Link to video: https://youtu.be/arrY2wtz9O0 

Timestamps for Home Areas:

View a slideshow of these students on our GPB You Tube Channel: https://youtu.be/0P44vnWuqe8.

Timestamps for Home Areas:

• Biochemistry, Biophysics & Structural Biology: 00:05
• Bioinformatics: 00:54
• Cell & Developmental Biology: 01:37
• Gene Regulation, Epigenomics & Transcriptomics: 02:32
• Genetics & Genomics: 03:04
• Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis: 03:42
• Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology: 04:31
• Molecular Pharmacology: 05:47
• Neuroscience: 06:42
• Physics and Biology in Medicine: 08:09

Congratulations!

Two GPB student-faculty pairs have been selected for the 2024 class of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellows.   This fellowship supports graduate students who are committed to increasing diversity among science leaders and desire to become faculty members at colleges and universities.  Learn more about the 2024 student-thesis advisors and Gilliam Fellowship, click here.  Congratulations to:

Chris Castro

Thesis Adviser: Elizabeta Nemeth

Home Area: Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology

Born in Ecuador, and raised in the Brooklyn, NY, Chris received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University. He then began working as a research assistant in the Wein lab at Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts General Hospital. At the Wein Lab, he worked on characterization of salt-inducible kinase inhibitors to treat mineral disorders such as osteoporosis. In 2022, he started graduate school at UCLA, where he joined the lab of Dr. Elizabeta Nemeth and Dr. Tomas Ganz elucidating molecular mechanisms of iron homeostasis. His current project involves exploring the role of RNA localization in intracellular iron homeostasis. 

Sara Makanani

Thesis Adviser: Mehdi Bouhaddou

Home Area: Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis

Born and raised in northern California, Sara left her hometown of Salinas, CA, and moved to Los Angeles in 2012. She received her B.S. and M.S. from UCLA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a focus in Evolutionary Medicine. In 2023, she joined the lab of Mehdi Bouhaddou studying signaling networks at the virus-host interface. Her most recent project pairs global mass spectrometry phosphoproteomics with high-throughput cellular assays to identify mechanisms regulating the activity of gammaherpesvirus latency proteins and suggest novel therapeutic approaches to eradicate latently infected cells.   

As GPB’s founding Director, he worked tirelessly as an avid supporter of students, staff, and faculty.  Dr. Payne has been dedicated to leading and serving the bioscience population for nearly 20 years. 

Those that nominated Greg for the award cited several examples of his dedication and support, with highlights including the establishment of GPB in 2014, transitioning from the previous ACCESS program; the development of the Committee on Learning Environment Oversight (CLEO); the development and enablement of access to resources for career and professional development for postdoctoral students; mentor training; and the many contributions to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion at UCLA.  They spoke extensively on how he recognizes individuals on all levels and provides support so that they can learn and grow. 

Congratulations, Greg!  GPB would have not seen as much success without you, your leadership, and efforts on behalf of all us!

Dr. Bui is a computer scientist and biomedical informaticist. He is a Professor of Radiological Sciences in DGSOM and holds affiliate appointments in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering in the Department of Bioengineering and in the Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program. He serves as Director for both the Medical and Imaging Informatics Group and the Medical Informatics Home Area, and is our David Geffen Chair in Informatics. His research includes informatics and data science for biomedical research and healthcare in areas related to distributed information architectures and mHealth; methodological development, application, and evaluation of artificial intelligence (AI) methods, including machine/reinforcement learning; and data visualization. He has led the successful development of multiple NIH-funded training programs at UCLA. A previous Chair of the UCLA Graduate Council, he has worked across faculty, administration, and students to support education and training on the campus.

We thank the members of the search committee:

• Paul Boutros, PhD, MBA, Interim Vice Dean for Research, DGSOM (co-chair)
• Claudio Villanueva, PhD, Associate Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology (co-chair)
• Stephen Cannon, MD, PhD, Chair, Department of Physiology; Interim Chair, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
• Hilary Coller, PhD, Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry
• Melody Li, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Karen Reue, PhD, Professor and Department Vice Chair, Human Genetics

The UCLA Graduate Programs in Bioscience is a consortium of eleven home areas and their affiliated PhD programs, organized to provide the best possible research training and professional development for graduate students pursuing PhDs in the life and biomedical sciences. The Office of Bioscience Postdoctoral Affairs serves postdoctoral scholars in the David Geffen School of Medicine and biosciences-affiliated disciplines throughout our UCLA community.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Alex Bui as our Senior Associate Dean for Bioscience Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs at DGSOM, and our Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in the College Division of Life Sciences.

