Our Team
Meet the talented researchers and staff members who make our work possible.
Na Sun
Principal Investigator / AI Whitehead Fellow
Dr. Na Sun is a Whitehead AI Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. She received her S.B. in Life Science from Linyi University in 2009, followed by an S.M. in Bioinformatics and Developmental Biology from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. In 2017, Dr. Sun moved to Cambridge and worked at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard as a Bioinformatics Specialist. She began her graduate studies in computational biology at MIT in 2020, earning her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2024.
Email: nasun@wi.mit.edu
Publications: Google Scholar
Sumiko Williams
Administrative Lab Manager
Sumiko is an Administrative Lab Manager who has worked at the Whitehead Institute for 15 years. She enjoys learning and creating new craft projects.
Email: swilliam@wi.mit.edu
Yuxiang Zhan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Bio coming soon.
Joana Liu Donaher
Senior Technician
Joana is a Senior Technician working with Na to investigate how disrupted signaling between the brain and immune system drives neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's. She is super energized and excited to join the Sun Lab. When she is not in the lab, she coordinates a community apiary in her town and tends to 12 tomato plants and a variety of other garden vegetables during the growing season.
Email: liudonaher@wi.mit.edu
Albert Hung
Graduate Student
Albert is a PhD Student in EECS at MIT. His research interests lie at the intersection of biology and machine learning. Specifically, he aims to develop novel machine-learning algorithms that utilize multimodal biological data to streamline discovery and improve medical treatments. Prior to MIT, Albert received his B.S.E in Computer Science at the University of Michigan.
Email: azhung@wi.mit.edu
Amy Zheng
UROP Student
Amy is an undergraduate at MIT studying computer science and molecular biology. She works jointly between the Sun Lab and the Weissman Lab, combining MERFISH experiments with computational approaches to study spatial transcriptomics. She previously used expansion microscopy to investigate inhibitory synapses and interned with the Cell Therapy team at Genentech.
Email: amyzheng@mit.edu
Join Our Team
We are always looking for passionate and talented individuals to join our research group. If interested, please contact Dr. Na Sun with your CV and a brief statement of research interests.