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People

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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

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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

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Manasa Ramachandra, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar (2024 - present)

Hometown: Bangalore, India

Degrees: Chemistry, Physics, Maths B. Sc. - St. Joseph's College (Autonomous) - Bangalore, India

Chemistry M. Sc. - Purdue University

Regulatory Science M. S. - University of Southern California

Chemistry Ph. D.  - Queen's University, Canada (with Prof. Avena Ross)

About Manasa: enjoys reading, painting, and going to gigs

Email: mramacha [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

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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

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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

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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!

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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!

Christine Lee

Chemistry PhD rotation student - Fall 2024

Hometown: San Francisco, California

Degree: Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC San Diego

Program: Chemistry PhD

About Christine: loves One Piece, rock climbing, playing viola (anything music related really), spending time with her cat (not shown), and appropriately-timed Danny Devito memes. Dislikes salads.

Meilin Lu

Chemistry PhD rotation student - Fall 2024

Hometown: Shandong, China

Degree: B.S. in Chemistry - Duke University

Program: Chemistry PhD

About Meilin: I like to read, write, explore boba shops, and hang out with my two cats!

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

Alejandro Lezama - summer ACCESS undergraduate student (Gavilan) - 2024

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!

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