Name: Cali Horta Hometown: Santa Clara, California Hobbies: Running, hiking, traveling, reading Lab: Dr. Jing Yang Lab website: Yang Lab  What do you study? I study breast cancer metastasis, which is the process where cancer cells in the breast travel to other parts of the body, such as the lung, bone and brain. The area […]

Name: Alex Tankka Hometown: Lafayette, CA Hobbies: Learning how to surf (I’m not very good yet!), baking, hiking, finding delicious food in San Diego! Lab: Gene Yeo, UCSD Lab website: https://yeolab.github.io/gene-yeo/ What do you study? Breast cancer, specifically RNA-binding protein (RBP) function in cancers with unique combinations of oncogene mutations. RBPs can regulate the post-transcriptional […]

Name: Stephany Flores Ramos Hometown: Kahului, Maui, HI Hobbies: paint, draw, cosplay, dance Lab: Amir Zarrinpar Lab website: https://zarrinparlab.org What do you study? I study the small molecules that microbes make in our body. More specifically, I am searching for molecules that have been made or decorated by microbes in our gut in response to […]

Name: Daniela Nachmanson Hometown: Seattle, Washington Hobbies: Backpacking, baking, reading Lab: Harismendy Lab, UCSD What do you study? I work with a group studying the DNA of precancer. Precancer is a group of cells which is not normal, yet not quite cancer, despite some “cancer-like” characteristics. Almost every type of cancer: oral, lung, skin colon, […]

Name: Lauren Clubb Hometown: McLean, VA Hobbies: Hiking, swimming, paddle boarding, food! Lab: Drs. Silvio Gutkind & Jill Mesirov Lab website: https://gutkindlab.org/team/ & https://mesirovlab.org/ What do you study? I want to understand how our healthy cells respond to cancer and how tumors can trick our bodies to support their own survival and growth. I am […]

Name: Mika Caplan Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska Hobbies: Hiking, snorkeling, rock climbing, painting Lab: Trejo Lab, Dept. of Pharmacology, UCSD Lab website: http://trejolab.ucsd.edu/  What do you study? I study cell signaling in breast cancer. All mammalian cells transmit messages from outside the cell to the inside. When the message in the signal becomes dysregulated, this can […]

Name: Karthik Guruvayurappan Hometown: Cupertino, CA Hobbies: Tennis, Eating, Running, Guitar Lab: McVicker Lab, Salk Institute for Biological Studies Lab website: http://mcvicker.salk.edu/  What do you study? I’m currently studying interactions between enhancer elements across the genome. Enhancers are regions of the DNA that impact the expression level of a certain gene, which in turn can impact […]

Name: Queralt Vallmajó Martín Hometown: Girona, Catalunya, Spain Hobbies: Traveling, meeting new people, good food & the beach Lab: Wahl lab, Salk Institute for Biological Studies Lab website: https://wahl.salk.edu/ What do you study? I study the onset and progression of pancreatic cancer. For this, we have developed a bioengineering approach to culture cells in the […]

Name: Mike Cuoco Hometown: Concord, Massachusetts Hobbies: Skiing, Gardening, Camping, Tennis Lab: Rusty Gage Lab website: https://gage.labsites.salk.edu/ What do you study?    I study transposon activity in the mammalian brain. Transposons (a.k.a. jumping genes) are pieces of our DNA that can move across our genome, by copying themselves from one location and pasting themselves into […]

Name: Paula Checchi, Ph.D. Hometown: New Egypt, NJ Hobbies: Being outside (hiking, running, rock climbing…), cooking, reading, spending time with my dog What do you study? I am interested in DNA repair, which is the process of how our genetic material fixes itself in response to damage. Why is it important? The inability to fix […]