Former Lab Members

Katrina Hoyer, PhD (1999-2004)

Graduate Student

• Katrina was a post-doc at UCSF in the lab of Abbul Abbas working on the mechanisms of T cell tolerance from 2004-2012. She is currently an Assistant Professor at UC Merced in the School of Natural Sciences.

Rhine Shen, PhD (2001-2006)

Graduate Student

• Rhine was a post-doc in the lab of William Hahn at Harvard Medical School and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, studying metastasis. She is currently a Discovery Scientist at Agensys, Inc., in Santa Monica, CA.

Hsiao-Wen Chen, PhD (2003-2008)

Graduate Student

• Hsiao-Wen is currently working in the lab of Doug Wallace at UC Irvine to study mitochondrial metabolism.

Ali Kuraishy, PhD (2003-2008)

Graduate Student

• Ali was a postdoctoral research fellow in the HHMI lab of Michael Karin at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, studying the epigenetics of cancer from 2008-2012. He is currently a Scientist at Illumina, Inc., San Diego, CA.

Cynthia Balatoni Deignan, PhD (2004-2009)

Graduate Student

• Cynthia joined Amgen, Inc. in Thousand Oaks as a Science Writer. She is currently the Director of Scientific Affairs at Amgen in Thousand Oaks, CA.

Matthew Frank, MD PhD (2005-2009) MSTP

Graduate Student

• Resident, Internal Medicine, Beth Israel/Deaconess Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, 2009-2012
• Fellow, Hematology/Oncology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 2013-2020
• Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 2020-

Mara Sherman, PhD (2006-2010)

Graduate Student

• Mara was a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Ronald Evans at the Salk Institute studying pancreatic cancer from 2010-2016. She moved on as an Assistant/Associate Professor in the Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology Department at Oregon Health & Science University from 2016-2022.
• Recently, Mara relocated to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she is a Professor of Cancer Biology & Genetics studying the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer.

Jin Zhang, PhD (2007-2011)

Graduate Student

• When Jin left the Teitell lab, he became a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of George Daley, HHMI Professor and Dean of the Medical School at Harvard University, studying tumorigenesis and the Warburg effect.
• Currently, Jin is Director, Zhejiang University Medical Center Gene & Cell Engineering Division, and Affiliated professor, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, China.

Olivia Schontzler, MS (2010-2012)

Graduate Student

Lydia Zheng, MS (2009-2012)

Graduate Student

• Lydia is currently studying to obtain an D.O. in medicine.

Christine Van Horn, MS (2011-2013)

Graduate Student

• Christine is currently in Medical School at the University of Southern California, CA, Class of 2018

Dana Case, MS (2013-2014)

Graduate Student

• Dana is currently the lead Software Engineer at Histowiz, a full service histology company in Brooklyn, New York.

Jennifer Chun, PhD (2009-2014)

Graduate Student

Nicole Walsh, PhD (2007-2015)

Graduate Student

• Nicole is currently working as a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dale Greiner at the University of Massachusetts Medical School studying humanized mouse models of cancer immunology.

Tara TeSlaa, MS, PhD (2011-2017)

Graduate Student

• Tara was a post-doctoral fellow from 2017-2022 in the lab of Joshua Rabinowitz in the Departments of Chemistry and Integrative Genomics in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University studying quantitative whole body metabolism.
• Tara is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Eriko Shimada, PhD (2010-2018)

Graduate Student

• Eriko is a consultant at axiom healthcare strategies. She provides competitive intelligence and clinical development analysis to support strategic decision making in the pharmaceutical industry.

Lynnea Waters, PhD (2012-2018)

Graduate Student

• Lynnea is a Medical Communications Manager - US Oncology at Amgen, Inc. in Thousand Oaks, CA, where she makes materials for congresses and speaks to doctors and patients about the science behind oncology products.

Dian Huang, PhD (2013-2019)

Graduate Student

• Dian is a Life Science Consultant at Putnam Associates in San Francisco. She consults on products, such as therapeutic or medical devices, throughout their development.

Jason Hong, PhD (2011-2020)

Graduate Student

• Jason is currently a Scientist at ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City & El Segundo, CA, where he is working on immunotherapy against cancer.

Diane Kim, PhD (2014-2021)

Graduate Student

• Diane is a Fellow at Goldman Sachs in Boston, MA, in the Biotechnology Global Investment Research division.

