Chaim Chernoff

​

Chaim is originally from Evanston, IL a north suburb of Chicago. He started his biological research journey in Bob Johnston’s lab at Johns Hopkins University and studied eye development in Drosophila and specifically how transvection of homologous alleles and chromatin structure affected stochastic cell fate decisions. He received a B.S. in biology with honors from Johns Hopkins University and minored in philosophy. He received the William D. McElroy Award for undergraduate research in Biology. He then began his Ph.D. In biological and biomedical studies at Harvard University, which he is currently completing as a graduate student in the Rajagopal lab.

​

What drew you to your field?

The ability to explore cell fate decisions, while a tissue maintains homeostasis is an interesting problem that has both specific applications, but also general biological knowledge that can be gleaned from it.

​

What do you do when you’re not in the lab?

As an orthodox Jew I spend a lot of time learning Jewish texts and being involved in my local Synagogue.

​

Describe Rajagopal lab culture in 3 words:

Friendly, and intellectually demanding.