People

Angela Brooks (she/her)

Angela Brooks (she/her)

Professor, Biomolecular Engineering

Postdoctoral Fellow,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Broad Institute with Matthew Meyerson
Ph.D., Molecular and Cell Biology,
UC Berkeley with Steven Brenner
B.S., Biology with Specialization in Bioinformatics,
UC San Diego

When I’m not sciencing, I like to run to offset my love of food and cooking. I also like to sing and play guitar.

Namrita Dhillon (she/her)

Namrita Dhillon (she/her)

Associate Project Scientist

Project Scientist, UC Santa Cruz with Rohinton Kamakaka
Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Cambridge

Despite Harry Noller’s insistence that the ‘nucleus exists merely to keep the DNA away from the rest of the cell’, my interests lie in the complex choreography between gene expression and chromatin. Gene transcription, splicing and RNA processing occur in a spatiotemporal context that determines cell growth and development. Many malignancies have been attributed to perturbations in these events and I am currently addressing how the interplay between chromatin and splicing affects tumorigenesis.

Outside the lab, I enjoy hiking, eating out, wine and beer tasting, and theater.

Brandon Saint-John (he/him)

Brandon Saint-John (he/him)

Graduate Student, BME

B.Sc., Biochemistry
University of Virginia

There are a number of chromatin factors that are recurrently mutated in lung cancer, and how these mutations affect DNA accessibility and contribute to cancer is poorly understood. To this end, my research focuses on developing new methods with long-read nanopore sequencing to determine changes in DNA accessibility on a genome-wide scale and also determine how DNA accessibility is coordinated to influence gene expression.

In my spare time, I like to go to trivia nights at bars across town, surf, rock climb at Pacific Edge, and play basketball with labmates and friends.

Megan Durham (she/her)

Megan Durham (she/her)

Graduate Student, MCD

B.S., Biology
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

I work on the ssCRISPR project, which uses CRISPR/Cas9 targeting splice sites to force exon skipping events. I’m using this method to find new cancer driver mutations that result from aberrant exon skipping in lung
adenocarcinoma.

When I’m not in lab, I enjoy backpacking and hiking in pretty places, rock climbing, and making tasty food.

Cindy Liang (she/her)

Cindy Liang (she/her)

Graduate Student, MCD

B.S., Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
UC Davis

Although splicing factor mutations are recurrent in lung cancer, the biological impacts of the resulting transcript isoforms remain largely unknown. To shed light on this subject, my research project is focused on understanding the functional consequences of isoforms created by the splicing factor mutation U2AF1 S34F on lung adenocarcinoma.

When not in lab, I love creating digital art and character designs based off fantasy settings.

Colette Felton (she/her)

Colette Felton (she/her)

Graduate Student, BME

B.S., Biochemistry
University of Washington

I want to develop long read sequencing tools for diagnostic or prognostic predictions of multiple cancer types. My current research involves developing a tool using nanopore data to identify gene fusions in chronic lymphocytic leukemia with the SF3B1 K700E mutation.

When I’m not in lab, I love doing tactile, creative things, especially cooking, baking, and sewing. My evenings are mostly spent reading speculative fiction or walking along the beach and on the weekends I can be found engrossed in a baking project or hiking in the redwood forest.

Dennis Mulligan (he/him)

Dennis Mulligan (he/him)

Graduate Student, BME

B.S., Genetics & Plant Biology
UC Berkeley

I develop computational tools to help understand complex biological data. I’m currently working on a project to quantify mutually exclusive splicing events, in hopes of helping researchers study alternative splicing in transcriptome sequencing data. I also am interested in data visualization, making pretty and occasionally useful graphs and plots.

Outside of my research, I enjoy making art with my kids, hiking, gardening, and building furniture.

Rakshya Ujhanthachhen Sharma (she/her)

Rakshya Ujhanthachhen Sharma (she/her)

Undergraduate Researcher

Major: Computer Science

I am interested in learning algorithms and machine learning methods to build computational tools for data analysis. My research is focused on evaluating the performance of MESA and applying it to the entire TCGA dataset to create a publicly available database of splicing patterns.

Outside of the lab I like to bake, sketch, read books and swim.

Julia Saltz (she/her)

Julia Saltz (she/her)

Undergraduate Researcher

Major: BME
Short-read sequencing can attain high read depth, but is limited in its ability to determine the full-length isoforms, while long-read sequencing can produce reads over an entire isoform, but has lower read depth. My current research project focuses on evaluating short-read and long-read data to determine which combination gives the most accurate estimate of transcript isoform expression.
Outside of the lab I enjoy hiking, skiing, and cooking!

Lab Alumni

Undergraduate Students

Kevyn Hart
Sept 2015-July 2017, Research Specialist Jan-July 2017, Currently: Graduate Student, UCLA

Maximillian Marin
Sep 2015-Jun 2017, Awards: Crown College Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Koret Scholarship, Dean’s Award, Currently: Graduate Student, Harvard Systems Biology

Pratibha Jagannatha
March 2016-July 2019, Research Specialist July 2018-July 2019, Currently: Graduate Student, UC San Diego

Dominic Schenone
Sept 2016-Oct 2017, Research Specialist June-July 2017, Currently: Graduate Student, UC San Diego

Jacob Runyan
June 2017-June 2018, Currently: Software Engineer, Egnyte

Tyler Myers
Sept 2017-April 2018, Awards: Koret Scholarship, Currently: Graduate Student, UC San Diego

Maelia Uy-Gomez
Jan 2018-March 2019, Currently: Senior Research Associate, Genentech

Chang Kim
March 2018-June 2019, Currently: Bioinformatician, UCSF

Stefanie Brizuela
June 2017-June 2020, Awards: NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program

Carmelle Catamura
June 2017-June 2020, Awards: Koret Scholarship, Currently: Graduate Student, UC Berkeley

Matthew Cattle
April 2018-June 2020, Awards: Koret Scholarship, Dean’s Award, Currently: Graduate Student, NYU

Carlos Arevalo
October 2019-June 2021, Awards: Dean’s Award, Currently: Computational Biologist, Broad Institute

Justin Chan
June 2020-June 2021, Currently: Graduate Student, UC Santa Cruz

Manoj Tumu

Currently: Graduate Student, UC San Diego

 

Graduate Students

Allysia Mak
M.S., Jan 2018-July 2018, Currently: Bioinformatics Analyst, Guardant Health

Elizabeth DeVogelaere
M.S., April 2019-Dec 2019, Currently: Data Scientist, Facebook

Cameron Soulette
Ph.D., March 2016-June 2020, Currently: Bioinformatics Analyst, Gilead Sciences

Alexis Thornton

Ph.D., Currently: Bioinformatics Scientist, GRAIL

Alison Tang

Ph.D., Currently: Computational Biologist I, Freenome

Jon Akutagawa

Ph.D., Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, UCSF

Postdocs

Robert Shelansky
November 2020-November 2021, Currently: Computational Biologist, 10x Genomics

Amit Behera

Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, NIH 

Specialists

Eva Hrabeta-Robinson

Currently: Research Development Specialist, UC Santa Cruz 

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