People
Shaun McKinnie
2004 - 2008 B.Sc. in Biochemistry (Honors) - University of Alberta
2010 - 2015 Ph.D. Organic Chemistry - University of Alberta (with Prof. John C. Vederas)
2016 - 2019 Postdoctoral Scholar - Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University of California, San Diego (with Prof. Bradley S. Moore)
2019 - present Assistant Professor - University of California, Santa Cruz
Jin Feng, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar (2024 - present)
Hometown: Shandong, China
Degrees: Traditional Chinese Medicine B. Sc. - China Pharmaceutical University, China
Pharmacognosy M. Sc. - Peking University, China (with Prof. Min Ye)
Microbiological Chemistry Ph. D. - Leibniz University Hannover, Germany (with Prof. Russell Cox)
Natural Product Biosynthesis Postdoctoral Scholar - Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry
(with Prof. Gong-Li Tang)
About Jin: enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with family; loves being outside with nature and is interested in philosophy and religion
Email: jfeng61 [at] ucsc.edu
Jackson Baumgartner
PhD student (2020 - present)
Hometown: San Luis Obispo, California
Degrees: Biochemistry B.S. and History B.A. - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Chemistry M.S. - San Francisco State University (with Prof. Misty Kuhn)
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
About Jackson: enjoys nature walks, baking bread, and tinkering; believes spontaneous puns are the height of human achievement
Email: jabaumga [at] ucsc.edu
Austin Hopiavuori
PhD student (2020 - present)
Hometown: Rochester, New York
Degree: Biochemistry B.Sc - University of Rochester
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
About Austin: enjoys tennis, playing various instruments, and digital music production; loves cold weather
Email: ahopiavu [at] ucsc.edu
Jennifer Cordoza
PhD student (2021 - present)
Hometown: Murrieta, California
Degree: Biochemistry B.Sc - Point Loma Nazarene University (with Prof. Katherine Maloney)
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
About Jenny: enjoys being outside, strategy games, and going to museums; aspires to learn something every day.
Email: jcordoza [at] ucsc.edu
Radcliff Huffman
PhD student (2022 - present)
Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Degrees: Allied Health, B.S. Minors in Biology and Biochemistry - Manhattan College, New York City
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
About Radcliff: enjoys swimming, olympic weight lifting, and playing the violin, still doesn't understand why he can't see when he closes his eyes
Email: trhuffma [at] ucsc.edu
Lia Lozano Salazar
PhD student (2023 - present)
Hometown: San Diego, California
Degree: Chemistry B. Sc. - Point Loma Nazarene University (with Prof. Katherine Maloney)
Program: Chemistry Ph.D. track
About Lia: I enjoy open-ocean swimming, running, and rowing as well as doing the NYT crossword puzzle
Email: llozanos [at] ucsc.edu
Jackson Calhoun
PhD student (2024 - present)
Hometown: Dublin, California
Degrees: B.S. Biochemistry - Syracuse University
M.S. Pharmaceutical Sciences - Medicinal Chemistry - University of Connecticut
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
About Jackson: enjoys traveling and being outdoors in any capacity. Loves board and card games and will never turn down a bowl of ramen
Email: jtcalhou [at] ucsc.edu
Lukas Varga
Undergraduate researcher (2022 - present)
Hometown: San Leandro, California
Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics minor
About Lukas: enjoys playing the cello, the occasional jog, and spending time with family and friends; is invested in expanding his biological and chemical repertoire, and discovering fields of interest!
Ananya Manjunath
Undergraduate researcher (2024 - present)
Hometown: San Jose, California
Major: Neuroscience and Chemistry
About Ananya: enjoys writing, meditating, and hanging out with the redwoods; interested in pharmacology and natural medicine; passionate about radical feminism and will never say no to karaoke!
Alejandro Lezama
Undergraduate researcher (2024 - present)
visiting from Gavilan College through summer ACCESS program
Hometown: Hollister, California
Major: Chemistry
About Alejandro: enjoys cooking, spending time with family and friends, spending time in nature, always down to explore different types of food, and of course loves chemistry!
Lab Alumni
Specialists and Employees
Alex Tabag - post-baccalaureate researcher (collaborative with Sanchez lab) - 2023 - 2024
Manasi Natu - Junior Specialist - 2022 - 2023
Meron Mesgun - Junior Specialist - 2023
Graduate students
Karina Campos Salazar - MSc volunteer researcher - 2021 - 2022
Visiting researchers
Sage Welch - summer ACCESS undergraduate student (Cabrillo) - 2023
Crystal Nowell - summer UCSC-HBCU undergraduate student (NCCU) - 2023
Arianna Kessler - summer undergraduate researcher (UC Los Angeles) - 2023
Alondra Maranon Rodriguez - summer ACCESS undergraduate student (Hartnell) - 2022
Linnea Blaustein - summer ACCESS undergraduate student (Cabrillo) - 2021 - 2022
Hanna Fleming - summer undergraduate researcher (UC Los Angeles) - 2021
Undergraduate students
Anandi Radhakrishnan - undergraduate researcher - 2024
Gabriel Lefebre - undergraduate researcher - 2023 - 2024
Melanie Jones - undergraduate researcher - 2022 - 2024
Sage Welch - undergraduate researcher - 2023 - 2024
Meron Mesgun - undergraduate researcher - 2023
Amelia Smyth - undergraduate researcher - 2020 - 2022
Griffin May - undergraduate researcher - 2019 - 2021
Mehrzad Mohaddess - undergraduate researcher - 2019 - 2021
Ethan Bales-Dagemjian - undergraduate researcher - 2019 - 2021
Joshua Marquez - undergraduate researcher - 2019 - 2021
Mano Ranaweera - undergraduate researcher - 2019 - 2020
Elise Rogotzke - undergraduate researcher - 2019 - 2020
Rotation students
Shevelle Brown - PBSE MCD rotation student - 2024
Gino Magalang - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2023
Jason Guerrero - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2023
Robert Shepherd - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2023
Olivia Matsumoto-Elliott - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2022
Adam Lentz - PBSE METX rotation student - 2022
Sarah Levy - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2022
Leila Parker - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2022
Addis Getahun - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2022
Casey Heaney - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2021 - 2022
Allyson McAtamney - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2021
Zhilian Liu - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2021
Panpan Zhang - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2021
Cristobal Morfin - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2021
We are looking for students and postdocs with interests in organic chemistry, natural products chemistry, protein biochemistry, and molecular biology to join us!
Click here for more information!