POSTDOCS
MCB Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow Award Recipients:
We are excited to announce the recipients of our annual MCB Outstanding Postdoc Awards! Each year, the department honors postdocs for excellence in research, leadership, and service.
 Erin Doherty (Doudna Lab) discovered a new role for cyclic nucleotides in immune signaling, revealing how cells use a novel toxin–antitoxin system to protect against viral anti-defense. |
 Kevin Eislmayr (Vance Lab) studies how the immune system protects us from Shigella, a major cause of severe food poisoning. |
 Naohiro Kuwayama (Brar Lab) aims to uncover previously overlooked layers of gene expression regulation in yeast meiosis, with a focus on atypical RNA helicases and protein folding factors. |
 Joseph Lobel (Ingolia Lab) studies the mechanisms intrinsically disordered regions use to regulate mRNA stability and translation through high-throughput functional profiling approaches. |
 Aurora Alvarez-Buylla (Schepartz Lab) – 2025 Jane Coffin Childs Fellow |
 Carissa Chan (Portnoy Lab) – 2025 Damon Runyon Fellow |
| Erin Doherty (Doudna Lab) – 2025 Leading Edge Fellow; Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow |
 Timothy J. Eisen (Groves Lab) – K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (NIAID) |
 Shashank Gandhi (Harland Lab) – NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (NHLBI) |
 Grace Hibshman (Nogales Lab) – 2025 Jane Coffin Childs Fellow |
 Xiaolin (Lindsay) Huang (Dan Lab) – Parkinson’s Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship |
 Jessica Hung (DuPage Lab) – NCI K99 Pathway to Independence Award |
 Liliana Piñeros Leyton (Heald Lab) – Research Fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) |
 Heegwang Roh (Rapé Lab) – 2025 Jane Coffin Childs Fellow |
 Honglue Shi (Doudna Lab) – NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (NIGMS) |
 Daniel Silverman (Dan Lab) – Publication of the Year Award from The International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research (ISTAART) |
GRADUATE STUDENTS
PhD Students:
 Kyle Anderson (Saxton Lab) – Bakar Innovation Fellow |
 María A. Torres Colón (Swinburne Lab) – MCB Retreat Poster Award |
Master's in Biotechnology (MBT) Students:
 Meraal Ovais – Master of Biotechnology Award for admitted applicants who demonstrate exceptional academic, research, or professional achievement |
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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
 Ananya Choudhury (DuPage Lab) – 2025 American Association of Immunology Young Scholar Award |
 Lavanya Gupta (Singhal Lab at UCSF) – Society for Neuroscience Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) |
 Ashley Killian (Rubin Lab and Gazzaniga Lab at Harvard) – 2025 Harvard-Amgen Scholars Award |
 Vivan Li (Olzmann Lab) – Cayman Biomedical Research Institute Undergraduate Research Fellowship |
 Emily Qi (Rubin Lab) – Rose Hills Summer Scholarship to conduct STEM-oriented research during the summer months |
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