Guest Speakers

Richard B. Kaner received a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 working with Professor Alan MacDiarmid (Nobel Laureate 2000). After carrying out postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined UCLA in 1987 as an assistant professor. He was later promoted to a distinguished professor in 2012. Along with professor appointments at UCLA, Professor Kaner served as the Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute from 2007-09.

He has published over 275 papers in top peer-reviewed journals and holds many U.S. patents. His research has centered on discovering and developing different aspects of conducting polymers, graphite, and other solid-state phenomena. As a result, research in his lab focuses on a variety of topics including graphene, energy storage, superhard materials, water filtration and purification, and conducting polymers.

Professor Kaner has received awards from the Dreyfus, Fulbright, Guggenheim, and Sloan Foundations as well as the Exxon Fellowship in Solid State Chemistry for his research. His teaching has also been recognized with the Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Harriet and Charles Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence.

Hosea Nelson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Hosea earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 2004 and a  Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 2012 with Brian Stoltz. After postdoctoral training at University of California at Berkeley with Dean Toste, Hosea joined the UCLA faculty in 2015. He is an avid fisherman and motorsports enthusiast (there are even pictures of him on the web wearing a NASCAR hat). Like most native San Franciscans, he spends most of his time talking about how much he loves the Giants, hates the Dodgers, and how much better S.F. is than L.A..

Dr. Nelson’s research is focused on the development of enabling technologies for chemical synthesis and biology. As both an inspiration for the development of new organic methodology and as a means to proactively contribute to the development of medicines, the Nelson Group is pursuing the synthesis of bioactive complex molecules. Ultimately, through synthetic activities and collaborations, their hope is to develop small molecules that will be widely utilized by practitioners of medicine and biology. Additionally, as a means to expand the methodology available to synthetic chemists, the Nelson Group is working to discover new concepts in catalysis and novel chemical transformations.

Alex Hall, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and Director of the Center for Climate Science at UCLA. His research is focused on reducing climate change uncertainty at both regional and global scales. At the regional scale, he has been active in the development of downscaling techniques to understand climate change at the scales most relevant to people and ecosystems. Alex and his team at the Center for Climate Science use these techniques to create neighborhood-scale projections of future climate. They have recently completed downscaling studies over the Los Angeles region and the Sierra Nevada, and projects are currently under way to investigate the future of extreme precipitation and fire in California. Alex was a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th Assessment Report’s chapter on regional climate change and a Contributing Author to its chapter on climate model evaluation. In 2016, he received the American Geophysical Union’s Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award.

Dr. Hall received his B.A. in Physics and History from Pomona College. He completed his Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University under Dr. Suki Manabe. He was then a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Dr. Hall first joined the UCLA faculty as an Assistant Professor for the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in 2000.

Jennifer Jay, Ph.D. is a professor of the UCLA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. As the central director of the Center for Environmental Research and Community Engagement (CERCE), she oversees the integration of faculty and students across various departments to assist underserved communities with environmental problems relating to pollution and contamination. She is also currently on the National Water Research Institute Technical Advisory Panel. Dr. Jay received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since then, she has worked as a coordinator of science projects and poster sessions at UCLA for K-12 students until 2014. Her current work mainly focuses on incorporating field and experimental data into geochemical equilibrium models of the site to better design and predict performance of remediation options.

Dr. Jay’s research integrates field and laboratory approaches to better understand the geochemical and microbial processes that govern the fate of contaminants in the environment. Specific interests include the geochemical and microbial methylation of mercury by sulfate-reducing bacteria (the end-product of this reaction, methylmercury, is a potent neurotoxin with a very strong tendency to bioaccumulate), the mobilization of arsenic in groundwater, and the persistence of fecal indicator bacteria and pathogens in beach sediment. Understanding the cycling of contaminants in aquatic systems allows us to better assess and minimize hazards associated with environmental contamination, and to more accurately predict effects of environmental perturbations.

Donald B. Kohn, M.D. is a Professor of MIMG and Pediatrics, the Director of the UCLA Human Gene Medicine Program, and a member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He joined the faculty of UCLA in 2009. He received a B.S in Biology and an M.S. in Microbiology from the University of Illinois-Urbana and his MD in 1982 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He performed a Pediatric Internship and Residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and then a Medical Staff Fellowship in the Metabolism Branch of the National Cancer Institute of the NIH. He was at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, USC Keck School of Medicine for 21 years, where he rose to the rank of Professor and served as the Head of the Division of Research Immunology/Bone Marrow Transplantation from 2002-2009.

