From Manchester to Harvard in 3 Short Years

When Raunak Vijay '23 enrolled at UNH Manchester as a biotechnology majoron the pre-med track, he had his sights set on medical school. But one course-and one mentor-changed everything.

"Taking Dr. Kyle MacLea's phage bioinformatics class made me realize I was really interested in the ways computation could be used to solve biological problems," Raunak says. "That course set me on an entirely different trajectory."

That trajectory led him from phage research in Manchester to the halls of Harvard. Today, Raunak is earning his Master of Science in Computational Biology and Quantitative Genetics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, while conducting research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on foundation models for studying cancer evolution.

And it all started with a hands-on research project in his first year at UNH Manchester.

Finding his Niche

A Nashua High School graduate, Raunak's experience in the biotechnology program began with the Millyard Scholarsresearch course, where he isolated bacteriophages from soil and learned to annotate them using bioinformatics tools. That early exposure was the spark that ignited his passion.

"I shifted away from pre-med after my sophomore year and toward computational biology and bioinformatics," he says. "UNH Manchester gave me the flexibility and resources to explore that transition-and supported me the entire way."

As a student researcher in Dr. MacLea's lab, Raunak worked on isolating phages that target Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. For his capstone, he developed a phage genome assembly and annotation pipeline. He also served as a lab TA and learning assistant, helping other students with microbiology and programming.

His growing interest in computation led him to take additional courses in computer science and mathematics-and build a strong mentorship with Computer Science Professor Mihaela Sabin.

"It's easy to make meaningful connections at UNH Manchester," Raunak says. "Professors like Dr. MacLea and Dr. Sabintook the time to get to know me as a student and person. That made a huge difference-especially when it came time to apply to graduate school."

Beyond the Classroom

Raunak's undergraduate research paved the way for national opportunities. He was selected for the BRIDGE REU at the University of Maryland, where he spent 10 weeks improving neural network models for genome polishing. He presented his findings at ABRCMS 2023, one of the nation's largest STEM conferences for underrepresented students.

Back on campus, he served as a Peer Leader, helping new students navigate the transition to college and co-leading first-year seminar classes. Raunak also earned recognition for his academic achievements, receiving the Millyard Scholars Scholarship as a first-year student and the Edmund G. Miller Award from the UNH chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year.

A Future in Bioinformatics and Cancer Research

After graduating in December 2023, Raunak joined SeqCoast Genomics, a New Hampshire startup focused on microbial DNA sequencing. There, he worked as both a genomic sequencing technician and bioinformatics analyst-managing everything from wet-lab protocols to AWS-based data pipelines.

Now at Harvard and Dana-Farber, Raunak is contributing to cutting-edge research in cancer genomics, using machine learning to better understand tumor evolution. He hopes to build a career as a bioinformatics scientist or engineer after graduating in 2026.

"I have really flourished as a master's student and am grateful for the opportunities I have," said Vijay, "and UNH Manchester gave me the tools I needed to get me here."