DRUBIN/BARNES LAB - Key Persons


Alicia Guo

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Researcher
I'm from Folsom, CA, and I'm a sophomore studying Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis on developmental genetics. Under the mentorship of Grace, I will be studying kinetochore dynamics on microtubules. Outside of school, I enjoy listening to classical music, playing violin, and working with fish at the MVZ.

Aline Tschanz

Job Titles:
  • Researcher in the Laboratories of David Drubin
Aline is a joint postdoctoral researcher in the laboratories of David Drubin and Ian Swinburne. In her research, she is interested in studying the cell-type-specific adaptation of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). To this end, she employs adaptive optical lattice light-sheet microscopy (AO-LLSM), visualizing individual CME events in developing zebrafish embryos. Aline earned her PhD from EMBL Heidelberg in Germany, where she worked with Jonas Ries to develop a super-resolution microscopy and analysis pipeline for reconstructing nanoscale architectural changes in the clathrin coat during mammalian endocytosis.

Andrew Wong

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Student
I'm from the Central Valley in California. Currently, I am a freshman undergraduate student at UC Berkeley looking to major in Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in genetics. In my free time, I like to play chess and try out new restaurants around Berkeley.

Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Fellow

Ayscough, Kathryn

Job Titles:
  • Field Application Scientist, Nanomedical Diagnostics, Inc

Belmont, Lisa

Job Titles:
  • Staff Scientist, University of Sheffield, UK

Buser, Christopher

Job Titles:
  • Director, Biology, IDEAYA Biosciences

Cail, Bob

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania

Carroll, Susheela

Job Titles:
  • Clinical Scientist Associate, Genentech

Cope, Jamie

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director, Precision for Medicine

Cormier, Anthony

Job Titles:
  • VP, Translational Medicine, Reset Therapeutics

Duncan, Mara

Job Titles:
  • Head, Discovery Genome Editing, GSK

Faust, Ann Marie

Job Titles:
  • Research Investigator, Synthetic Biology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

Feng Yuan

Feng obtained his bachelor's and master's degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He then performed his

Gean Hu

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Student
I am from Ontario, CA, and I'm currently a first year undergraduate student studying Bioengineering and (intended) Computer Science. Working with my mentor Yidi, I am studying protein interactions in yeast clathrin-mediated endocytosis. I'm excited about biology research and hope to continue research after graduation in graduate school or industry. Outside of school, I enjoy video games and making cover songs.

Goode, Bruce

Job Titles:
  • Global Director, Digital Health - Saffron Cognitive Group - Digital Health, Intel Corporation

Grace Donnelly

Job Titles:
  • Staff Research Associate
I'm from Monterey Bay, CA and work with Jonathan studying kinetochore dynamics on microtubules using budding yeast, with some lab-managing on the side. I love all things biology, cooking (except when I have to), and art.

Hang Cheng

Hang, a joint postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Holger Müller, obtained his graduate degree from the School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University, where he was supervised by Prof. Hong-Wei Wang. His doctoral research centered on examining the hDicer-related complex's structure using the single particle method and developing multi-affinity graphene grids to prepare complex cryo-samples. Currently, Hang's focus lies in applying the Laser Phase Plate (LPP) in conjunction with other Cryo-Electron Tomography techniques to conduct in-situ studies on endocytosis at the cellular and mechanistic levels.

Hassinger, Julian

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate, Cell Line Engineering at Eikon Therapeutics

Hill, Jennifer

Job Titles:
  • Life Science Specialist, L.E.K. Consulting

Hofmann, Christian

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Scientist, Janelia Research Campus

Holtzman, Doug

Job Titles:
  • Director, Global Business Development - Neuroscience, Ophthalmology and Rare Disease at Roche

Houshmand, Pantea

Job Titles:
  • CSO, Icosavax

Jin, Meiyan

Job Titles:
  • Scientist, Counsyl

Johannes Schoeneberg


Jonathan Wong

Job Titles:
  • Specialist

Katelyn Wong

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Student

Kishimoto, Takuma

Job Titles:
  • Research Group Leader, Research Institute of the FSU Jena / Institute for Biochemistry I, Germany Link

Kozminski, Keith

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor, Hokkaido University Hokudai Institute for Genetic Medicine

Lasek, Amy

Job Titles:
  • Institute Director, University of Helsinki, Finland, Link

Le Clainche, Christophe

Job Titles:
  • Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley

Leanna Owen

Leanna studied Molecular Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University as a undergraduate. Her undergraduate research in the lab of Dr. Erika Matunis studied the maintenance of the Drosophila testis stem cell niche. She performed her PhD in the lab of Dr. Alexander Dunn at Stanford University, where she studied the force-dependent interaction of actin with focal adhesions using live-cell imaging and single-molecule force spectroscopy. She is currently interested in how mechanical force organizes branched actin networks in clathrin mediated endocytosis and other actin-dependent membrane remodeling processes.