His research program focuses on the development of new methods to treat genetic diseases of blood cells, such as sickle cell and “bubble baby” disease, as well as using genetic modification of blood stem cells to treat cancer and leukemia. Kohn’s lab studies methods for effective gene transfer and expression and has translated those findings from the lab into clinical trials of gene therapy for congenital immune deficiencies and pediatric AIDS. A trial for sickle cell disease is currently under development. He was the President of the American Society of Gene Therapy (2003-2004) and was the recipient of an Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award from the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and a Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Atsushi “Austin” Nakano, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Nakano came to stem cell research with the hopes of finding new and more effective therapies to treat heart disease. Dr. Nakano’s research focuses on understanding how the heart is formed during mammalian development and how this knowledge can be applied to the heart regeneration. Key issues his lab addresses include how the commitment and diversification of cardiac cells is regulated at each level of the heart’s development in the embryo, and how plastic the heart cells are and what biological significance that plasticity might be during cardiac development and if it plays a role in disease development. Dr. Nakano earned his MD and PhD at Kyoto University, Japan and has 4 years of clinical research as a cardiologist. He has had postdoc training in cardiac developmental and stem cell biology at Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Stem Cell Institute until he was recruited as an assistant professor at UCLA in 2008. In addition to being a member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center, Dr. Nakano is affiliated with the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the American Heart Association.

Dr. Jose Rodriguez studies the complex architecture of biological systems – from single biomolecules to cellular assemblies – at high resolution. His work is largely based on diffraction phenomena and combines computational, biochemical and biophysical experiments. The development of new methods is central to this work, particularly using emerging technologies in cryo-electron microscopy, nano and coherent x-ray diffraction, and macromolecular design. Combined, these tools can reveal undiscovered structures that broadly influence chemistry, biology, and medicine. Dr. Rodriguez is a true Bruin; he received his B.S. in BioPhysics at UCLA and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, also at UCLA.

Alex Spokoyny is currently an Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA and a faculty member of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Prior to this he received a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in inorganic and materials chemistry and conducted a post-doctoral stint at MIT in chemical biology. His group’s research encompasses an interdisciplinary approach focusing on pressing problems in chemistry, biology, medicine and materials science. Specifically, Spokoyny and his co-workers are developing new and potentially useful solutions to important problems in catalysis, energy conversion and protein recognition and labeling. He has co-authored 36 peer-reviewed manuscripts and given over 50 invited lectures. His research has been covered by Science, Nature, C&EN and other popular science news outlets. Alex is also a recipient of several awards including Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2017), Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) Talented 12 (2016), 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award (2016), Grand Poster Prize from the American Peptide Society (2013), International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Prize for Young Chemists (2012), NIH Ruth Kirschstein Fellowship (2012-2014), Young Boron Chemist Award (2011), Japanese Society for Promotion of Science Fellowship (2011), Northwestern University Presidential Fellowship (2011) and American Chemical Society Inorganic Young Investigator Award (2011).

Dr. Tripati grew up in Los Angeles and went to university at California State University, Los Angeles. While she began taking classes to pursue a career in the life sciences, Dr. Tripati later switched to criminal justice. But after taking an environmental geology and society course as a GE, she decided to switch to the geosciences. Dr. Tripati completed a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at UC Santa Cruz where she was a Gates Millennium Scholar, an Ocean Drilling Program Fellow, and a UC Regents’ Fellow. She then was a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, and a visiting scientist at the California Institute of Technology for several years. Dr. Tripati began as an assistant professor at UCLA in 2009 and received tenure in 2014. Dr. Tripati’s lifelong goals include advancing new chemical tracers for the study of Earth system processes, studying the history of climate change, and working to educate, recruit, and retain a diverse population in the geosciences and more generally in higher education.

Jesse Zamudio, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at UCLA for the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology. Dr. Zamudio received his bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Chemistry & Biochemistry. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics working in the laboratory of Dr. David Campbell and Dr. Nancy Sturm. For his thesis work, he characterized the first eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA) ribose cap methyltransferases. Although These studies have aided the investigation of the human cap ribose methyltransferases implicated in early development. Dr. Zamudio pursued his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Phil Sharp at the MIT Cancer Center. His research focused on quantitative approaches to characterize Regulatory RNAs in embryonic and adult stem cells. He aimed to confidently assay regulation by the mammalian RNA interference (RNAi) pathway and in doing so discovered new classes of mammalian small RNAs and principles determining regulatory activity. Current research in the lab is focused on characterizing functional RNAs in the control of cell state transitions during development and cancer progression. He joined the MCDB faculty in January of 2016.

Gina Poe, Ph.D., is a professor at UCLA for the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology and the Co-Director of Maximizing Access to Research Centers (MARC) Program. Dr. Poe received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in Human Biology with an emphasis in International Public Health Policy. She was invited to apply to the PhD program in Neuroscience at UCLA to study in one of 4 laboratories in what constituted the world epicenter for sleep research. She did her dissertation research at UCLA with the support of a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellowship grant in the laboratory of Ron Harper at UCLA’s Brain Research Institute. She helped develop the first subcortical brain optical imaging device for the freely behaving animal. She completed her PhD and went to the University of Arizona to do postdoctoral studies with Carol Barnes, PhD and learned the multiple single unit tetrode recording technique for monitoring neural activity in freely behaving animals. Dr. Poe was most recently an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor teaching Neuroscience and Physiology graduate courses and Physiology and Sleep Undergraduate Courses before coming back to UCLA as a professor.

