Arielle Hancko earned her BS in Bioengineering from the University of California San Diego in 2022. Arielle's interests center around engineering therapeutics that function on the cellular level for chronic diseases and disorders. Her undergraduate research focused on biomaterial-aided cardiac tissue engineering. She now studies neuropharmacology in the Jennifer Whistler lab where she investigates mechanisms of interaction between drugs of abuse and cell receptors that relate to drug seeking tendencies and drug tolerance.

Kiya Jackson graduated from UC Davis in June 2022 with a BS in Biological Sciences. As an undergraduate, she conducted research as an NSF LSAMP/CAMP and RSPIB scholar in the lab of Dr. Joanna Chiu, where she studied post-translational regulation of circadian rhythms. As a PREP@UCD scholar, she will be working with Dr. Alex Nord.

Julianna Porter graduated from UC Davis in June 2022 with a BS in Genetics and Genomics. As an undergraduate she worked in the Ross-Ibarra lab and received the Nieland Award to conduct full-time research in the summer of 2021. Her work examined genome size variation due to repeat abundance as local adaptation to altitude. She is currently working in the lab of Dr. Rachael Bay as a PREP@UCD affiliate. Her research uses copy number variants to investigate a recent geographical range expansion following a marine heatwave in the owl limpet, Lottia gigantea.

Angel Ruiz received his BS in Biochemistry from California State University, Long Beach in May 2022. As an undergraduate, he conducted research as an NIH-funded BUILD Fellow in Dr. Fangyuan Tian's material science laboratory. His focus on metal organic frameworks as a drug delivery system for prospective heart therapeutics culminated in the presentation of a senior thesis. At UC Davis, he joined Dr. JoAnne Engebrecht’s laboratory to study meiosis and tumor-suppressor genes in germline cells using C. elegans as a model organism.

Johnny Vertiz graduated from California State University, Northridge in May 2022 with a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He conducted research at CSUN as a Build PODER scholar in the lab of Ray Hong, where he studied host finding behaviors in nematodes at the molecular and genetic level. Specifically, he studied how neuronal inhibition impacted a nematodes chemo-sensation. As a PREP scholar, he will work with Crystal Rogers to study how environmental factors can impact embryonic development.

Claudia Wang joined PREP as an undergraduate affiliate. She graduated in Spring 2023 with a BS in Genetics and Genomics from the University of California, Davis. She did undergraduate research in Dr. Henry Ho's Lab and studied the Wnt5a-Ror developmental signaling pathway implicated in a human disorder called Robinow Syndrome. Her research focuses on the underlying mechanisms of Wnt5a signal transduction, specifically the molecular interaction between the ligand Wnt5a and receptor Ror to facilitate proper signaling. 

Dianah Anderson graduated in Spring of 2023 with a BS in biology from Savannah State University. As an undergraduate, she conducted research as an ADISRE scholar, where she worked in Dr. Teresa Shakespeare's lab focusing on identifying wild type C. elegans isolates in Southeast Georgia. During her last year of undergrad, she conducted research under Dr. Takayuki Nitta studying how benzalkonium chloride enhances cell death induced by etoposide in a p53- independent manner. As a PREP@UCD scholar, she will work in Dr. Gerardo Mackenzie's Lab.

Andrew Barber graduated from North Carolina Central University in May 2023 with a BS in Biomedical Science. As an undergraduate, he conducted research as an NSF LSAMP and McNair scholar, focusing on the toxicological effects of air pollutants and the neurological effects of alcohol dependency. As a PREP@UCD scholar, he will work with Professor Sean Collins.

Ellianna Damozonio is a Biochemistry major at UC Davis, scheduled to graduate in June 2024, and joined PREP@UC Davis in Fall 2023 as an undergraduate affiliate. She conducts research on DNA binding properties of BRCA2, and thus the broader process of homologous recombination, in the laboratory of Wolf-Dietrich Heyer.

Daniela Hernandez graduated from California State University Fullerton with a B.A in psychology and a minor in cellular molecular biology. As an undergraduate, she conducted research as a MARC scholar in the lab of Dr. Adam Roberts. In the Roberts’ lab, she explored the effects of pharmacological agents on larval zebrafish in order to build a model for neurodevelopmental disorders. As a PREP@UC Davis scholar, she will be working in the lab of Dr. Anna la Torre’s lab where she will study neuronal progenitor cells and their development. Daniela hopes to pursue a PhD in the field of neuroscience.