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. Sharma, G, Munteanu, V, Ghiasi, NM, Mahanta, U, Banerjee, J, Varma, S et al.. Towards a decentralized future for open-science databases. Nat Genet. 2026; :. doi: 10.1038/s41588-026-02606-x. PubMed PMID:42156561 .
  2. Schmidt, MA, Schmidt, JC, Schmidt, CM, Jones, JA, Mason, CE. Precision Medicine in Astronauts: Principles and Targets in Molecular Assessment. Methods Mol Biol. 2026;3000 :311-346. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-5174-2_16. PubMed PMID:42151686 .
  3. Willett, JDS, Kim, J, Sakharkar, A, Park, J, Agyemang, AA, Saygili, EA et al.. The Data Science of Health in Space. Annu Rev Biomed Data Sci. 2026; :. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-092724-045605. PubMed PMID:42149965 .
  4. Wagner, J, Keskus, AG, Oshima, KK, Ranallo-Benavidez, TR, McDaniel, J, Sikic, M et al.. A complete human pancreatic cancer genome. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.05.01.722316. PubMed PMID:42146349 PubMed Central PMC13174521.
  5. Hu, M, Liu, DA, Wortzel, I, Collier, P, Nelson, TM, Foox, J et al.. Activated T cell extracellular vesicle DNA transfer enhances antigen presentation and anti-tumor immunity. Cancer Cell. 2026;44 (5):965-982.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2026.03.023. PubMed PMID:42066762 PubMed Central PMC13215210.
  6. Li, Y, Wei, C, Yang, W, Wang, H, Robinson, A, Peshek, I et al.. Spatial transcriptomics atlas of inflammatory bowel disease to guide implementation in research consortiums and clinical trials. Nat Commun. 2026; :. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-72482-w. PubMed PMID:42049732 .
  7. Burke, M, Kara, G, Holcomb, M, Mason, C, Villapol, S. Simulated spaceflight disrupts the immune-gut-brain axis and drives sex-dependent neuroinflammation, axonal injury, and behavioral deficits. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.04.09.717543. PubMed PMID:42039636 PubMed Central PMC13104848.
  8. Pelzer, B, Meydan, C, Spiegel, IM, Karagiannidis, I, Xia, M, Teater, M et al.. SPEN loss drives extra-follicular diffuse large B cell lymphoma with female-specific lethality and therapeutic vulnerabilities. Cancer Discov. 2026; :. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-25-1458. PubMed PMID:42013317 PubMed Central PMC13197974.
  9. Couto-Rodriguez, M, Danko, DC, Wells, HL, Rey, S, Jirau Serrano, X, Fidler, G et al.. Analytical validation of a highly accurate and reliable next-generation sequencing-based urine assay. Microbiol Spectr. 2026;14 (6):e0202625. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02026-25. PubMed PMID:42012213 PubMed Central PMC13227982.
  10. Martini, R, Tijjani, A, Founta, K, Cha, D, Awai, A, Maurice, S et al.. African Pan Genome Contigs Expose Biologically Relevant Sequence Still Hidden from Human Reference Frameworks. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.08.15.670543. PubMed PMID:41993395 PubMed Central PMC13082152.
  11. Neelamraju, Y, Rapaport, F, Gandara, JA, Paudel, BB, DeWolf, S, Dunham, N et al.. Elevated levels of TNF and its targets characterize better-risk older acute myeloid leukemia patients. Leukemia. 2026;40 (5):1049-1053. doi: 10.1038/s41375-026-02954-x. PubMed PMID:41975002 PubMed Central PMC13149307.
  12. Sasani, TA, Goldberg, ME, Avvaru, AK, Nicholas, TJ, Neklason, DW, Dolzhenko, E et al.. A family portrait of the genomic factors shaping tandem repeat mutagenesis. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.03.06.710071. PubMed PMID:41959501 PubMed Central PMC13060803.
  13. Aufgebauer, CJ, Nelson, TM, Houerbi, N, Veenbaas, SD, Tegowski, M, Luo, E et al.. Alternative polyadenylation drives isoform-dependent m⁶A remodeling during Zika virus infection. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.03.27.714597. PubMed PMID:41929174 PubMed Central PMC13041835.
  14. Wangprapa, P, Nagy-Szakal, D, Wells, HL, Fidler, G, Sangtian, M, Panmontha, W et al.. Correction: Analytical validation of a metagenomic next-generation diagnostic platform for urinary tract infection in a Thai tertiary hospital setting: a BI-Biotia UTI cohort study. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2026;16 :1817909. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2026.1817909. PubMed PMID:41924424 PubMed Central PMC13036646.
  15. Van Camp, AG, Park, J, Ozcelik, E, Eskiocak, O, Ozler, KA, Papciak, K et al.. Diverse high-fat diets drive multi-omic reprogramming that persists after dietary reversal. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.03.17.708620. PubMed PMID:41889866 PubMed Central PMC13015288.
  16. Prajapati, SC, Meydan, C, Neelamraju, Y, Wang, Z, Atwood, G, Paudel, BB et al.. CCAAT-enhancer binding protein delta functions as a tumor suppressor gene in acute myeloid leukemia. Neoplasia. 2026;74 :101293. doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2026.101293. PubMed PMID:41844049 PubMed Central PMC13010944.
  17. Wangprapa, P, Nagy-Szakal, D, Wells, HL, Fidler, G, Sangtian, M, Panmontha, W et al.. Analytical validation of a metagenomic next-generation diagnostic platform for urinary tract infection in a Thai tertiary hospital setting: a BI-Biotia UTI cohort study. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2026;16 :1751074. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2026.1751074. PubMed PMID:41769339 PubMed Central PMC12947133.
  18. Zhu, K, Amirali, A, Auch, B, Babler, KM, Biswas, P, Bowie, K et al.. Proof-of-concept of host attribution of antimicrobial resistance genes using wastewater Hi-C metagenome sequencing. J Water Health. 2026;24 (2):148-159. doi: 10.2166/wh.2025.162. PubMed PMID:41764388 .
  19. Behera, S, Rossi, M, Wang, Y, Izydorczyk, MB, Tran, D, Dalgard, CL et al.. Scalable and comprehensive mosaic variant calling using DRAGEN. medRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.02.03.26345450. PubMed PMID:41674597 PubMed Central PMC12889792.
  20. Palmer, GA, Mathyk, BA, Jones, J, Stocks, BT, Wolpe, PR, Wotring, V et al.. Reproductive biomedicine in space: implications for gametogenesis, fertility and ethical considerations in the era of commercial spaceflight. Reprod Biomed Online. 2026;52 (3):105431. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105431. PubMed PMID:41638929 .
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