Alexander Sercel, PhD (2016-2021)

Graduate Student

• Alex is currently a post doc in Martin Picard's Mitochondrial PsychoBiology Laboratory at Columbia University.

Vivian Lu, PhD (2017-2022)

Graduate Student

• Vivian is currently a Scientific Affairs Liaison at Deepcell, Inc, Menlo Park, CA, where she uses artificial intelligence and single cell morpholomics to interrogate biology.

Alejandro Torres (2017-2022)

Graduate Student (2019-2022)
Staff Research Associate I (2018-2019)
CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar (2017-2018)

• Alejandro is currently a graduate student in the lab of Sophie Deng, M.D., Ph.D. at UCLA.

Devin Turner (1998-2000)

Lab Technician

• Graduate Student. Harvard, Boston, MA.
• Devin is founder and CSO for Abveris Antibody, Inc., Boston MA. Abveris currently holds unique proprietary antibody discovery technology that delivers monoclonal antibodies with novel specificities.

Mindy Miner PhD

Lab Technician

• PhD, Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• Post-doc at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute in Seattle, WA
• Mindy is currently a Technical Editor for Dr. Larry Corey, President Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, WA and she also teaches biology at Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, WA

Mathilde Renard (2000-2003)

Lab Technician

• Lab Technician, Genfit S.A., Lille, France

Larry Wong (2001-2003)

Lab Technician

• Graduate School. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

Mai Nyugen (2001-2004)

Lab Technician

• Lab Technician, Burnham Institute, San Diego, CA.

Lisa Reznik (2003-2004)

Lab Technician

• UC Davis Veterinary School, Davis, CA.

Grant Sanders (2005-2007)

Lab Technician I

• Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Fellow (2005-2007)
• Grant is currently a medical student at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Class of 2011.

Josh Troke (2004-2007)

Research Associate II
Laboratory Manager

• Josh is currently a Resident in Emergency Medicine at UCLA.

Eric Allen (2007-2009)

Research Associate II
Laboratory Manager

• Eric worked at the National Cancer Centre of Singapore as a research officer from 2009-2012 and is currently an Associate Scientist at Agios Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA.

Sheraz Kalim (2006-2009)

Research Associate I

• B.S. – UC Riverside, 2004, Chemistry
• Sheraz is currently working as an instructor in the department of Organic Chemistry at UC Riverside.

Geoff Smith (2008-2010)

Research Associate I
Laboratory Manager

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2008, Physiological Sciences
• Geoff is now a medical student at Jefferson Medical College.

Brenda Mueller (2000-2011)

Administrative Assistant

• B.S. – Washington State U, 1987, Microbiology

Evelina Ter-Avetisyan (2011-2013)

Administrative Assistant

• B.S.- UC Los Angeles, 2008, Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics

Enrico Sagullo (2011-2013)

Staff Research Associate II

• B.S.- UC Riverside, 2010, Bioengineering
• Enrico is a research associate at Quanticel Pharmaceuticals, San Francisco, CA, which is a single cell cancer genomics company formed by Stanford University professors Stephen Quake, PhD, and Michael Clarke, MD.

Christopher Pang-Gonzalez (2011-2016)

Staff Research Associate II
Laboratory Manager

• B.S. – UC Riverside, CA, 2010, Cell Biology/Neuroscience
• Chris is now working in the UCLA Office of Environment, Health, and Safety.

Stephanie Kennedy (2016-2018)

Staff Research Associate I (2017-2018)
CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar (2016-2017)

• B.A. – California State University, Northridge, CA, 2018, Biology
• Stephanie is currently working as a scientist at Kite Pharma (Gilead Sciences), Santa Monica, CA, helping to develop cancer immunotherapies.

Robert Nguyen (2014-2018)

Staff Research Associate I (2017-2018)
Undergraduate Student Intern (2014-2017)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2017, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• M.D. – Medical School, USC, Los Angeles, CA, Class of 2022
• Residency – Anesthesiology, University of Washington, Seattle Washington

Fasih Ahsan (2016-2019)

Staff Research Associate II (2016-2019)
Laboratory Manager (2016-2019)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2015, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Fasih is currently a graduate student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Doctoral Program at Harvard Medical School with a focus in Genetics and Genomics

Irena Roy (2015-2020)

Undergrad Student Intern (2015-2019)
Staff Research Associate I (2019-2020)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2020, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• Irena is currently a graduate student in the lab of Daniel Wagner, through the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology program at UCSF.

