Samara Reck-Peterson, Ph.D.
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute | sreckpeterson at ucsd.edu
Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine Department
Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology Department
B.A. Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Ph.D. Cell Biology, Yale University
Postdoctoral Fellow Ron Vale’s lab, University of California - San Francisco
Jessica Allen, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist | jea011 at ucsd.edu
B.S. Biology, Eastern Washington University
Ph.D. Biology, The City University of New York and The New York Botanical Garden
Postdoctoral Researcher, The Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research
2018-23, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University
2023-24, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University
Mary Couvillion, Ph.D.
Bioinformatics Scientist | mcouvillion at health.ucsd.edu
B.S. Molecular and Cell Biology, Texas A&M University
Ph.D. Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkley
Adam Fenton, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow | adfenton at health.ucsd.edu
B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, PA
Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Pennsylvania, PA
Wei Gai, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow | wgai at health.ucsd.edu
Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA,
M.S. in Pharmacology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 2012-2016
B.S. in Biological Science, Dezhou University, China
Ameerah Holliday
Administrative Assistant | aholliday at ucsd.edu
B.A. English Literature, San Diego State University, CA
Katie Hatch
Graduate Student | khatch at ucsd.edu
B.S. in Biology, Emory University, GA
Funded By: Aligning Science Across Parkinson's
Eva Karasmanis, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow | ekarasmanis at ucsd.edu
B.S. Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Ph.D. Cell Biology, Drexel University, PA
Funded by: Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowship
Laura Kellman, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow | lkellman at health.ucsd.edu
B.S. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, CN
Ph.D. in Cancer Biology, Stanford University, CA
Gaurav (Garry) Kumar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow | g2kumar at health.ucsd.edu
B.tech, Biotechnology.
M.Biotech, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. B.Tech, JMIT- Kurukshetra University, Haryana, India.
Ph.D. Cell Biology, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India.
Jackie Lanzalotto
Graduate Student | jlanzalotto at ucsd.edu
B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Nick Lattal
Research Associate | nlattal at ucsd.edu
B.A. Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota
Swetha Mahesula
Staff Scientist | smahesula at health.ucsd.edu
B.Tech Biotechnology, JNTU, India
M.S. Biological Sciences, University of Texas at San Antonio
Patreece Suen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow | psuen at health.ucsd.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D. Cell Biology, Yale University
Katy Surridge, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow | ksurridge at health.ucsd.edu
B.S. Molecular Cell Biology, University of Sheffield, UK.
Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Bristol, UK.
Lab Assistants and Undergraduate Students
Neil Liu
Undergraduate Researcher | nel002 at ucsd.edu
Majoring in Biochemistry, expected Graduation in 2026
Past Lab Members
Luther Ela
Undergraduate Researcher (2023-2025)
Majoring in Molecular and Cellular biology with a minoring in Economics, expected Graduation in 2025
Livia Songster
Graduate Student (2020-2024)
B.S. in Biochemistry, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities
Funded by: Quantitative Integrative Biology Training Grant and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Current Position: Postdoc, Cereal Disease Lab, USDA-ARS/ University of Minnesota, MN
Valentin Wernet, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024)
B.S. Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
M.S. Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Ph.D. Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Current Postion: Scientist, Badische Anilinund Sodafabrik (BASF), Ludwigshafen, Germany
Kavita (Kavi) Rangan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2024)
B.S. Microbial Biology, University of California - Berkeley
Ph.D. Microbial Pathogenesis and Chemical Biology, Rockefeller University, NY
Funded by: Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University
Rob Abrisch, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2024)
B.A. Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado - Boulder
Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Colorado - Boulder
Current Position: Reasearch Scientist at Gia Voeltz lab, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Landon Vũ Nguyễn
Research Associate II (2022-2024)
Associates Degree, Houston Community College
B.S. in Microbiology, Minor in Genetics, Texas (A&M)
Current Postion: Graduate Student at University of California, San Francisico, Tetrad Program
Agnieszka (Aga) Kendrick, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-2023)
B.S. Chemistry, University of Wroclaw, Poland
M.S. Chemistry, University of Colorado - Denver
Ph.D. Stuctural Biology and Biochemistry, University of Colorado - Denver, School of Medicine
Funded by: NIH National Research Service Award F32 and American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
Current Position: Assisant Professor, Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Jenna Christensen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2023)
B.A. Molecular Biology, William Jewell College, Liberty, MO
Ph.D. Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago
Funded by: NIH National Research Service Award F32 and [NIGMS MOSAIC K99][0]/R00 Award
Current Position: Assisant Professor, Molecular Biosciences Department at Northwestern University
Deva Bhuyan
Staff Research Associate
(2022-2023)
B.S. in Neurobiology, University of California - San Diego
D. Alexander (Alex) Stevens
Graduate Student (2018-2023)
B.A. Double Degree in Biology and Spanish Literature, Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA
Funded by: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Lasker lab at Scripps Research Institute.
