Fall 2023 | New and Noteworthy: Postdocs and Students

POSTDOCS

MCB Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow Award Recipients

We are excited to announce the recipients of our annual MCB Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow Awards! Each year, the department honors postdocs for research, leadership, and service excellence.

Coombs
Rachel Coombs (Robey Lab) investigates how the extracellular microenvironment in the spleen directs T-cell differentiation using an experimental model of chronic T. gondii infection in mice.

Craig
Rory Craig (Merchant Lab) works on genome evolution and transposable elements in eukaryotic algae.

Gajowa
Marta Gajowa (Adesnik Lab) explores synaptic origins of visual tuning properties through fast- and large-scale synaptic connectivity mapping.

Graham
Thomas Graham (Tjian and Darzacq Labs) uses single-molecule imaging in live cells to study how protein complexes regulate transcription.

Diane Haakonsen (Rapé Lab) aims to understand how cells can respond to cellular stresses and ensure that the activated stress responses are silenced at the right time to maintain cellular homeostasis.

Chenshu Liu (Dernburg Lab) researches how mechanical forces are transmitted to and sensed by the nuclear envelope in cells undergoing meiosis and oogenesis to ensure oocyte production is both accurate and robust.

Noam Prywes (Savage Lab) is performing a deep mutational scan of rubisco in E. coli.

Gabriel Cavin-Meza (Heald Lab) – Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship	Meagan Esbin (Tjian Lab) – HS Chau Foundation grant
Marta Gajowa (Adesnik Lab) – National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW) Postdoc Award	Danielle Garshott (Rapé Lab) – 2023 Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF) fellowship
Dinesh Gupta (Nayak Lab) – National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows F32 Award	Lindsay Xiaolin Huang (Dan Lab) – Second-place poster award at ASAP CRN Collaborative Meeting in San Diego
Wren Kim (Ingolia Lab) – 2023 National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award	Haiyuan Mu (He Lab) – 2023 Postdoctoral Scholar Award from the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equality (GCRLE) for research on retrotransposon function in ovarian aging
Mark Plitt (Fisher Lab) – 2023 Jane Coffin Childs Fellow	Deepa Ramamurthy (Feldman Lab) – NIH BRAIN Initiative K99/R00 Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award
Raul Ramos (Bautista and Lumpkin Labs) – 2023 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna Gray Fellow	Honglue Shi (Doudna Lab) – The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
Rachana Deven Somaiya (Feller Lab) – Weill Neurohub Postdoctoral Fellowship	Jacob Steenwyk (King Lab) – 2023 Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF) fellowship
Kevin Wu (Park Lab) – 2023 Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow	Hanlin Zhang (Dillin Lab) – Glenn Foundation for Medical Research fellowship for understanding the molecular basis of human aging
Coral Zhou (Heald Lab) – 2023 Merton Bernfield Memorial Award from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

STAFF

Tina Sing (Assistant Project Scientist, Ünal Lab) – Longevity Impetus Grant to study gametogenesis-specific rejuvenation pathways in aging cells

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Jesse Garcia Castillo (DuPage Lab) – Lisa Eshun-Wilson DEIBJ Award	Valeria King (Glaunsinger Lab) – Lisa Eshun-Wilson DEIBJ Award
Khansaa Maar (Heald Lab) – Lisa Eshun-Wilson DEIBJ Award	Alex Maya-Romero (Zoncu Lab) – Dean’s Award for Inclusive Excellence at Berkeley in recognition for commitment to initiatives aimed at promoting inclusion on campus
Megan Onyundo (Heald Lab) – HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program	Samvardhini Sridharan (Sudmant Lab) – 2023 Leakey Foundation grant to support advanced doctoral students who are researching human evolutionary origins
Héctor L. Torres Vera (Schepartz Lab) – Lisa Eshun-Wilson DEIBJ Award

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