Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program at UC Davis

Research in Lark Coffey's lab focuses on several central themes with a common goal of reducing the burden of disease caused by arthropod-borne (arbo) viruses. These include: understanding viral genetic factors that promote arbovirus outbreaks, predicting viral mutations that enhance arbovirus transmissibility by mosquitoes and disease in humans or animals, increasing safety of candidate live-attenuated vaccines, and uncovering determinants of mosquito-virus interactions as a means to reduce virus transmission by mosquitoes.

Priya Shah conducts research at the intersection of chemical engineering and microbiology. Members of her lab investigate virus-host interactions, including how Zika virus-host protein interactions lead to dysfunction of host proteins and inhibition of brain development, and viral control of gene expression. They also use approaches from synthetic biology to improve the production of viral proteins for applications in biotechnology.

Cecilia Giulivi's research focuses on the mitochondrial biology that underlies different pathophysiological cases including autism, schizophrenia, Huntington's and fragile X tremor and ataxia syndrome.

Gene Gurkoff conducts translational and basic research on brain injury and methods to moderate the effects of neurologic disorders, in particular traumatic brain injury and epilepsy. Projects include investigating how neural connectivity changes in the injured brain, and potential therapies including both pharmacological and deep brain stimulation. He is a member of the CounterACT Center of Excellence, a team of scientists evaluating the effects of organophosphate-induced epilepsy and the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine because of his interest in analyzing neural activity and developing novel therapeutic tools.

Tina Kim and members of her lab develop molecular and optical approaches to study the function and molecular organization of neurons in the brain. They use synthetic biology, in vivo imaging, and molecular characterization to examine the neural building blocks that regulate motivated behavior in mice.

Satoshi Namekawa and his lab address how epigenetic mechanisms govern spermatogenesis and oogenesis, culminating in the generation of functional sperm and eggs. Lab members emphasize dynamic changes in the epigenetic machinery and their importance to the next generation, and study the molecular functions of DNA damage response pathways—which direct meiotic sex chromosome inactivation—in the epigenetic regulation of the sex chromosomes. Through their research, they seek to clarify how fundamental germline mechanisms intersect to ensure genome maintenance, genome defense, and epigenetic gene regulation on a systemic level.

María Maldonado studies the biochemical and biophysical basis of respiration in photosynthetic organisms. She seeks to widen and deepen the understanding of respiration using biochemical, biophysical and structural biology approaches to study the respiratory complexes and supercomplexes of model plants, crops, green algae and non-green algae. Her motivation is to both expand the knowledge of this fundamental biological process and to set the basis for new strategies for food security and the mitigation of climate change.

Christine Toedebusch studies the role of microglia, which serve as the immune cells of the brain, in the development of brain tumors and the mechanisms by which microglia support glioma progression. Understanding how microglia facilitate glioma growth and invasion may lead to the development of novel treatment strategies.

Kassie Ori-McKenney strives to understand the pathways and proteins that regulate microtubule cytoskeletal dynamics and microtubule-based transport. More specifically, members of her lab dissect the multiple layers of regulation of microtubule-based processes by studying the biochemical and genetic relationships between kinases, microtubule-associated proteins, and motors. Research methods include in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo techniques.

James Letts studies the structure, function and mechanism of membrane proteins that catalyze electron transport reactions and characterize their diverse roles in critical bioenergetic processes and beyond. Research tools in his lab include single-particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) and other biochemical, biophysical and structural methods to elucidate the mechanism of electron transport proteins involved in energy transduction and cellular signaling.