Anne Andrews, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, Andrews leads efforts in basic and translational research on anxiety and depression, and at the nexus of nanoscience and neuroscience. Andrews’ interdisciplinary research team focuses on understanding how the serotonin system and particularly, the serotonin transporter, modulate neurotransmission to influence complex behaviors including anxiety, mood, stress responsiveness, and learning and memory. Dr. Andrews earned her B.S. in chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University and received her Ph.D. in chemistry as a U.S. Department of Education Fellow working at the National Institute of Mental Health. There, she was also a postdoctoral fellow and senior staff fellow. Andrews has been the recipient of an NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence, an Eli Lily Outstanding Young Analytical Chemist Award, an American Parkinson’s Disease Association Research Award, and a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Independent Investigator Award. She is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, International Society for Serotonin Research vice president, an advisory board member for the International Society for Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience, and serves as Associate Editor for ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

Dr. Elaine Y. Hsiao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA, where she leads a laboratory studying fundamental interactions between the microbiome, brain and behavior, and their applications to neurological disorders. Her studies on the relationships between the microbiota, immune system and nervous system led her to discover that the microbiota can regulate behavioral, metabolic and gastrointestinal abnormalities relevant to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her work in this area, and on neuroimmune interactions in autism, has led to several honors, including the National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award, distinction as Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare, National Geographic’s Emerging Explorer Award and fellowships from the National Institute of Mental Health and Autism Speaks. Inspired by this interplay between the microbiota and nervous system, the Hsiao laboratory is mining the human microbiota for microbial modulators of host neuroactive molecules, investigating the impact of microbiota-immune system interactions on neurodevelopment and examining the microbiome as an interface between gene-environment interactions in neurological diseases. Dr. Hsiao received her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Caltech and her B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA.

A native of New Delhi, India, Dr. Banerjee earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India and obtained his Master of Science degree in Physical Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. In 1984, he obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. His transition into Biology was earmarked by his postdoctoral research training with Dr. Seymour Benzer at Caltech where he initiated research in molecular neurogenetics of eye development in Drosophila. At UCLA, Banerjee’s laboratory has worked on several oncogenic and metabolic signals that are important in development and disease. His laboratory studies the effects of systemic signals on the maintenance of blood progenitors in Drosophila. He also studies the role of metabolic pathways in the control of proliferation and differentiation in the preimplantation mouse embryo.

Dr. Jorge Torres received his B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1998. He obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 2004. He conducted his postdoctoral work in the laboratory at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Genentech Inc. until 2009 when he joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA. The Torres Lab’s major focus is to understand how multiple mechanisms and enzymatic activities coordinate the formation of the mitotic microtubule spindle during cell division. They are interested in identifying and characterizing novel proteins that are required for proper mitotic spindle assembly. Among these are molecular motors, phosphatases, methyltranferases, and ubiquitin ligases. They use human cell lines and in vitro systems along with a combination of approaches, including biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, chemical biology, and microscopy to determine the mechanism of action of these proteins.

Dr. Peter Kareiva is the Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (or IoES) at UCLA. Prior to that, he was Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy for a dozen years, Director of the Division of Conservation Biology at NOAA’s fisheries lab in Seattle for three years, and a Professor of Zoology at the University of Washington for twenty years. Peter began his career as a mathematical biologist who also did fieldwork on plants and insects around the world. His early work focused on ecological theory and he gradually shifted to agriculture, biotechnology, risk assessment, and conservation. He now mixes policy and social science with natural science, and further believes that today’s environmental challenges require a strong dose of the humanities and private sector engagement. Never by himself, but with terrific colleagues and the support of generous philanthropists, he cofounded the Natural Capital Project, NatureNet Fellows, and Science for Nature and People or SNAP. He has written or edited nine books and nearly 200 articles, including a conservation biology textbook. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Science. It all began with education at a Jesuit High School in upstate New York, followed by Duke University, and a PhD from Cornell University in 1981. There were interludes of consulting for engineering firms and for FAO and UNEP, and some teaching overseas—always driven by a certain wanderlust.

Dr. Alicia Izquierdo received a B.S. in Biology and Psychology from Emory University, and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience through the Graduate Partnership Program between the National Institutes of Health and the George Washington University. As a faculty member, Dr. Izquierdo was awarded the Faculty Mentor award by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities for her work with diverse students. She is currently an Assistant Director of the Brain Research Institute: Society for Neuroscience UCLA Chapter President. Her research interests center around understanding the brain mechanisms of optimal choices. Specifically, this involves exploring the environmental factors that contribute to reward-related decisions and the incorporation of reward costs by the organism. The Izquierdo lab also studies the neural basis of emotional decisions and executive function and the influence of drugs of abuse on these processes.