Steven M. Dubinett, MD

Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, UCLA

Tracy Johnson, PhD

Dean, UCLA College of Life Sciences

Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Presidential Endowed Chair

Paul C. Boutros, PhD, MBA

Professor, Department of Human Genetics and Urology

Interim Vice Dean for Research, David Geffen School of Medicine

Monday, November 6, 2023

12-1:30PM PST

• Meet faculty, students, and staff
• Explore our Home Areas
• Learn about our enrichment programs
• Get your application questions answered

RSVP Here: https://uclahs.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwkfuGhrT4rHtJuPdGWtRYav0kwbukUk5n- 

View a slideshow of these students on our GPB You Tube Channel: https://youtu.be/MAerWYrlFyw

Timestamps for Home Areas:

• Biochemistry, Biophysics & Structural Biology: 00:05
• Bioinformatics: 00:39
• Cell & Developmental Biology: 01:32
• Gene Regulation, Epigenomics & Transcriptomics: 01:51
• Genetics & Genomics: 02:20
• Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis: 02:59
• Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology: 03:48
• Molecular Pharmacology: 04:26
• Neuroscience: 05:22
• Physics and Biology in Medicine: 06:35

Congratulations!

Brandon has taken his 3-minute talk “Next Generation Covid-19 Vaccines” to new heights and won not only the UCLA and Audience Choice Awards locally, but also the UC-Wide competition.  He competed against winners from the other 8 UC Campuses and was awarded the title of UC champion.  

The Grad Slam Competition is a campus and UC-wide competition that showcases student research presentations in a 3-minute format.  Students must eloquently and excitedly describe their research quickly to a broad audience of judges from different backgrounds.  The UC competition also included talks on: 

• Silence in Paradise: Fighting extinction and infectious disease in Hawaiian birds, Christa Seidl, UC Santa Cruz
• Lights, camera, surgery!, Muhammad Twaha Ibrahim,UC Irvine
• “School really isn’t built for some kids”: Piloting an executive function screening system, Elissa Monteiro, UC Riverside
• Learning without a brain, Deepa Rajan, UCSF
• From Pollutant to Fuel & New Products: Recycling carbon dioxide, Aneelman Brar, UC Merced
• Grandmas, ghosts and genes, Julia Mouat, UC Davis
• Shedding light on Alzheimer’s disease, Madison Browne, UC Berkeley
• Turning on the tap, Annette Hilton, UC Santa Barbara
• Soliloquizing: A self-practice towards better foreign language speaking fluency, Shang-En (Sean) Huang, UC San Diego

See the update on the UCLA Division of Graduation website and the UC Grad Slam website.  

Photo by UCLA Division of Graduate Education. 

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program’s (GRFP) purpose “is to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. GRFP seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000.”

Please join us in congratulating the following students:

• Jasmine Amerasekera (Genetics & Genomics), Mentor: Steven Jacobsen
• Karina Keus (Neuroscience), Mentor: Daniel Aharoni
• Blake Miranda (Neuroscience), Mentor: Avishek Adhikari
• Keionna Newton (Neuroscience), Mentor: Lindsay De Biase
• Gabriel Rojas Bowe (Neuroscience), Mentor: Anne Churchland

Honorable Mention

• Nicole Cheung (BBSB), Mentor: Robert Clubb
• Rachel Fox (Neuroscience), Mentor: Michael Wells

More information about the NSF GRFP.

Other GPB students that made it to the UCLA Finals included: 

• Melis Cakar (Neuroscience)
• Gabriella Rubert (Gene Regulation, Epigenomics & Transcriptomics)
• Nicole Zelster (Genetics & Genomics)

The Grad Slam Competition is a campus and UC-wide competition that showcases student research presentations in a 3-minute format.  Students must eloquently and excited describe their research quickly to a broad audience of judges from different backgrounds.  First, second, and third place winners in the UCLA competition received fellowships in the amounts of $5,000, $3,000, and $2,000 respectively, and an Audience Choice award in the amount of $1,000.  More information about the UCLA Grad Slam competition can be found on the Division of Graduate Education’s website, here: https://grad.ucla.edu/life-at-ucla/events/2023-ucla-grad-slam/.  

Photo by Don Liebig/ASUCLA