Yasmeen Ajaj

4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, Yale Stem Cell Center. Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biology from UC San Diego, 2026

Yasmeen Ajaj is a 4th year Genetics PhD candidate dissecting the functional importance, ultrastructure, and topological paths of neutrophil nuclear morphogenesis in the lab of Dr. Jun Lu. She graduated from UC San Diego with her Bachelor’s degree in molecular biology where she did undergraduate research in the lab of Dr. Jens Lykke-Andersen investigating the biological activities and substrate specificities of putative eukaryotic deadenylases Nocturnin, Angel1, and Angel2. Prior to joining Yale, she interned at Takeda Pharmaceuticals as part of a global team validating a RIPK2 inhibitor for the treatment of IBD. She was also a postbaccalaureate researcher at the NIH working under Dr. Robert Crouch to characterize the phenotypes of RNase H2 mutations in mouse embryonic development to further understand the pathology of Aicardi–Goutières Syndrome. Yasmeen has a passion for STEM outreach and actively engages in mentorship and conversations with students from grade school through college. 

Outside of the lab, Yasmeen enjoys traveling, boating, drawing portraits, catching live music, collecting candles, and conquering the ski slopes (or at least trying!).