Graduate students

Katrina Ngo (she/her)

Katrina is studying the -cis and -trans acting factors at hot spots of de novo telomere addition in budding yeast. She is from McKinney, Texas and enjoys telling people Texas has its own state pledge she had to recite in school. She has a passion for teaching and outreach. For fun she enjoys hiking, climbing and playing video games. A fun fact about Katrina is that her childhood pet is a bird named “the world” because she wanted to teach her bird how to fly around her in a circle so she could say that the world revolves around her (she was unsuccessful).

Remi Hoerr (she/her)

Remi grew up in Peoria, IL. She graduated from the University of Evansville in 2019 with a B.S. in Biology. In the Friedman lab she works on Team SiRTA because she loves thinking about the mechanisms by which cells deal with DNA damage. Outside of lab, she loves exploring different restaurants and food in Nashville, though Azzip pizza in Evansville, IN will always have her heart. You can often find her quoting the latest Tiktok, singing a random Broadway musical, or practicing different jokes for a stand-up comedy routine.

David Gonzalez (he/him)

David grew up in Laredo, TX. He graduated from the American Musical Dramatic Academy in with a B.S. in Acting and from Texas A&M International University with a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Biology. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his cat, exploring the different parks in Nashville, and going on runs. A fun fact about David is that he has a twin brother and is two minutes older than him.

Principal Investigator

Kathy Friedman, PhD (she/her)

Kathy is originally from Wisconsin. She received her BA from Carleton College in Northfield, MN and her PhD from the Genetics Department (now Genome Sciences) at the University of Washington. After postdoctoral studies with Dr. Tom Cech at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Kathy started her lab in the Biological Sciences department at Vanderbilt University where she now serves as Vice Chair. Kathy teaches introductory biology and genetics and is passionate about addressing issues of equity and diversity in science. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. She also loves to slalom water ski and find new and interesting running routes around the neighborhood.

Lab Outing

Friedman lab enjoys Old Hickory Lake

L-R:  Undergraduate students Nimi Adesanya and Tristen Gittens, Graduate student Katrina Ngo, Undergraduate student Mason Engle, Kathy Friedman, Graduate students Remi Hoerr and David Gonzalez