Wayne W. Grody, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Pediatrics, and Human Genetics at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is the director of the Diagnostic Molecular Pathology Laboratory within the UCLA Medical Center, one of the first such facilities in the country to offer DNA-based tests for diagnosis of a wide variety of genetic, infectious, and neoplastic diseases, as well as bone marrow engraftment, patient specimen identification and paternity testing by DNA fingerprinting. He is also an attending physician in the Department of Pediatrics, specializing in the care of patients with or at risk for genetic disorders. In addition, he is heavily involved in basic molecular genetics research involving regulation of gene expression of arginase and related enzymes in hereditary arginase deficiency and various cancers, population molecular genetic screening, and construction of artificial human mutation samples.

Professor Suzanne Paulson is Director of the Center for Clean Air and Professor in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. Her research focuses on chemical and physical aspects of pressing atmospheric environmental problems: (1) Determining aerosol optical properties and their impacts on the Earth’s climate; (2) Investigating the chemical source of the toxicity of particulate pollution; (3) Gas-phase smog formation chemistry; (4) Environmental impacts of biofuels; (5) Measuring pollutant exposures in urban microenvironments.

Professor Neil Garg received a B.S. in Chemistry from New York University where he did undergraduate research with Professor Marc Walters. During his undergraduate years, he spent several months in Strasbourg, France while conducting research with Professor Mir Wais Hosseini at Université Louis Pasteur as an NSF REU Fellow. Garg obtained his Ph.D. in 2005 from the California Institute of Technology under the direction of Professor Brian Stoltz. He then joined Professor Larry Overman’s research laboratory at the University of California, Irvine as an NIH Postdoctoral Scholar. Garg joined the faculty at UCLA in 2007. In 2012, he was promoted to Associate Professor and began serving as Vice Chair for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. In 2013, he was promoted to Full Professor.

Dr. Paul Barber is an evolutionary biologist who is interested in the processes that generate biodiversity in our worlds oceans. He is particularly interested in The Coral Triangle, a region of southeast Asia that is home to the world’s most diverse seas. Applying a combination of ecology, genetics, and computer modelling, Paul and his lab members try to uncover how oceanography and geology have created opportunities for speciation, creating unusually high levels of marine biodiversity. While improving our understanding of evolution in apparently boundless seas, this data provides a strong foundation for conservation planning in these increasingly imperiled environments.

Glen M. MacDonald is the John Muir Memorial Chair of Geography and a UCLA Distinguished Professor. He is a former UC Presidential Chair and former Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Glen obtained an AB from UC Berkeley (Geography), a M.Sc. from University of Calgary (Geography) and a Ph.D. from University of Toronto (Botany) His research focuses on climate change, its causes and its impact on the environment and society. He works on climate variability and environmental change using observational and other records. He has worked on climate and environmental change issues in North America, Eurasia and Africa. A particular focus of his work has been on water resources in western North America and the global semi-arid regions. He is known for work on the concept of the ‘Perfect Drought’. The author of over 150 scientific and popular press pieces, Glen MacDonald is a Guggenheim Fellow, Rockefeller Bellagio Resident and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement. He has received the University of Helsinki Medal, the Henry C. Cowles Award from the American Association of Geographers (twice), a Visiting Fellowship and Life Membership at Clare Hall Cambridge, and a Visiting Fellowship at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. He has also won distinguished teaching awards at McMaster University and UCLA.

James Lloyd-Smith is Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and holds the De Logi Chair in Biological Sciences. His research programme explores the ecological and evolutionary processes that give rise to pathogen emergence, with emphasis on zoonotic diseases at the human-animal interface. His group combines mathematical models, statistical analysis, and laboratory, clinical and field studies to learn about diseases such as monkeypox, leptospirosis, and influenza. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley for his study of disease transmission dynamics in heterogeneous populations, and carried out postdoctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Martín G. Martín is Professor of Pediatrics at UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology. Prior to joining the faculty of the UCLA DGSOM in 1992, he earned a BA in Biology at UC Santa Cruz, M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Master of Public Policy from Harvard University School of Government. Professor Martín completed his residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Department of Pediatrics and clinical fellowship at UCLA School of Medicine Center for Health Sciences.