Jenny Rodriguez
Undergraduate Researcher (2021-2023)
Molecular and Cell Biology and Global Health
Internship at the Global Change Research Group, San Diego State Univeristy
Genevieve Curtin
Graduate Student (2022-2023)
B.S. Neuroscience, Tulane University
Soojin Kim, Ph.D
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022)
B.A. Biological Sciences, Seoul National University
Ph.D. Neuroscience, Northwestern University
Current Position: Scientist, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA
Joey Truong
Undergraduate Researcher (2020-2022)
Majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology.
Current Position: Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Davis
Andrea Dickey
Graduate Student (2018-2022)
B.S. Bioengineering, University of California - Berkeley
Funded by: Molecular Biophysics Training Grant
M.D. Ph.D. UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Current Position: Pathology Resident, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco CA
Sataree Khuansuwan, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist (2021-2022)
B.S. Biology and Chemistry, Summa Cum Laude, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Seawolf Therapeutics
James Holcomb
Undergraduate Researcher (2019-2021)
Majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology, expected graduation in 2021
John Salogiannis, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2021)
B.S. Double Degree in Neurobiology/Physiology and Psychology, University of Maryland
Ph.D. Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, MA
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont
David Snead, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2021)
B.S. Chemistry, Haverford University, PA
M.D./Ph.D. Biochemistry Cornell University, NY
Current Position: Research Associate, Kavran Lab at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Oscar Donosa
Lab Tech/Manager (2017-2021)
B.S. Cell Biology and Social Psychology, University of California - San Diego
Current Position: Stanford University, Cancer Biology Bioscience Program
John Gillies
Biology Graduate Student (2017-2021)
B.S. Biochemistry, University of Oregon
Current Position: Staff Scientis, DeSantis Lab at University of Michigan
Funded by: Molecular Biophysics Training Grant
Adriana Aguilar-Maldonado
Research Tech I (2017-2020)
B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of California - San Diego
Current Position: Harvard Graduate School of Art and Science, Molecules, Cells and Organisms Program
Vinit Adani
Lab Assistant (2019-2020)
Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of California - San Diego
Current Position: Research Associate at Inova Diagnostics
Morgan DeSantis
Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2019)
B.A. Biochemistry, The College of Wooster
Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania
Funded by: Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Cancer Research and NIH K99/R00 Award (K99GM127757)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan
Rachael McMinimy
Research Associate (2017-2019)
B.A. Neuroscience and Biology, Oberlin College, OH
Current Position: Graduate Student at University of California - Berkeley
Kelly Hayes
Undergraduate Researcher (2017-2019)
Majoring in Bioengineering/Biotechnology
Current Position: Undergraduate Researcher with Yo Suzuki at the J Craig Venter Institute.
