We’re all about helping research succeed

Our highly-regarded and widely-used research services and support efforts set the standard for the global science community. Phoenix experts work with thousands of researchers and institutions around the world to create sustainable tools and resources for the long-term usability of research data and digital research resources. Our team has the subject matter, data management, and business management expertise to ensure that your data and resource needs are well looked after.

Our history & future

Phoenix Bioinformatics is a US-based 501c3 nonprofit founded in 2013 by the staff of TAIR, a curated database of genetic and molecular biology data for the model higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress). After TAIR’s grant funding expired, Phoenix pioneered a new, sustainable funding model for this vital resource. Today, the experts at Phoenix work with thousands of researchers and institutions around the world. Our mission is to help research projects achieve sustainable support using the tools and expertise we developed for TAIR. To learn more about Phoenix Bioinformatics and where we are going in the future, download our 2023-27 Strategic Plan.

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Our Staff

Erika Bakker, PhD, Scientific Curator

Erikka is the senior director of gene discovery at Phylos. She earned her BS, MS and PhD in plant sciences from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and completed her post-doc at the University of Chicago. She worked for seven years as a project leader at Dow AgroSciences on gene discovery projects, and as an analyst for the State of Oregon.

Tanya Berardini, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer

Tanya has been with TAIR since 2002 and is one of the founders of Phoenix Bioinformatics. Her work spans data curation in plant biology and paleobiology, community engagement, user support, bridging the communications between scientists and software developers, and developing new project ideas as part of a team. She has a B.S. from the University of the Philippines and a PhD from Boston University.

Xingguo Chen, MS, Staff Software Engineer

Xingguo has experience in full life cycle of web application development. She enjoys building things from ground up and solving any problem she may encounter during the process. Xingguo earned her MS from Stanford University.

Eileen Conroy, Operations Assistant

Eileen brings over ten years of administrative, operations, and human resources experience in tech and biotech to her work at Phoenix. She earned her BS degree from Kent State University in biochemistry and public health.

Amina Khababa, MS, Director of Sales

Amina earned her BS in Physiology and Biomedical Master’s Degree from San Francisco State University. She spent 7 years as a researcher before pursuing her career in sales. She loves supporting researchers and pushing science forward.

Kartik Khosa, BS, Software Engineer

Kartik has earned his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University and is currently pursuing his Master’s in Computer and Information Technology at University of Pennsylvania. He has two years of experience as a solutions engineer in low code industry and is interested in making scalable and simple products.

Brooke Long-Fox, PhD, Data Curation Scientist

Brooke is a paleobiologist with experience in morphology and phylogenetics. She is passionate about data management, accessibility, and analysis. She has a BS from Texas Christian University and an MS and PhD from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Annarita Marrano, PhD, Program Coordinator

Annarita has over 10 years of experience in plant genetics, genomics, and breeding. She recently co-founded PhenomeForce, a platform dedicated to enforcing expertise and skills in plant phenomics. She is currently the Program Coordinator of AgBioData, a consortium of agricultural biological databases and associated resources.

Connie Ng, Chief Financial Officer

Connie has over 25 years of Accounting and Finance, Human Resources experience in high-tech, software and service industries . She earned her BS in Finance from the University of Wisconsin.

Trilok Prithvi, MS, Chief Technical Officer

Trilok is an entrepreneur and a seasoned professional with a proven track record in software engineering and product development. He has 18 years of experience in enterprise software, startup, consulting and product design, delivering solutions for Health Care, IT and Services industries. Trilok earned his MS from the University of Utah.

Alyssa Proia, MS, Bioinformatician

Alyssa is an Air Force veteran with over 12 years of experience in systems engineering and test and evaluation. She earned her BS in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and MS in Bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University.

Leonore Reiser, PhD, Principal Biocuration Scientist

Leonore was one of the original TAIR curators and laid the groundwork for TAIR’s education and outreach mission. In recent years, she has been working as a science educator and has developed, managed, and evaluated research and educational grant proposals. Leonore has a PhD from Berkeley.