Dr. Martín’s laboratory has had a long-term interest in investigating the molecular basis of a variety of novel and established genetics diarrheal disorders associated with intestinal failure. His research in this area originated with studies of mutations of the Na/glucose co-transporter (SGLT1) that results in glucose galactose malabsorption. More recently, we have identified a novel chronic congenital malabsorptive diarrheal disorder that results from mutations of Neurogenin-3, a transcription factor that is required for the production of islet cells of the pancreas and enteroendocrine cells of the gut. Children with this disorder have a paucity of gut endocrine cells. This disorder was named enteric anendocrinosis and it’s significant because it confirms for the first time that enteroendocrine cells have an important role in facilitating nutrient absorption.

This event was co-sponsored by a generous grant from Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UCLA.

Professor Jean Turner is an extragalactic astronomer who studies the formation of stars in nearby galaxies. She received the A.B. from Harvard University and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Before joining UCLA as professor, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She has spent time as a Visiting Scientist at Caltech, at the Space Telescope Science Institute, and at the Joint ALMA Observatory in Santiago, Chile. She has contributed to the development and commissioning of two millimeter and submillimeter telescopes while conducting research on gas associated with massive star formation in the local universe.

Dr. Stephanie White majored in biopsychology at Connecticut College, then worked as a research technician for 5 years, paying off her student loans and also testing out different research labs and topics. She obtained her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford, followed by postdoctoral work at Duke. Throughout, she has used a neuroethological approach to understand how social interactions shape the brain. Her own lab studies songbirds to investigate how the environment influences one’s learning and creativity. Recently, humans have entered this comparative framework with collaborative exploration of the speech-related gene, FoxP2, in human and songbird vocal learning.

Miguel A. García-Garibay received his B.S. degree (chemistry and pharmacy) from the University of Michoacán in Mexico and his Ph.D. degree from the University of British Columbia. He was a postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University before joining the faculty at UCLA in 1992. He was promoted to full professor in 2001, served as Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and he is the current Department chair. García-Garibay has achieved international reputation for his work in solid-state organic chemistry, solid state reaction mechanisms, dynamics in crystals, and crystalline molecular machines. His current research efforts are aimed at the development of chemical process that occur with sunlight, without harmful additives and with no solvents. He also works on the development of fluids for application in solar-thermal energy capture and on the design and construction of collective molecular machines.

García-Garibay has authored over 175 articles published in peer-reviewed Journals, and 9 book chapters. He has also given 270 invited and plenary lectures. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and he sits in the advisory boards of Crystal Growth and Design and The Journal of Organic Chemistry. He is a member of the Chemical Science Roundtable of the National Research Council. García-Garibay has organized scientific workshops sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the Inter-American Photochemical Society (I-APS). Among other honors, he is a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, and he has been awarded the American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellowship, an NSF Creativity Award, and the 2012 Inter-American Photochemical Society Award in Photochemistry.

Professor Tracy Johnson earned her bachelor’s degree from UCSD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and her Ph.D. from the UC Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology. Dr. Johnson continued her research career as a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2003, she joined the faculty at UCSD in the Division of Biological Sciences where her lab focused on understanding basic mechanisms of gene expression. In 2006 Professor received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) which was presented by the President of the United States, and is “the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.”

Dr. Johnson sits on numerous scientific boards, including the RNA Society Board of Directors and several federal Grant Review panels. In addition to her scientific work, she has been recognized for her commitment to undergraduate education. In 2013, she received the UCSD Chancellor’s Associates Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and was recently named one of the Top 20 Women Professors in California.

Dr. Pamela Yeh is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. She received a BA in biology from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges and a PhD in evolutionary biology from UCSD. She conducted post-doctoral work at Harvard’s Center for Genomics Research and Harvard Medical School’s Department of Systems Biology. Her work focuses on how organisms respond to novel environments, and her study systems range from birds invading urban areas to bacteria in multi-drug environments. Much of her current research is on evolutionary medicine questions, and she is especially interested in how we can use evolutionary strategies to combat drug-resistant bacteria.

Steven M. Dubinett, MD, is the director of the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Associate Vice Chancellor and Senior Associate Dean for Translational Science. In these capacities, he oversees translation of UCLA biomedical discoveries into medical products and health interventions and is responsible for the efficient integration of the research infrastructure through the CTSI, which in 2011 received a five-year, $81-million award from NIH. Additionally, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the UC Biomedical Research Acceleration, Integration, and Development (UC BRAID), which is leading the integration of clinical and translational research across the University of California.

Dr. Dubinett has extensive experience in translational investigation, academic administration, mentorship and peer review. Building on original discoveries relevant to inflammation, he has developed a translational research program which now utilizes these laboratory-based discoveries in the translational research and clinical environment. In addition to other federal funding, his work is supported by four Department of Defense research grants. As a member of NCI’s Translational Research Working Group, he participated in designing pathways to clinical goals. He previously served as the Director for Biomarker Development for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group and directed biospecimen utilization in the context of clinical trials. Dr. Dubinett serves as the Chair of the Research Evaluation Panel for biospecimen utilization for the American College of Radiology Imaging Network / National Lung Screening Trial (ACRIN / NLST). He previously chaired the FDA Cellular, Tissue & Gene Therapies Advisory Committee. He currently serves on the NCI Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee as a Translational Science Representative.