Zaw Htet
Graduate Student (2014-2019)
B.S. Engineering Physics, University of California - Berkeley
Ph.D. Biophysics, Harvard University
Postdoctoral Fellow with Andreas Martin, University of California - Berkeley
Funded by: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Current Position: Math and Science Program Director, Mount Tamalpais College
Bret Redwine
Graduate Student Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-2018)
B.S. Biochemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia
Ph.D. Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard University
Current position: Head of custom protein resources, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Phuoc Tien Tran
Research Associate (2015-2018)
B.A. Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Current position: Graduate Student, Harvard University (MCB Program)
Cassandra Niman
Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2018)
B.S. Physics, University of California - San Diego
M.S. Physics, University of Oregon
Ph.D. Biophysics, Lund University, Sweden
Current position: Staff Systems Engineer, Staff Systems Engineer
Ophélie Kompaoré
Lab Assistant
B.A. Biological Anthropology, minor in General Biology
Michael Cianfrocco
Postdoctoral Fellow
B.S. Biochemistry, Providence College
Ph.D. Biophysics, University of California - Berkeley
Funded by: Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
Current position: Research Assistant Professor, U-M Life Sciences Institute/ Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry, U-M Medical School
Martin Egan
Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-2016)
B.S. (Hons) Biological Sciences, Exeter University, Exeter UK
Ph.D. Molecular Plant Pathology, Exeter University, Exeter UK Worked on: Regulation of microtubule based transport in Aspergillus nidulans
Current position: Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas
Mark McClintock
Graduate Student
B.A. Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder
Ph.D. Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard University Worked on: Determining the relationship between microtubule-based transport and cytotoxic protein aggregation.
Current position: Senior Investigator Scientist, LMB, Cambridge, UK
Himanish Basu
Graduate Student
B.S. Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, India
M.S. Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India Worked on: Microtubule based transport in Aspergillus nidulans
Current position: Graduate student in Tom Schwarz' lab, Children's Hospital Boston
Mark Chonofsky
Undergraduate Student
Worked on: Identification of novel genes required for microtubule-based transport in Aspergillus nidulans
Current position: Undergraduate student, University of Cambridge, UK
Nathan Derr
Graduate Student (2008-2013)
B.A. Physics, Amherst College
Ph.D. Biophyscis, Harvard University Worked on: Biophysical mechanisms of individual and ensemble molecular motors
Current position: Associate Professor of Biology, Smith College
Marisa Di Gregorio
Laboratory Assistant
B.S. Biology, Salem State College
Current position: Operations Specialist, Pfizer
Karen Easley
Administrative Assistant
B.S. Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Current position: Research Operations Manager, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
Brian Goodman
Graduate Student (2009-2013)
B.S. Biochemistry, Brandeis University
Ph.D. Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard University Worked on: Mechanisms of multiple motor ensembles in vivo and in vitro
Current position: Partner, MPM BioImpact, Boston, MA
Natalie Heer
Undergraduate Student (2010-2012)
B.A. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University Worked on: Identification of novel genes required for microtubule-based transport in Aspergillus nidulans
Current position: Graduate student, MIT
Ian Hollyer
Lab Manager (2014-2016)
B.A. Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN Worked on: Discovery of the dynein proteome.
Current position: Medical Student, Northwestern University School of Medicine
Julie Huang
Lab Director (2007-2013)
B.A. Biology, University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. Cell and Developmental Biology, Harvard University Worked on: Mechanisms used by dynein-associated factors to modulate dynein motility
Current position: Director of Research Administration, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
Weihong Qiu
Postdoctoral Fellow (2008-2013)
B.S. Physics, Nankai University
M.S. Applied Physics, Nankai University
Ph.D. Biophysics, The Ohio State University Worked on: Molecular mechanism of dynein motility and regulation
Current position: Associate Professor of Physics, Oregon State University
Anthony Roberts
Postdoctoral Fellow (2008-2013)
B.S. (Hons) Biochemistry, Imperial College, London
Ph.D. Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Leeds Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow with Peter Knight, Stan Burgess (Leeds) and Sam Reck-Peterson (Harvard)
Current position: Associate Professor, Sir Henry Dale Fellow School of Pathology, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Kaeling Tan
Postdoctoral Fellow (2010-2014)
B.S. (Hons) Biochemistry and Genetics, University of Melbourne, Australia
Ph.D. Science, University of Melbourne, Australia Worked on: Identification of novel genes required for microtubule-based transport in Aspergillus nidulans
Current position: Senior Instructor, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macao
Michael Wu
Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-2011)
B.A. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University Worked on: Identification of novel genes required for microtubule-based transport in Aspergillus nidulans
Current Position: Senior Manager of Global Marketing, Celgene
Sirui Zou
Graduate Student (2011-2014)
B.S. Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China Worked on: Structural and functional studies of dynein and its regulation
Current position: Senior Research Scientist, BrainCo_Tech
Past Interns and Summer Students
Amalia Driller-Colangelo
Summer student
Undergraduate student at Smith College
Nate Harper
Summer student
Undergraduate student at Lafayette College