2017-2018 Cohort

Lynda Flores Graham

Lynda Flores-Graham

  • Chemistry Department, Sacramento City College
Lynda Flores-Graham received a BS in Biochemistry from California State University, Sacramento, in May 2017. As a PREP@UCD scholar, she has worked in Dr. Elva Diaz’s lab at the Department of Pharmacology and in Dr. Philipp Zerbe’s lab in Plant Biology. Lynda is interested in both molecular and cell biology, and organic chemistry.
Tianna Grant

Tianna Grant

  • Bioinformatics PhD Program, UCSF (Jimmie Yee lab)
  • NSF GRFP Honorable Mention
Tianna Grant obtained a BS in Biology with Honors from St. Francis College in May 2017. She is currently with the LaSalle Lab studying the role of gut microbiota in brain development using mouse models of Rett Syndrome. Tianna also has previous experience in cancer and biological defense research. With PREP@UCD she plans to integrate technology and science using animated models of her research, and will use these methods to communicate science throughout her career.
Ivan Olaya

Ivan Olaya

  • Integrative Genetics and Genomics PhD Program, UC Davis (Sean Burgess lab)
Ivan Olaya graduated with a BS in Genetics and Genomics from UC Davis on June 2017. He currently works in the Burgess lab, which studies homologous chromosome pairing and segregation during meiosis using yeast and zebrafish. Ivan is investigating whether homologous chromosomes in zebrafish can still pair without formation of the synaptonemal complex.

Faculty

John Albeck

John Albeck

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology -- College of Biological Sciences
Research in the John Albeck lab focuses on understanding the mechanisms of information flow in signal transduction networks controlling cell growth, survival, and metabolism. Albeck, a UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow in the 2021-2022 cohort, combines computational models with live cell data to identify temporal signaling programs that drive cell behaviors. This knowledge can be used to improve the results of therapeutic interventions in cancer and other diseases by predicting the cellular responses to signaling inhibitors.
Chuck Bevins

Charles Bevins

  • Professor
  • Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology -- School of Medicine
Charles Bevins is interested in host defenses against microbial pathogens, with a focus on the body’s antimicrobial peptides called defensins. The long-range goal of Bevins’ research is to understand the specific role that defensins play in mucosal innate immunity and to characterize the pathophysiology that characterizes impaired expression of these peptides, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Julie Bossuyt

Julie Bossuyt

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Pharmacology -- School of Medicine
Julie Bossuyt‘s research interests include the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiac plasticity and disease. Her lab applies cutting-edge high resolution fluorescence imaging techniques and novel biosensors to obtain unique insight into the spatiotemporal dynamics of signaling in cardiac cells.
Sean Burgess

Sean Burgess

  • Professor
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology -- College of Biological Sciences
Research in Sean Burgess’ lab focuses on a process fundamental to reproduction: understanding principles underlying chromosome organization in the nucleus. She uses yeast and zebrafish as model organisms to explore this with both meiotic and mitotic cells, and molecular, cellular, live-cell imaging, and mathematical approaches.
Luis Carvajal

Luis Carvajal Carmona

  • Professor
  • Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine -- School of Medicine
Luis Carvajal Carmona examines cancer genetics and Latino genetic demography using genome-wide association studies, linkage analysis and next generation sequencing. He has been involved in the discovery of over 25 cancer genes using these methods.
Fred Chedin

Frédéric Chédin

  • Professor
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology -- College of Biological Sciences
Frédéric Chédin focuses on epigenetics and its influence on mammalian genomics. In particular, his lab characterizes the distribution, function, and metabolism of R-loop structures. He works to elucidate how dysfunctions in R-loop metabolism are linked to human diseases, in particular neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders as well as cancers.
Joanna Chiu

Joanna Chiu

  • Professor
  • Department of Entomology and Nematology -- College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Joanna Chiu, 2019 Chancellor's Fellow, studies the animal circadian clock and its control over organismal physiology using biochemical, molecular genetics, and proteomic approaches. Defects in circadian rhythms and clock genes have also been implicated in a wide range of human disorders, including chronic sleep disorders, depression, metabolic syndromes, and susceptibility to cancer and drug and alcohol addiction.