Members

Sri Kosuri
I am currently on leave from UCLA, and am currently at Octant

I am an Associate Professor at UCLA in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. I was previously a member of the Advanced Technology Team in the Synthetic Biology Platform at the Wyss Institute. I was a postdoc in George Church's lab in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute from 2009-2011. From 2007-2009, I was the first employee of a biofuel startup called Joule Unlimited. I got my ScD in Biological Engineering at MIT in Drew Endy's lab and worked on understanding the development of a simple virus (T7) that infects E. coli.

Jess Davis - Graduate Student

I am a graduate student in the BMSB graduate program with a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of California Santa Barbara. I previously characterized cooperative binding specificity of D. melanogaster Hox transcription factors in the Reich Lab. I joined the Kosuri Lab in 2015 where I have largely focused on characterizing how transcription factor binding site (TFBS) architecture determines gene expression in human promoters.

Kimberly Insigne - Graduate Student

I am a graduate student in the Bioinformatics IDP program and I joined the lab in 2015. I received my B.S. in Bioengineering: Bioinformatics from University of California San Diego. Previously I worked in the Lusis Lab studying the underlying genetic causes of Metabolic Syndrome. I am mainly involved in two projects in the Kosuri lab. I work with Guillaume to develop sequence-function relationships of E. coli promoters using massively parallel reporter assays. I work with Rocky to study how cis-regulatory elements govern RNA splicing and develop better computational models to predict the splicing code.

Guillaume Urtecho - Graduate Student

I am a PhD student in the Molecular Biology Interdisciplinary Program at UCLA. I received my B.S. in Genetics at The University of California, Davis, where I worked in the Laboratory of Simon Chan. In this position, I developed novel biotechnologies for plant breeding by manipulating chromosomes. In addition, I worked with Stanley Fields of the University of Washington where I used a directed evolution approach to enhance alcohol tolerance in yeast. My current research interests are in creating platforms for studying genetic architecture and applying high-throughput gene synthesis techniques.

Calin Plesa - Postdoc

I am developing multiplex gene synthesis techniques and applying them to problems in protein engineering. Previously I completed my Ph.D. at TUDelft (http://www.tudelft.nl/en/) with Prof. Cees Dekker (http://ceesdekkerlab.tudelft.nl/) using solid-state nanopores to study DNA and protein.

Angus Sidore - Graduate Student

I am a PhD student in the department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. I received my B.S. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley. Previously, I performed undergraduate research in Adam Abate's lab at UCSF, where I developed droplet-based microfluidic technologies for DNA amplification. I am currently working on improving multiplex gene synthesis techniques. My work is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Cliff Boldridge - Graduate Student

I am a graduate student in the BSMB program. Previously, I earned my B.S. in mathematics at the University of Chicago and worked for several years in healthcare IT. As an undergraduate I worked in Shohei Koide’s lab engineering fibronectin based monobodies and clamps for high-affinity and high-specificity to myriad targets, and, recently, I earned my M.S. in Yvonne Chen’s lab studying the differences between effective and ineffective chimeric antigen receptors. In my current research, I am working on a system to multiplex the study of protein-protein interactions.

Alumni

JEFFREY WANG - RESEARCH ASSOCIATE/LAB MANAGER
I was a research associate in the Kosuri Lab. I received my B.S. in Biochemistry from UCLA. Before joining the lab in July 2017, I worked in Margot Quinlan’s lab as an undergrad, studying the interactions between actin binding proteins and characterizing their role in Drosophila oogenesis. I worked on implementing a high-throughput screening assay to deorphanize mammalian olfactory receptors. I left the lab in June 2019 to start the MSTP program at UT Houston.

JOHNNY LEE - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER
I majored in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA and graduated in 2019. I joined the Kosuri Lab in Fall 2017 as a research assistant working with Cliff Boldridge on a next-generation system to effectively study protein-protein interactions. Previously, I worked in the lab of James C. Liao at UCLA to improve the efficiency of methanol assimilation in E. coli to enhance the economic feasibility of utilizing small-scale methane sources for the U.S. energy industry. I'm currently working at Octant and I started at USC School of Medicine in Fall 2020.

ROCKY CHEUNG - POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTIST

Using synthetic biology, genomics and bioinformatics, I was a postdoctoral scientist in the Kosuri Lab at UCLA, developing technologies that enable improved, multiplexed measurements of gene expression across natural yeast isolates, and natural human variation that impact RNA splicing and Mendelian diseases. I am also in the core team to conceptualize and develop a novel sequencing ("DNA reading") technology for synthetic long reads. I received my B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and did my Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Rishi Jajoo - Visiting Scientist
I'm a Visiting Scientist at UCLA in the Kosuri Lab. I work on understanding how genotype affects phenotype using massively parallel assays and mathematical analysis. Currently, I'm using these techniques to understand which small molecules trigger GPCR activation in multiplex, focusing on olfactory receptors that mediate the sense of smell. In May 2015, I finished my PhD at Harvard University in the Paulsson Lab. My thesis was on the control of mitochondrial DNA copy number, yeast polarity and RNA Polymerase dynamics. Before that, I received an A.B. in physics at Harvard College in 2007. I joined the Kosuri lab in 2017 as a Fellow of The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research. For the first half of 2018, I worked at Octant Inc. to commercialize the multiplex technology I developed in the Kosuri Lab.

