi, DAPR, Khalifa, HO, Khandar, H, Hisatsune, J, Kutuno, S, Yu, L et al.. Detection and genetic characterization of multidrug-resistant staphylococci isolated from public areas in an international airport. Sci Rep. 2024;14 (1):27738. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-79447-3. PubMed PMID:39532959 PubMed Central PMC11557577.
  12. Schubert, MG, Tang, T-C, Goodchild-Michelman, IM, Ryon, KA, Henriksen, JR, Chavkin, T et al.. Cyanobacteria newly isolated from marine volcanic seeps display rapid sinking and robust, high-density growth. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024;90 (11):e0084124. doi: 10.1128/aem.00841-24. PubMed PMID:39470214 PubMed Central PMC11577773.
  13. Tong, X, Luo, D, Leung, MHY, Lee, JYY, Shen, Z, Jiang, W et al.. Diverse and specialized metabolic capabilities of microbes in oligotrophic built environments. Microbiome. 2024;12 (1):198. doi: 10.1186/s40168-024-01926-6. PubMed PMID:39415203 PubMed Central PMC11484240.
  14. Corti, G, Kim, J, Enguita, FJ, Guarnieri, JW, Grossman, LI, Costes, SV et al.. Author Correction: To boldly go where no microRNAs have gone before: spaceflight impact on risk for small-for-gestational-age infants. Commun Biol. 2024;7 (1):1339. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-07022-7. PubMed PMID:39414932 PubMed Central PMC11484870.
  15. Corti, G, Kim, J, Enguita, FJ, Guarnieri, JW, Grossman, LI, Costes, SV et al.. To boldly go where no microRNAs have gone before: spaceflight impact on risk for small-for-gestational-age infants. Commun Biol. 2024;7 (1):1268. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06944-6. PubMed PMID:39369042 PubMed Central PMC11455966.
  16. 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. bioRxiv. 2024; :. doi: 10.1101/2024.09.18.613544. PubMed PMID:39345378 PubMed Central PMC11429686.
  17. Tierney, BT, Foox, J, Ryon, KA, Butler, D, Damle, N, Young, BG et al.. Towards geospatially-resolved public-health surveillance via wastewater sequencing. Nat Commun. 2024;15 (1):8386. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52427-x. PubMed PMID:39333485 PubMed Central PMC11436780.
  18. McIntyre, CA, Grimont, A, Park, J, Meng, Y, Sisso, WJ, Seier, K et al.. Distinct clinical outcomes and biological features of specific KRAS mutants in human pancreatic cancer. Cancer Cell. 2024;42 (9):1614-1629.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.08.002. PubMed PMID:39214094 PubMed Central PMC11419252.
  19. Gong, B, Li, D, Łabaj, PP, Pan, B, Novoradovskaya, N, Thierry-Mieg, D et al.. Targeted DNA-seq and RNA-seq of Reference Samples with Short-read and Long-read Sequencing. Sci Data. 2024;11 (1):892. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03741-y. PubMed PMID:39152166 PubMed Central PMC11329654.
  20. Porubsky, D, Dashnow, H, Sasani, TA, Logsdon, GA, Hallast, P, Noyes, MD et al.. A familial, telomere-to-telomere reference for human de novo mutation and recombination from a four-generation pedigree. bioRxiv. 2024; :. doi: 10.1101/2024.08.05.606142. PubMed PMID:39149261 PubMed Central PMC11326147.
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