Lee, Janet

Job Titles:
  • Life Sciences Consultant

Lee, Linda

Job Titles:
  • Group Leader, CNRS, Paris, France

Lewellyn, Eric

Job Titles:
  • Admissions Coordinator, University of British Columbia

Li, Rong

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor, St. Norbert College, Link

Liu, Jian

Job Titles:
  • Scientist - Translational Oncology, Celgene Corporation

Lu, Michelle

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Link

Lu, Rebecca

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Associate, Purdue University

Lucien Vu Dao

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Researcher
I am from Portland, Oregon. I plan on majoring in Molecular & Cellular Biology, with an emphasis in Anatomy and Physiology. I plan on going to medical school to become a doctor. Outside of school, I like to play a lot of sports (taekwondo, tennis, basketball, volleyball, etc.), take photos, and play games with my friends.

Machin, Nathan

Job Titles:
  • Scientist, EpiBiome

Madison Kao

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Student
I'm from Torrance, California and I am a current undergrad at UC Berkeley studying Molecular and Cellular Biology. Under the mentorship of Sam, I study fast endophilin mediated endocytosis. My plan after graduation is to attend graduate school. In my free time I enjoy spending the day at the beach, hiking, and painting.

Marks, Jessica

Job Titles:
  • CSO and Co - Founder, Novel Farms, Inc

Nakajima, Yuko

Job Titles:
  • Vice President, Project Management, Aduro Biotech Inc

Nix, David

Job Titles:
  • Group Leader, CNRS, Marseille, France

Paula Vargas

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student
Paula is a graduate student in the Biophysics program. Currently, she is interested in understanding the dynamics and regulation of force transmission during clathrin-mediated endocytosis in yeast. Before joining the Drubin lab, Paula earned her BSc. in Biology from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru), where she studied the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in tuberculosis in the Zimic lab. In her free time, Paula enjoys playing videogames and reading fiction, and is actively involved in DEI initiatives aiming to promote science in Peru.

Pauly, Barbara

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant Professor, Dept. Oncological Sciences, Co - Director Bioinformatics Shared Resource, Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah, Link

Pedersen, Ross

Job Titles:
  • Principal Scientist at Altos Labs

Pigula, Adrianne

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Associate, Carnegie Institution for Science

Qing Zhang

Qing obtained her bachelor's degree from Huazhong University of Sci & Tech in China. She pursued her Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Yuxin Mao in the Biophysics program at Cornell University, where she focused on functional characterization of two Legionella effectors that modulate actin assembly in host cells. Currently, she is interested in using iPS cells to understand the mechanisms of endocytosis initiation and spatiodynamics and functions of CME proteins in human iPSC and disease models.

Rodal, Avital A.

Job Titles:
  • Scientist, Intrexon Corporation

Ross Pedersen

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student

Roy Lin

Job Titles:
  • Undergraduate Researcher
I'm from the Chino Hills, California. Currently, I am a freshman undergraduate student at UC Berkeley looking to major in Molecular and Cell Biology. Under Qing's mentorship, I am studying the role of Hip1 in human induced pluripotent stem cells and differentiated neural progenitor cells. In the future, I hope to attend medical school and in my free time I like to play basketball, watch soccer games, and play chess.

Sam Smith

Job Titles:
  • Graduate Student

Schöneberg, Johannes

Job Titles:
  • Senior Scientific Researcher, Genentech

Sekiya-Kawasaki, Mariko

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry & Biochemistry, UC San Diego, Link

Shang, Ching

Job Titles:
  • Research Scientist, Gilead Sciences

Stimpson, Helen

Job Titles:
  • Group Leader, IST, Austria, Link

Stirling, Peter

Job Titles:
  • Communications Consultant, Oxford PharmaGenesis

Stoops, Emily

Job Titles:
  • Scientist, Calico Life Sciences

Tom Pollard

Job Titles:
  • Visiting Professor
Thomas Pollard graduated from Pomona College in 1964 with honors in Chemistry and Zoology. At Harvard Medical School he began to investigate cellular motility. After a medical internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, three years as a Staff Associate at the National Institutes of Health provided training biochemistry. As a faculty member at Harvard Medical School (1972-1978), Johns Hopkins Medical School (1978-1996), Salk Institute (1996-2001) and Yale University (2001-2021), his research group focused on the molecular basis of cellular motility and cytokinesis. His laboratory discovered and characterized proteins that produce forces for cells to move including the first unconventional myosin (myosin-I), Arp2/3 complex and capping protein, all originally isolated from Acanthamoeba. They combined microscopy, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology and mathematical modeling to provide the quantitative evidence required to formulate and test a detailed molecular explanation for how Arp2/3 complex stimulates the assembly of branched actin filaments that produce forces for cellular movements and endocytosis. They combined quantitative measurements of the time course of the appearance and disappearance of the participating proteins at site of endocytosis in fission yeast with mathematical modeling to confirm the molecular details and physics of the force-producing process.

Toret, Christopher P.

Job Titles:
  • Biological Data Scientist II, Eikon Therapeutics

Toshima, Jiro

Job Titles:
  • Research Specialist, University of California, Berkeley

Vinh, Dani

Job Titles:
  • Biosciences Sales Specialist, Nikon

Vitra Labs

Job Titles:
  • Scientist

Weiss, Eric

Job Titles:
  • Researcher, Tohoku University, Japan

Welch, Matthew

Job Titles:
  • Staff Scientist, University of Washington

Ye, Anna

Job Titles:
  • Scientist, Hexagon

Yidi Sun

Job Titles:
  • Specialist

Zane Bergman

Job Titles:
  • Specialist