People
Shaun McKinnie, PhD
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 - 2025 Assistant Professor - University of California, Santa Cruz
2025 - present Associate Professor - University of California, Santa Cruz
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
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 cycling 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
Christine Lee
PhD student - (2025 - present)
Hometown: San Francisco, California
Degree: B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC San Diego
Program: Chemistry Ph.D. track
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.
Email: clee429 [at] ucsc.edu
Kate Weckwerth
PhD student - (2026 - present)
Hometown: Pleasanton, California
Degree: B.S. in Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering - Colorado School of Mines
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
About Kate: loves her cats, connoisseur of potatoes, and is overly invested in being disappointed by her hockey team.
Email: kweckwer [at] ucsc.edu
Lucas Wilson
PhD student - (2026 - present)
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Degree: B.S. Biochemistry - Sonoma State University
Program: Chemistry PhD
About Lucas: enjoys cooking and trying new foods, painting, drawing, playing board games, and visiting family whenever possible
Email: luawilso [at] ucsc.edu
Annalise Greenlee
Undergraduate researcher (2026 - present)
Hometown: Chico, California
Major: Chemistry B.S. with Biochemistry Concentration
About Annalise: enjoys listening to music and playing guitar. Loves spending time with family and friends, making jewelry, throwing pottery, and puzzles.
Madeline Santos
Undergraduate researcher (2026 - present)
Hometown: Marin County, California
Major: Chemistry B.S.
About Madeline: enjoys dancing Argentine Tango, baking, trying different types of teas, playing Mahjong, and growing orchids
Lab Alumni
PhD students
Jackson Baumgartner, PhD (2020 - 2025)
Hometown: San Luis Obispo, California
Previous 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
Dissertation Title: Establishing the functional diversity and catalytic mechanism of selective bacterial vanadium-dependent halogenases
Previous position: Postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Carrie Partch
Current location: Postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Michael Burkart
Austin Hopiavuori, PhD (2020 - 2025)
Hometown: Rochester, New York
Previous Degrees: Biochemistry B.Sc - University of Rochester
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
Dissertation Title: Investigating cyclization and hydroxylation reactions of kainoid synthases and other non-heme iron/alpha-ketoglutarate dependent dioxygenases
Current location: Scientist III - Lead Discovery at Curia (Buffalo, NY)
Jennifer Cordoza, PhD (2021 - 2025)
Hometown: Murrieta, California
Degree: Biochemistry B.Sc - Point Loma Nazarene University (with Prof. Katherine Maloney)
Program: PBSE, CB3 track
Dissertation Title: Investigation and biocatalytic applications of the pyridoxal-5'-phosphate enzymology in multiple biosynthetic pathways
Current location: Postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Christian Hertweck
Postdoctoral Scholars
Jin Feng, PhD (2024 - 2026)
Hometown: Shandong, China
Previous 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)
Current location: Planning next career steps back in China!
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
Sarah Kreeger - PhD student - 2025 - 2026
Karina Campos Salazar - MSc volunteer researcher - 2021 - 2022
Visiting researchers
Edith Gonzalez - summer MPC2SC undergraduate student (MPC) - 2026
MaKenna Rosselli - summer undergraduate student (Cal Poly SLO) - 2026
Reese Sherman - summer GAIN undergraduate student (CSU Monterey Bey) - 2025
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
Lila Weber - undergraduate researcher - 2025 - 2026
John Blessing - undergraduate researcher - 2025 - 2026
Ananya Manjunath - undergraduate researcher - 2024 - 2026
Jack Hanson - undergraduate researcher - 2024 - 2025
Surina Beal - undergraduate researcher - 2024 - 2025
Lukas Varga - undergraduate researcher - 2022 - 2025
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
Charlie Ferguson - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2026
Jason Etchingham - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2026
Kyra Frank - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2025
Jorge Hernandez Garcia - PBSE CB3 rotation student - 2024 - 2025
Meilin Lu - UCSC chemistry rotation student - 2024
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!