Richard B. Kaner received a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 working with Prof. Alan MacDiarmid (Nobel Laureate 2000). After carrying out postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1987 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1991, became a Full Professor in 1993 and a Distinguished Professor in 2012. He has published over 275 papers in top peer reviewed journals and holds 14 U.S. patents with 20 more pending.

Professor Kaner has received awards from the Dreyfus, Fulbright, Guggenheim and Sloan Foundations as well as the Exxon Fellowship in Solid State Chemistry, the Buck-Whitney Research Award, the Tolman Medal and the Award in the Chemistry of Materials from the American Chemical Society for his work on refractory materials including new synthetic routes to ceramics, intercalation compounds, superhard metals, graphene and conducting polymers. He has been elected a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Materials Research Society (MRS). Along with appointments in the Departments of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering, Professor Kaner served as the Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute from 2007-09. Professor Kaner’s teaching has been recognized with the Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Harriet and Charles Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award and the Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence.

Richard E. Wirz is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Energy Innovation Laboratory. He also holds a joint appointment at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), serving on the JPL Climate Change and Energy Committee. He has over 16 years of experience in renewable energy technology; so he was working in alternative energy long before it was “cool,” and has had the pleasure of working in fields of ocean, wind, and solar energy. His research group works on new blade designs for wind energy systems and new methods for storing solar thermal energy for baseload power. He currently serves as the Chief Scientist for WindStream Technologies, Inc., a micro-wind energy company.

Originally born and raised in the DC area, Prof. Wirz received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech before taking on a Ocean Energy Engineering position at SeaSun Power Systems in Alexandria, VA. Later, he became the Manager for Renewable Energy at Gibbs & Cox, Inc. in Crystal City, VA. He then came to sunny California to obtain a Ph.D. degree in Aeronautics and Applied Sciences from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In addition to his passion for alternative energy, he is a semi-professional musician/songwriter and performs research in plasma and space propulsion.

Amy Rowat is Assistant Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology, and member of the UCLA Center for Biological Physics, Bioengineering Department, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Business of Science Center, and Broad Stem Cell Research Center. In addition to her commitment to research, Rowat is founder and director of Science & Food, an organization based at UCLA that promotes knowledge of science through food and food through science.

Dr. Elissa Hallem is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. Her lab studies the host-seeking behavior of parasitic worms. Many parasitic worms actively seek out hosts by migrating toward host-emitted odors. A major goal of Dr. Hallem’s research is to understand how parasitic worms respond to host-emitted odors, and how these behavioral responses are encoded at the neural circuit level. The lab also studies the olfactory neural circuits of free-living worms to better understand how neural circuits evolve to support species-specific behavioral requirements.

Dr. Hallem received a BA in biology and chemistry from Williams College. She then received a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University, where she worked in Dr. John Carlson’s lab on odor coding in the fruit fly antenna. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech in Dr. Paul Sternberg’s lab, she joined the UCLA faculty in 2011.

At one time, scientists thought that a gene would produce a single messenger RNA (mRNA) that would be translated into a single protein. But they now know that most genes have at least several different products and that one gene in the fruit fly, Drosophila, can produce as many as 38,000 proteins. The process that creates this situation is called alternative splicing, which allows cells to choose which parts of the long primary RNA transcript of a gene to include in the final mRNA. Through alternative splicing, different segments of RNA can be spliced together to produce mRNAs encoding different, but related, proteins. To find out how cells recognize the meaningful portions of the RNA and make choices about which segments to include in the mRNA, Douglas Black studies the ins and outs of splicing. Besides studying splicing mechanisms, Black is determining how signals from outside a cell regulate splicing. His group is also investigating the effects of alternative splicing on developing neurons. The goal of this work is primarily to understand how alternative splicing is accomplished and how it affects cells. Because errors in splicing are implicated in many neurological and other inherited diseases, Black’s group has also been developing methods for identifying small molecules and drug candidates that alter the splicing of particular disease exons. (Adapted from Dr. Black’s extended biography on the HHMI Investigator website.)

Dr. Marcus Roper is an applied mathematician. The main focus of his research is fluid dynamics: how fluids (air, water, the chemicals in a reactor) flow and mix. Right now, he is particularly interested in how organisms deal with the difficult fluid environments that they encounter when they try to feed, disperse or grow. Can understanding these processes help us to control destructive organisms? Or derive common principles to understand the amazing diversity of life?

Dr. Roper studied math as an undergraduate, at Cambridge University in England, and as a PhD student at Harvard University. Toward the end of his PhD he realized that he really enjoyed doing experiments and studying biology (before then, he knew almost nothing about either), and he started hanging out in an ecology lab as a result. As a postdoc at UC Berkeley and, since the summer of 2011, as an assistant professor at UCLA he has been working hard to bridge the gaps between engineering, math and biology.