Swapnil Sawant, MS, Software Engineer

Swapnil earned his Master’s degree from University of Utah, School of Computing. He has two years of experience in web application development in a non-profit organization and also worked with various research groups at the University. Swapnil is passionate about making user-friendly products and learning new technologies.

Sabarinath (Shabari) Subramaniam, PhD, Director of Business Development

Shabari has over 20 years of laboratory and computational research experience in both industrial and academic settings. He has graduate degrees in Computational Biology (USC) and Neuroscience (McGill), and a PhD in Plant Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Josh Young, MS, Executive Director & Board Member

Josh found his calling twenty years ago at a research organization that was struggling to access, share, and use data. Josh recognized a need for improved access to data, better administration, and stronger communities and went on to earn graduate degrees in environmental science and public administration in pursuit of these goals. He has worked in atmospheric science, oceanography, as well as natural resource management.

Zachary Zouyed, Account Executive

Zachary earned his BS in Microbiology with a minor in Chemistry from Oregon State University. He started his career as a fifth grade teacher for a non-profit school and shifted into clinical research with a focus on infectious disease and cardiovascular devices. His passion for supporting scientific communities and ensuring customer satisfaction lead to his current role in Sales & Marketing.

Our Board

Debbie Alexander, DPhil, Secretary

Debbie is the Director of Business Development at 23andMe, focusing on innovative healthcare and research partnerships. She has over 12 years of experience in business development roles spanning the nonprofit, academic, Digital Health, and BioPharma sectors (including Scientific Curator at TAIR). Debbie holds a DPhil in Plant Sciences from the University of Oxford and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Carnegie Institute for Science, Stanford University.

Liz Allen, Board Member

Liz is the Director of MarCom & Strategic Development at Annual Reviews, a nonprofit publisher dedicated to synthesizing and integrating knowledge for the progress of science and the benefit of society. She has a strong track record of measurable achievement in launching, building and maintaining brands in established environments (Annual Reviews, PLOS, Nature) and start-ups (ScienceOpen).

Susan Au, CPA, CGMA, Board Member

Susan is the Chief Financial Officer with the Zellerbach Family Foundation and former CFO of Purchaser Business Group on Health, a nonprofit dedicated to making health care high-quality, affordable and equitable. Susan’s experience spans various financial roles in both non-profit organizations like the Public Library of Science (PLOS) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the larger corporate world of Sun Microsystems, Vodafone and Pacific Telesis (AT&T).

Rebecca Bryant, PhD, Board Chair

Rebecca is Senior Program Officer with OCLC Research, where she conducts research and develops programming to support 21st century libraries and their parent institutions, particularly as it relates to scholarly communications and research infrastructure. She previously worked as an administrator at the University of Illinois and community director at ORCID.

Laure Haak, PhD, Board Member

Laure (she/her/hers) is the Founding Executive Director of ORCID and is currently Founder of Mighty Red Barn, a firm specializing in fostering tech startups. She has experience in research policy – with a focus on workforce and diversity – at AAAS and the National Academies, and in tech startups and analytics at ORCID and Discovery Logic. Laure has a BS and MS in Biology from Stanford and a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University Medical School, with postdoctoral work at NIH.

Josh Young, MS, Executive Director & Board Member

Josh found his calling twenty years ago at a research organization that was struggling to access, share, and use data. Josh recognized a need for improved access to data, better administration, and stronger communities and went on to earn graduate degrees in environmental science and public administration in pursuit of these goals. He has worked in atmospheric science, oceanography, as well as natural resource management.

Careers

Join Phoenix and help us achieve our vision of an integrated, computable, evolving, sustainable body of scientific knowledge available to all researchers everywere.

Corporate information

Please see our Sponsors page for more information at https://phoenixbioinfo.org/sponsors.