Alex Napior (2019-2022)

Laboratory Manager (2019-2022)

• B.S. - Loyola Marymount University, CA, 2017, Biology
• B.A. - Loyola Marymount University, CA, 2017, Spanish
• Alex is currently a graduate student in the Graduate Program in Biosciences at UCLA.

Molly Delaney (2022-2023)

Laboratory Manager (2022-2023)

• B.S. - UC Los Angeles, CA, 2022, Neuroscience
• Molly is currently training in veterinary medicine at Thrive Pet Healthcare in Torrance, CA.

Esther Nübel (Nuebel), PhD (2010-2012)

Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow

• B.S. – Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany, Science of Nutrition, 2000
• M.S. – Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany, Science of Nutrition, 2003
• Ph.D. – Biochemistry, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Molecular Bioenergetics Group Frankfurt, Germany, 2010
• Post-Doc – Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Molecular Bionergetics Group Frankfurt, Germany 2010
• Esther is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Kostas Tokatlidis, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB-FORTH), University of Crete, Greece

Roonalika Wisidagama (2010-2011)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

• B.S. – California State University, Northridge, 2009, Honors Biotechnology/Chemistry
• Roo is currently a Graduate Student in the Department of Human Genetics in the lab of Carl Thummel at the University of Utah studying mitochondrial function.

Sarah Imam (2011-2012)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

• B.A. – University of Southern California, International Relations, 2008
• Sarah is currently in Medical School at Toledo University, Ohio

Sandra Escobar (2012-2013)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

• B.S. – California State University, Northridge, 2012, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Girar Kolakian (2014-2015)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

Jin Zhang, PhD (2015)

Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow

• B.S. – Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 2005, Life Sciences
• Ph.D. – UC, Los Angeles, CA, 2011, Cellular & Molecular Pathology
• Jin is currently working as a post-doc in the lab of George Daley at Harvard University studying tumorigenesis and the Warburg effect.

Nick Bohn (2015-2016)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

• B.S. – Northern Michigan University, MI, 2014, Human Physiology
• Nick is currently finishing his M.S. degree at California State University, Northridge, CA, in Biology (expected 2017)

Natasha Carlson (2019-2020)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

• B.S. – California State University Northridge, CA, 2020, Biotechnology
  B.S. – California State University Northridge, CA, 2020, Cell and Molecular Biology
• Natasha is currently working towards her Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

Alexis Anica (2022)

2022 Amgen Summer Scholars Program

• B.S. - UC Irvine, CA, 2023 (expected), Public Health Sciences
• Alexis is currently completing her B.S. at the University of California, Irvine.

Amberly Sanden (2022-2023)

CSUN-UCLA CIRM Bridges Scholar

• B.A. – CSU Northridge, CA, 2023, Biology
• Amberly graduated with a BA in biology from California State University Northridge and is planning to apply to medical school in June of 2024.

Michael Lee, MD (1997-1998)

• Orthopedic Surgeon. University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Patricia Koh, MD (1998-2000)

• Family Practitioner. UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA.

Louis Savar, MD (2001)

• MD, UCSF, San Fransisco, CA.
• Resident, Opthalmology, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA

Jason Weinger (2002-2004)

• PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Kathleen Kong (2003-2004)

• MD, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (2004-2008)
• Residency, Diagnostic Radiology, UC Davis Medical Center (2009-2013)
• Fellowship, Imaging, UC Davis Medical Center (2013-2014)
• Kathleen is currently a staff physician in the Department of Radiology in the UC Davis Health System

Andrea Huber (2003-2005)

• Andrea is now a medical student at Drexel Medical School, Philadelphia, PA, Class of 2010

Henry Lin (2003-2005)

• Henry is now in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.

David Carreon (2003-2006)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2007
• David is currently a medical student at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA in the class of 2012.

Elizabeth Kay (2006 Summer)

• B.S. – Johns Hopkins, 2007, Political Science, Biology

Mike Cummings (2007)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2007, Biochemistry

Jane Suh (2007)

• Jane is currently an undergraduate student at Harvard University.

Arye Lipman (2005-2008)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2008, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• When Arye left UCLA, he became a Research Associate for ImaginAb a UCLA spinout company focused on antibody-based imaging agents for therapy in immune-oncology.
• Arye is currently a General Partner at MarsBio, a life sciences venture capital firm.