Dr. Sagasti is an Assistant Professor in the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Department at UCLA. His lab studies how touch-sensing neurons project their axons to the skin, using zebrafish as a model. Because zebrafish are fertilized in water, the growth of touch neurons labeled with green fluorescent protein can be imaged throughout development. By comparing development of these neurons in wildtype animals to developmental mutants, the Sagasti lab is identifying the cellular mechanisms and molecular cues that regulate the formation of axon terminals in the skin.

Dr. Sagasti was born in Lima, Peru, but immigrated to the US with his family at age 4. For his undergraduate studies, he attended Williams College in Massachusetts, where he used classic genetic approaches to study a key protein in the yeast cell cycle, cdc14. For graduate school he attended UCSF, where he studied the development olfactory neurons in the nematode worm C. elegans. Dr. Sagasti has been at UCLA since 2005.

Dr. Arnold grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Grinnell College in Iowa. He then moved to New York City and earned his PhD at Rockefeller University in Manhattan. Then it was on to UCLA, where he joined the Department of Psychology, then later moved to the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology. As a graduate student, he studied song birds, and was interested in the question of whether the learning of song was controlled by testosterone. Just after he received his PhD, he and his mentor made a discovery that changed his scientific life. The discovery was of a large sex difference in the structure of the bird’s brain. This was the first time that such large sex differences had been seen in the brain of any vertebrate. Since the time, most of his research has been on the biological factors that make males and females different, in birds and mammals, not only in the brain, but in other organs as well.

Dr. Arnold’s hobby is photography, and his photographs provide the illustrations for several books for children written by his wife, Caroline Arnold. They have two children and three grandchildren.

Dr. Garcia-Garibay is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry here at UCLA. His research lab works on solid-state organic chemistry: looking at the crystal structures in organic materials. Some of his current research interests include photochemistry (the study of interactions between light and atoms or molecules), solvent-free synthesis (important in green chemistry), and engineering motion in crystals (like molecular gyroscopes).

Dr. Garcia-Garibay received his B.S. from Universidad Michoacana in Mexico and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. After completing his post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia University, he joined the UCLA faculty in 1992.

Dr. Alan Garfinkel is a Professor of Medicine and Physiological Sciences. His research applies mathematical models to electrophysiology, or the electrical properties of cells and tissues. Dr. Garfinkel uses the techniques of nonlinear dynamics (“chaos theory”) to look at heart arrhythmias in particular. Arrhythmias occur when there is abnormal electrical activity in a heart that may beat too quickly, slowly, or irregularly. The goal is to inform ways to prevent or treat heart problems.

Dr. Garfinkel received his Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1966. He went on to study at MIT and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, Dr. Garfinkel was a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at Cal State Northridge, worked as Institute Research Scientist at UCLA’s Crump Institute for Medical Engineering, and served as a Visiting Associate Professor at UC Santa Cruz.

Dr. David Teplow studies protein deposits called amyloids that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The deposition of amyloids into ‘plaques’ plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases that target the brain, like Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Teplow’s long-term goal is to discover what controls the build-up of these amyloids with the hopes of creating a new treatment. Dr. Teplow is notable for his use of many different approaches to study Alzheimer’s – organic chemistry, physics, statistics, computer modeling. We’re sure you will all find his talk very interesting!!

Dr. Teplow received B.A. degrees in Biochemistry and in Bacteriology and Immunology from UC Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in Tumor and Molecular Immunology at the University of Washington. Dr. Teplow is a Professor of Neurology and member of the Molecular Biology Insitute and Brain Research Insitute at UCLA. He is also the Director of the Biopolymer Laboratory at UCLA, which provides services like quantitative amino acid analysis, mass spectrometry, and protein sequencing to the UCLA community as well as researchers around the world.

Dr. Richard Gatti is a distinguished professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Human Genetics at UCLA. He is interested in translational research, including both the development of diagnostic assays and finding new drugs to treat genetic disorders. His research focuses on DNA repair disorders, using ataxia-telangiectsia (A-T) as the primary working model. The lab collaborates with investigators in many other countries. Ongoing projects include: 1) identification of genes that cause hypersensitivity to ionizing radiation, 2) identification of chemicals that correct the effects of specific types of mutations in the ATM gene, 3) better diagnostic assays for A-T, and 4) identification of chemicals that might be useful in combating a “dirty bomb” attack in a major city. The Gatti lab was the first at UCLA to localize a gene to a particular chromosome by linkage analysis (1988).

