About Me

I am a recent alumnus of Commonwealth University - Bloomsburg in the Eileen G. Jones Honors College, with degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science. I am currently applying to PhD programs for the 2026-2027 academic year.

My academic interests lie at the intersection of abstract theory and computational application. Last semester I completed my honors thesis under the advisement of Dr. John Polhill, researching partial difference sets (PDS) and their implications in combinatorial design theory.

Beyond pure mathematics, I have extensive experience in applied research and systems engineering. My research journey began at Geisinger Health System, where I analyzed genomic data related to sex chromosome aneuploidies, contributing to a co-authored publication in Nature Communications. More recently, I completed an NSF REU at the University of California, Riverside in Summer 2025, where I utilized machine learning models to investigate transcriptomics in Alzheimer’s disease.

In the realm of software engineering, I enjoy building tools that utilize modern AI. My recent projects include QuizGPT, a native Android application that integrates the Gemini AI model and Firebase to provide semantic grading and intelligent tutoring, as well as a custom Unix shell implementation in C.

news

Dec 13, 2025	I graduated from Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg with degrees in mathematics and computer science. What an undergraduate experience this was, and I would like to thank a number of people involved that are impossible to all name. Onto the next chapter, wherever this is!
Dec 01, 2025	I presented my honors capstone project at the Eileen G. Jones Honors College capstone symposium. It was great to catch up with many students there.
Aug 13, 2025	I have completed my REU experience at UC Riverside, giving my final presentation on “Transcriptomic Age Acceleration in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Predictive Modeling Approach Using Age-Responsive Genes from GTEx”!
Oct 15, 2024	I am a co-author on “A genome-first study of sex chromosome aneuploidies provides evidence of Y chromosome dosage effects on autism risk” which has been accepted into Nature Communications!

latest posts

Dec 15, 2025	Hello world!

selected publications

Nat. Comm.
A genome-first study of sex chromosome aneuploidies provides evidence of Y chromosome dosage effects on autism risk

Alexander S. F. Berry, Brenda M. Finucane, Scott M. Myers, Lauren K. Walsh, John M. Seibert, Christa Lese Martin, David H. Ledbetter, and Matthew T. Oetjens

Nature Communications, 2024

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A female protective effect has long been postulated as the primary explanation for the four-fold increase of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses in males versus females. However, genetic and epidemiological investigations of this hypothesis have so far failed to explain the large difference in ASD prevalence between the sexes. To address this knowledge gap, we examined sex chromosome aneuploidy in a large ASD case-control cohort to evaluate the relationship between X and Y chromosome dosage and ASD risk. From these data, we modeled three relationships between sex chromosome dosage and ASD risk: the extra Y effect, the extra X effect, and sex chromosome haploinsufficiency. We found that the extra Y effect increased ASD risk significantly more than the extra X effect. Among females, we observed a large association between 45, X and ASD, confirming sex chromosome haploinsufficiency as a strong ASD risk factor. These results provide a framework for understanding the relationship between X and Y chromosome dosage on ASD, which may inform future research investigating genomic contributors to the observed sex difference.
@article{berry2024genome, title = {A genome-first study of sex chromosome aneuploidies provides evidence of Y chromosome dosage effects on autism risk}, author = {Berry, Alexander S. F. and Finucane, Brenda M. and Myers, Scott M. and Walsh, Lauren K. and Seibert, John M. and Martin, Christa Lese and Ledbetter, David H. and Oetjens, Matthew T.}, journal = {Nature Communications}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, pages = {8897}, year = {2024}, publisher = {Nature Portfolio}, }