Kelly Fan (2006-2009)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2009, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Kelly Fan is currently a medical student at UCSD.

Caitlin Callahan (2007-2009)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2009, Biochemistry
• Caitlin is currently a medical student at Michigan State University.

Jackie Tran (2009)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2011 (expected)

Anna Do (2007-2010)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2010, Physiological Sciences
• Anna is currently a medical student at Stanford in the class of 2015.

Julia Arzeno (2010-2012)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2012, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• Medical student and Geffen Scholar at UCLA, class of 2017
• Resident and co-Chief Resident, Dermatology Program at UCLA, 2017-2021
• Clinical Fellowship, Moh’s Surgery, UCLA, 2021

Mark Lin (2009-2012)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2012, Bioengineering
• Mark is currently a medical student at UC Irvine in the class of 2017.

Mariam Bonyadi (2009-2013)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2013, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Mariam is currently an MD, PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the class of 2020.

Vu Nguyen (2012-2014)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2015 (expected) Undeclared Life Sciences

Andrea Chaikovsky (2012-2015)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, 2015, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• Andrea earned a PhD from the laboratory of Julien Sage, through the Biosciences/Cancer Biology Home Program, at Stanford University.
• Andrea is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Scott Lowe at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Michelle Sun (2013-2016)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2016, Psychobiology
• 2016 to 2018: Clinical Research Associate, Dermot McGovern lab, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center and Immunobiology Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.
• 2018 to 2022: Medical student, UC San Diego.

Mahuya Barua (2013-2017)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2017, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• Mahuya is currently an MD candidate at Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine. She is expected to graduate in 2023.

Allison Blanchette (2014-2017)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2017, Environmental Science
• Allie is currently studying in the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholars Program.

Edward Polanco (2016-2017)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2017, Biophysics
• Eddie is a graduate student in the Chemical Engineering Program at the University of Utah.

Julia Stone (2016-2018)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2018, Biology
• Julia is teaching English in Costa Rica from 2018-2019. She's also volunteering at a local hospital. She plans on applying to medical school in the Spring of 2019.

Alex Lim (2016-2019)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2019, Bioengineering
• Alex is currently attending medical school at Western University of Health Sciences.

Sean Atamdede (2017-2019)

Laboratory Assistant Volunteer (2017-2019)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2015, Neuroscience
• Sean is currently a graduate student in the Biochemistry, Molecular, and Structural Biology Program at UCLA.

Emma Dawson (2016-2020)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2020, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Emma is currently a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the lab of Tyler Jacks.

Isabella Pena (2018-2020)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2020, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
• Isabella is attending UCRiverside’s Premedical Post-baccalaureate Program and working as a medical assistant. She plans to take the MCAT in 2021.

Garret Guyot (2017-2020)

• Garret started in the Teitell lab as a high school volunteer. He transitioned to an undergraduate student intern with his enrollment at UCLA in the Neuroscience department.

Rujuta Sathe (2019-2021)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2023, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
• Rujuta is currently in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology program at UCLA. During her time in the Teitell lab she completed work on stem cell differentiation and bioinformatics, lab presentations, and grant proposals.

Thomas Kretschmer (2020-2023)

• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2023, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

Christian Monsivais (2021-2023)

• B.S. - UC Los Angeles, CA, 2023, Biochemistry
• Christian is taking a gap year before grad school and is seeking a position in a research lab.

Kristin Pischel (2021-2023)

•  
• B.S. – UC Los Angeles, CA, 2023, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
• Kristin is currently a Staff Research Associate I in the Teitell lab.

Jane Suh (2006-2007)

• New Roads School, Research Training Program of the Southern California Junior Academy of Sciences, 2007-2008 High School Valedictorian, 2010 (ranked 1/595).
• Jane attended Harvard University as an undergraduate 2010-2014.

Garret Guyot (2016 summer)

• Agoura High School
• Garret attends UCLA as an undergraduate and Neuroscience major, 2017-2020.

KaiLan Mackey (2019 summer)

• Viewpoint School, Calabasas
• KaiLan will attend Harvard University as an undergraduate in the Fall of 2021.

Ryan Motakef (2020-2023)

• Geffen Academy, UCLA
• Ryan attends UCLA and is majoring in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.