Dr. Presson develops statistical models for large-scale genetics data sets with applications to AIDS, cancer, and complex diseases. In particular she has used Bayesian modeling and MCMC methods to develop ‘MicroMerge’ software for merging microsatellite data sets. She is currently using Bayesian change-point models to study patterns of viral integration in the human and rhesus genomes. Dr. Presson is also involved in the application of clustering methods to gene expression data sets and tissue array data.

Dr. Colicelli is a cell biologist and biochemist. He joined the Department of Biological Chemistry in the UCLA School of Medicine in 1990. He became a full professor in 2003. Dr. Colicelli earned his B.A. in Chemistry at Rutgers University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Columbia University in New York. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. Colicelli’s research is focused on molecular signal transduction in cancer biology and neuronal plasticity. He teaches cell biology at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Dr. Colicelli serves as a Departmental Vice Chair and as a member of the School of Medicine Faculty Executive Committee.

Dr. Kent Hill is an associate professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA. Dr. Hill’s research group studies the mechanism and biology of cell motility in the African trypanosome, Trypanosoma brucei. Trypanosomes are protozoan parasites that cause African sleeping sickness in humans and are transmitted by the bite of a tsetse fly. Trypanosome motility is important for disease pathogenesis and Dr. Hill’s group is therefore working to understand how the parasite moves, as well as the biological consequences of parasite movement. Trypanosome motility is driven by a single flagellum and Dr. Hill’s group also uses trypanosomes as a model experimental system to study flagellum and cilium biology. Flagella and cilia are tiny hair-like appendages that extend from the surface of most cells in the human body and are critical for normal development and physiology. Defects in human flagella and cilia cause severe diseases and Dr. Hill’s work therefore impacts understanding of inherited human disease, as well as infectious disease. Dr. Hill received his B.S. degree from Northern Illinois University, with a double major in Chemistry and Biology. He worked as a product development scientist at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago, before coming to UCLA for graduate studies, where he trained with Dr. Sabeeha Merchant and received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He then went on for Postdoctoral studies at the University of Iowa, first with Dr. Lois Weisman and then with Dr. John Donelson in the Department of Biochemistry. He came to UCLA to set up his own lab in 2001.

Professor Hogue received her B.S. from the University of Wisconsin, and M.S. and Ph.D. from the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona. She joined UCLA in July of 2003 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Professor Hogue’s research centers on improving the understanding of hydrologic and land surface processes, with much of her work focused in semi-arid regions. Projects include investigating catchment response to wildfire, as well as the impact of urbanization and climate variability on the hydrologic cycle. Professor Hogue uses field and experimental methods, modeling and optimization techniques, as well as remote sensing data in her investigations. The overarching goal of her research program is to improve the prediction of hydrologic fluxes for better management of water resources, to assess human impacts on the environment, and to mitigate the effects of natural hazards. Professor Hogue teaches a range of graduate and undergraduate courses, from theoretical modeling to intensive field and laboratory-based curriculum. She has been awarded ASCE Professor of the Year by the C&EE students twice since her arrival at UCLA (2003-2004 and 2006-2007) and was recently awarded the Northrup Grumman Excellence in Teaching award by the School of Engineering.

Dr. Paul Barber is an evolutionary biologist who is interested in the processes that generate biodiversity in our worlds oceans. He is particularly interested in The Coral Triangle, a region of southeast Asia that is home to the world’s most diverse seas. Applying a combination of ecology, genetics, and computer modelling, Paul and his lab members try to uncover how oceanography and geology have created opportunities for speciation, creating unusually high levels of marine biodiversity. While improving our understanding of evolution in apparently boundless seas, this data provides a strong foundation for conservation planning in these increasingly imperiled environments.

Prof. Hauser is an experimental particle physicist who has been working at UCLA for 14 years on the construction of an experiment that will allow scientists to explore the physics of the Big Bang. Next year, a new machine called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will begin to collide beams of protons together with energies above ten trillion electron-volts. By studying the particles created in these collisions, physicists expect to shine light on questions such as:

• What is Dark Matter?
• Are particles actually not pointlike but rather vibrating strings?
• Are there really 10 or 11 dimensions of space and time?
• Why is there more matter than antimatter in the universe?
• Can microscopic Black Holes be created in the laboratory?
• Can a Grand Unified Theory be found?

Prof. Hauser and numerous UCLA undergraduate and graduate students built important parts of the CMS experiment, which is one of two large experiments at the LHC that will address these questions.

Dr. Frye is a neurobiologist interested in how the brain integrates information from different sensory modes such as vision and olfaction to form a complete perception of the naturally multisensory world. He works with flies because these animals have the fastest eyes, the most sensitive noses, and casually outperform any man-made machine. They have these amazing capabilities despite having a brain the size of a poppy seed. His research combines techniques from engineering and biology to understand the computations performed by this tiny brain as well as the neural circuits that perform these computations. The hope is to draw some general principles that can be applied to understanding other brains that might operate under less extreme conditions.