Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program at UC Davis

Cassandra Morris completed a BS in neuroscience in May 2019 at the University of Minnesota, where she was a member of Dr. Gant Luxton's lab studying the disease-related regulators of nucleus-cytoskeleton coupling. As a PREP@UCD affiliate, she will continue her work in the joint lab of Dr. Daniel Starr and Dr. Luxton developing image analysis pipelines.

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.

Emari Mann earned a BS in Biochemistry from her family’s alma mater, and the first HBCU in South Carolina, Claflin University. In summer 2022 she worked in the lab of Professor Catherine Grimes, in collaboration with the lab of Professor April Kloxin as a fellow in the University of Delaware NSF CHARM REU program. She focused on synthesizing large muropeptide fragments on an automated peptide synthesizer to establish the utility of automated solid phase peptide synthesis. As a PREP scholar she will work in Dr. Theanne Griffith’s lab.

Christian Torres earned his undergraduate degree in Biology with a minor in Mathematical Modeling from Northeastern Illinois University. As a MARC and McNair scholar and as a Society for Developmental Biology Choose Development! fellow, he studied a downstream effector of p53 called PIG11 and its role in neural crest cells during early zebrafish development, with guidance from Dr. Jorge Cantú. During his time as PREP@UCD scholar, he will investigate the intricacies of mRNA processing from a temporal perspective using yeast as a model system. Christian hopes to pursue a PhD in developmental biology.

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.

Cameron Vasquez earned a degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from UC Davis. As an ADNR and CAMP scholar in the Joanna Chiu lab, he researched how post-translational modification regulates circadian clock timekeeping. As a PREP@UCD scholar, he will study how metabolism regulates gene expression in John Albeck’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.