Current Trainees
Current CBI Trainees 2024-25
Andréa Ball
Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
Advisor: Ajit Divakaruni
Program Start Date: 2022
Bio: Andréa received a B.S. in Biology, with a concentration in Pharmacology, and a second major in Spanish from Duke University in May 2020. There, she studied the role of the cytokine IL-6 in T-cell metabolism in the laboratory of Dr. Nancie MacIver. She began pursuing her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at UCLA in 2020 and is currently a member of the laboratory of Dr. Ajit Divakaruni. There she is studying the role of mitochondrial respiration in pro-inflammatory macrophage activation. When not in lab, Andréa enjoys trying all the ice cream shops in LA, running to the beach, and attending her local book club meeting.
Eli Biletch
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Keriann Backus
Eli received a B.A. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry with a minor in Computer Science from Middlebury College in 2022. There, he worked to develop a photoredox platform for target identification under the guidance of Dr. Lindsay Repka. He began his Ph.D. studies at UCLA that same fall, joining the lab of Dr. Keriann Backus, where he is now developing tandem photocatalytic target identification and validation strategies harnessing the power of chemoproteomics. In his free time, Eli likes to sing karaoke with his friends, explore museums and food around LA, and reminisce about the glory days when seasons existed on the East (superior) coast.
Izaiah Cole
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Michael Lawson
Izaiah Cole is a second year Chemical Biology graduate student in Michael Lawson’s group at UCLA. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry/Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego. Most of his initial research experience stemmed from Biotechnology company, Regulus Therapeutics, where he conducted research to provide pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of various microRNA therapeutic drugs.
Felix Fu
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Heather Maynard
Program Start Date: 2022
Bio: Originally from China, Felix moved to the US in 2011. Then he received a B.S. in chemistry from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2020. While at UIUC, he conducted research under Professor Jianjun Cheng on the synthesis and applications of therapeutic polypeptides via N-Carboxyanhydride. Felix joined Professor Heather Maynard's lab in 2021, where he is currently working on the design and synthesis of new self-immolative linkers for protein-polymer conjugation. Outside the lab, he enjoys watching Lakers games and playing video games.
Jordan Gonzalez
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Advisor: Neil Garg
Program Start Date: 2022
Bio: Jordan received a B.A. in chemistry and mathematics from Lewis & Clark College in the spring of 2021. There, he performed mechanistic studies of molybdenum-catalyzed sulfide oxidation reactions under the guidance of Professor Louis Kuo. He began pursuing his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at UCLA in the summer of 2021. He is currently a member of the laboratory of Professor Neil Garg, where he works on a total synthesis of an alkaloid natural product which involves the use of a strained intermediate. When he is not in the lab, Jordan enjoys watching baseball.
Elena Hauf Pisoni
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Feng Guo
Elena Hauf Pisoni is a second year Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology (BBSB) graduate student in Prof. Feng Guo’s group. She received her B.A. double-majoring in Biochemistry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of San Diego. During her time there she researched non-cognate binding of amino acids and RNA-PNA duplexes to aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases using biochemical and computational methods in the lab of Prof. Anthony Bell.
Aleksandras (Alek) Lotuzas
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Advisor: Patrick Harran
Program Start Date: 2022
Bio: Alek was originally born in Lithuania and moved to Illinois in 2012. There he finished his Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he also worked under Dr. David Sarlah on the total synthesis of biologically active, norcembranoid natural products. In 2021 Alek moved to Los Angeles to begin graduate studies in Prof. Patrick Harran's lab on synthesis and derivatization of bioactive natural products. During his free time, Alek enjoys hiking, chess, and exploring the culinary wonders of LA.
Lilith Schwartz
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Mireille Kamariza
Lilith received a B.A. in chemistry and a minor in music theory from Vassar College in 2022. At Vassar, she studied bacterial proteins involved in transferring antibiotic resistance genes in Dr. Krystle McLaughlin’s lab. Following her interest in antibiotic resistance and infectious diseases, Lilith is working under the supervision of Dr. Mireille Kamariza to investigate mycobacterial dormancy and develop point-of-care tuberculosis diagnostics using fluorescent probes. Outside of the lab, Lilith enjoys cooking/baking fun recipes, reading queer literature, hiking, and playing the piano.
Jordan Tibbs
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Advisor: Patrick Harran
Program Start Date: 2023
Bio: Jordan Tibbs is a PhD student in the BBSB department as part of the MBI program. He works in the Koehler lab as part of the metabolism theme, where his research interests include mitochondrial biogenesis, protein import and small molecule screening. He received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from The Catholic University of America, and his Masters in Physiology here at UCLA, where he is now pursuing his PhD in Biochemistry. In his free time, he enjoys movies, cooking, working out and ballroom dance.
Chunsheng Yan
Department: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yi Tang
Program start date: 2023
Bio: Chunsheng Yan received B.S. in chemical engineering with a biotechnology concentration and a minor in bioengineering from UC Berkeley in December 2019. There, he learned about metabolic engineering in the laboratory of Jay Keasling. He began pursuing his Ph.D in chemical engineering at UCLA in 2021 and is currently a member in Prof. Tang's lab. He mainly works on natural product discovery and investigation of enzymatic activities. During his spare time, he likes playing Chinese chess and video games.
Associates
Ben Janda
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Neil Garg
Ben Janda is a second year Chemistry graduate student in Prof. Neil Garg’s laboratory. In 2023, He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Chapman University where he researched organocatalysts’ ability to perform reduction reactions in Dr. Allegra Liberman-Martin’s group.
Shruti Sharma
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Tatiana Stoyanova
Shruti Sharma is a second-year Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology (BBSB)
graduate student in Prof. Tanya Stoyanova’s lab. She earned her B.S. in Bioengineering from UCLA, where she developed hydrogel biomaterials for tissue engineering, drug delivery, and 3D cell culture in Prof. Tatiana Segura’s lab. She then joined Prof. Amy Rowat’s lab to study the effects of stress hormones on cancer metastasis. After graduation, she worked at A2 Biotherapeutics, developing logic-gated dual-receptor CAR T cell therapies that target tumor cells by exploiting loss of heterozygosity.