Thiago Batista

Thiago got his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Physiology and Molecular Biology from the University of Campinas and a B.Sc. in Human Nutrition from the University of Brasilia in Brazil. He did his postdoctoral training in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Joslin Diabetes Center/Harvard Medical School where he developed human stem cell-derived myocyte models to identify novel intracellular signaling and gene expression mechanisms associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Currently, Thiago is a Research Scientist II in the Claussnitzer Lab within the Type 2 Diabetes Systems Genomics Initiative (T2DSGI) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard since 2021. His work aims at understanding gene regulatory mechanisms driving the formation of human adipocytes and how this process is impacted by genetic variation with emphasis on its role in the development of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other alterations of body fat distribution. He applies CRISPR-based genetic screens to perturb diverse coding and non-coding genomic regions of interest combined with high-dimensional readouts including gene expression profiling and chromatin accessibility at single-cell resolution.

Outside the lab, enjoys good food and craft beers, hanging out with family and friends, and rocking his guitar to the classics.