ERIC JONES - GRADUATE STUDENT
I was a graduate student in the MBI-IDP and a CBI trainee. I joined the Kosuri Lab in 2014. Previously, I received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin where I worked in Martin Poenie's lab and at UTEX: The Culture Collection of Algae. In the Kosuri lab I worked on developing a multiplexed screen for olfactory receptor binding. I defended my thesis in November 2018 and I am currently working at Octant.

NATHAN LUBOCK - GRADUATE STUDENT
I was a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. I received my B.S. in Chemistry from Duke University where I worked in Lorena Beese's laboratory developing in silico screens to repurpose existing cancer drugs as fungicidal agents. My interests were developing sequencing methodologies to improve our ability to read DNA, as well as leveraging computational techniques to write digital information in DNA. My research is supported in part by the Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship. I defended my thesis in November 2018 and I am currently working at Octant.

ARIELLE TRIPP - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER
I graduated UCLA with a double major in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology & Human Biology and Society. I joined the Kosuri Lab in Winter 2016 as a research assistant working with Guillaume Urtecho on the endogenous E. coli promoter sequences project. Previously I worked in the lab of Istvan Mody at UCLA to study the impact of interneuron deficits in Alzheimer's disease, Nathalie YR Agar at Harvard Medical School to apply MALDI MSI as a tool for biomarker identification in gliomas, and Eric R Kandel at Columbia University to use biochemical and molecular biological tools to gain further insight into the structure-function relationship of a prion-like protein involved in long-term memory maintenance. I left the lab in 2018 to earn my PhD at Harvard in the Systems Biology program.

MEGAN SATYADI - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER
I was an undergraduate student here at UCLA majoring in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics (MIMG). I joined the Kosuri Lab in Fall 2015 as a research assistant working with Eric Jones on his olfactory receptor binding project. In addition to working in the lab, I was also one of the head coordinators of the UCLA iGEM Team. I left the lab in 2018 when I graduated from UCLA.

MARCIA BRINCK - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER
I was an undergraduate researcher in the Kosuri Lab from winter 2016 to summer 2017. I graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics in the spring of 2017. In the lab, I worked with Guillaume Urtecho and explored regulation patterns of DNA looping at E. coli promoters. I left the Kosuri Lab to complete a Masters in Biotechnology at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

DANIEL CANCILLA - RESEARCH ASSISTANT/LAB MANAGER
I was a research assistant here in the Kosuri lab from spring 2015 to summer 2017. I received a B.S. in Biochemistry from UCLA and was a leader of the UCLA iGEM synthetic biology research team. In the Kosuri lab, I worked with Eric Jones and Megan Satyadi to study the structure function relationship of G-protein coupled receptors. I left to attend medical school at the St. Louis University of Medicine.

David yao - research assistant/lab manager

I was the lab manager for the Kosuri lab from December 2014 - August 2016. I graduated from UCLA in 2013 with an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience, and worked in Yi Sun's lab, studying the roles of transcriptional networks that regulate the kinetics of cellular reprogramming. I also started and lead the UCLA iGEM team. During my time in the Kosuri lab, I engineered cell lines with landing pads that facilitate the rapid and efficient transfer of genetic packages. I left the Kosuri lab to earn my PhD in Genetics at Stanford University.

Taylor ward - departmental scholar

I was a Departmental Scholar within the Biochemistry division at UCLA. I finished my B.S. in Biochemistry at The University of California, Los Angeles, where I worked in the Chanfreau Lab. During my time there, I studied the mechanisms of action of the mRNA degradation pathways Nonsense Mediated Decay (NMD) and No Go Decay (NGD) within yeast. I joined the Kosuri Lab in Spring of 2015 and worked on a multiplex system that will allow for insertion of a library into the endogenous yeast genome, which will then be utilized to study the effects of rare codon usage upon levels of gene expression. I left the Kosuri Lab in August 2016 to earn my PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Washington.

Michael corrado - bioengineering masters student

HWANGBEOM KIM - POSTDOC
I did my Ph.D. in Chemistry at Yonsei University in Korea with Prof. Duhee Bang. In the Kosuri Lab I worked on gene synthesis and multiplexed screens. I left the Kosuri Lab in December 2016 to work at Samsung in South Korea.

Short-Term