About

Selin Jessa

Hi! I'm a computational biologist. In broad terms, I'm interested in how cells turn genes on and off at the right time and place in development, and where this goes wrong in disease. More precisely, I use integrative computational analyses of multi-modal genomics data together with deep learning to understand how transcription factors shape cell identity during development and disease, with particular interest in how transcription factor binding sites are organized in regulatory elements in the genome. Since 2023, I've been a postdoctoral scientist jointly in Anshul Kundaje's and Will Greenleaf's labs in the Department of Genetics at Stanford. At Stanford, I've been puzzling over how to use sequence-to-function deep learning models to understand mechanisms of gene regulation in human cell types.

Between 2018 and 2023, I did my PhD with Claudia Kleinman in the Quantitative Life Sciences program at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, focusing on data-driven approaches to identify cell-of-origin in pediatric brain tumors. Before that, I studied Computer Science and Biology at McGill. I care about computational biology that emphasizes reproducibility, transparency, and re-use.

Publications

* co-first author ^ co-corresponding author

2026

Multiomics and deep learning dissect regulatory syntax in human development

Betty B Liu*, Selin Jessa*, Samuel H Kim*, , Anshul Kundaje^, Kyle K H Farh^, William J Greenleaf^

Nature doi link pdf code

My main post doc work!

2025

Sensitive, direct detection of non-coding off-target base editor unwinding and editing in primary cells

Tong Wang, Selin Jessa, Georgi K Marinov, Sandy Klemm, Anshul Kundaje, William J Greenleaf

bioRxiv doi

We present a new assay, beCasKAS, to sensitively detect off-target edits from CRISPR base editors, and show how non-coding off-target genome edits can be triaged for epigenetic dysregulation in silico using deep learning.

2025

A unified lexicon of predictive DNA sequence motifs from ENCODE transcription factor binding and chromatin accessibility assays

Salil Deshpande, Chang Min Yun, Vivekanandan Ramalingam, Vivian Hecht, Aman Patel, Anusri Pampari, Selin Jessa, Ryan Zhao, Austin Wang, Anshul Kundaje

Technical note, Zenodo doi
2025

Mapping the regulatory effects of common and rare non-coding variants across cellular and developmental contexts in the brain and heart

Andrew R Marderstein, Soumya Kundu, Evin M Padhi, , Selin Jessa, Anshul Kundaje, Stephen B Montgomery

bioRxiv (accepted in principle, Nature Genetics) doi link
2024

FOXR2 targets LHX6+/DLX+ neural lineages to drive CNS neuroblastoma

Selin Jessa*, Antonella De Cola*, Bhavyaa Chandarana*, , Manav Pathania^, Nada Jabado^, Claudia L Kleinman^

Cancer research doi link pdf code

We analyzed single-cell profiles of the developing brain together with molecular profiles from patient samplesto nominate cell-of-origin, which enabled rationally guided mouse modeling of FOXR2-activated CNS neuroblastoma, a rare pediatric brain tumor subtype

2024

TULIPs decorate the three-dimensional genome of PFA ependymoma

Michael J Johnston, John J Y Lee, Bo Hu, , Selin Jessa, …, Nada Jabado, Michael D Taylor, Marco Gallo

Cell doi
2022

K27M in canonical and noncanonical H3 variants occurs in distinct oligodendroglial cell lineages in brain midline gliomas

Selin Jessa*, Abdulshakour Mohammadnia*, Ashot S Harutyunyan*, , Stephen C Mack, Nada Jabado^, Claudia L Kleinman^

Nature Genetics doi link pdf code

Using single-cell and bulk transcriptomics and epigenomics, we provide molecular evidence that deadly childhood gliomas with K27M mutations in different Histone 3 variants arise from distinct anatomical domains in the developing brain

2021

Mapping Angiopoietin1 expression in the developing and adult brain

Xin Wei, Selin Jessa, Claudia L Kleinman, Timothy N Phoenix

Developmental Neuroscience doi link
2021

Epigenetically defined therapeutic targeting in H3.3G34R/V high-grade gliomas

Stefan R Sweha, Chan Chung, Siva Kumar Natarajan, , Selin Jessa, …, Suzanne J Baker, Arul M Chinnaiyan, Sriram Venneti

Science Translational Medicine doi link
2021

ZFTA-RELA Dictates Oncogenic Transcriptional Programs to Drive Aggressive Supratentorial Ependymoma

Amir Arabzade, Yanhua Zhao, Srinidhi Varadharajan, , Selin Jessa, …, Kelsey C Bertrand, Benjamin Deneen, Stephen C Mack

Cancer Discovery doi link
2020

Histone H3.3G34-Mutant Interneuron Progenitors Co-opt PDGFRA for Gliomagenesis

Carol C L Chen*, Shriya Deshmukh*, Selin Jessa*, , Paolo Salomoni, Claudia L Kleinman^, Nada Jabado^

Cell doi link pdf code

We show that despite being histologically considered gliomas, a subtype of Histone 3 mutant childhood brain tumors likely arise in the interneuron lineage in the developing telencephalon; and that these tumors co-opt the PDGFRA oncogene to drive tumorigenesis

2019

Stalled developmental programs at the root of pediatric brain tumors

Selin Jessa, Alexis Blanchet-Cohen, Brian Krug, , Michael D Taylor^, Nada Jabado^, Claudia L Kleinman^

Nature Genetics doi link pdf

We generate a single-cell RNAseq atlas of developing brain regions where pediatric brain tumors occur, and use a data-driven approach to systematically nominate cell-of-origin

2018

Genome-wide discovery of somatic regulatory variants in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Sarah E Arthur, Aixiang Jiang, Bruno M Grande, , Selin Jessa, …, Christian Steidl, David W Scott, Ryan D Morin

Nature Communications doi link
2018

chromswitch: A flexible method to detect chromatin state switches

Selin Jessa, Claudia L Kleinman

Bioinformatics doi link code
2017

Enhancing knowledge discovery from cancer genomics data with Galaxy

Marco A Albuquerque, Bruno M Grande, Elie J Ritch, Prasath Pararajalingam, Selin Jessa, Martin Krzywinski, Jasleen K Grewal, Sohrab P Shah, Paul C Boutros, Ryan D Morin

GigaScience doi link
2015

Healthcare for All!: Access to healthcare for migrants with precarious status in the Parc-Extension neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec

Selin Jessa

McGill Journal of Global Health pdf

Colophon

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