For Prospective Students
Thank you for your interest in CBI.
Students currently conducting research in a CBI Faculty Mentor's laboratory are encouraged to speak with their faculty mentor about opportunities within the CBI program. Students whose mentors are not currently affiliated with CBI are welcome to contact the CBI Administrator to learn more about how their mentor may become involved.
Participating CBI Training Faculty Members
| Jeff Abramson | Physiology | Elucidating Membrane Transport |
| Anne Andrews | Chem. & Biochem., Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sci. | How the serotonin neurotransmitter system modulates complex behaviors |
| Soumitra Athvale | Chem. & Biochem | We will develop enzymes with reactivities never seen in nature by combining mechanistic organic chemistry, enzymology, and directed evolution techniques |
| Keriann Backus | Chem. & Biochem. | Synthesis and application of new chemical probes to manipulate biological systems |
| Catherine Clarke | Chem. & Biochem. | Biosynthesis and regulation of coenzyme Q |
| Steven Clarke | Chem. & Biochem. | Biochemistry of aging, metabolic regulation |
| Robert Clubb | Chem. & Biochem. | Biomolecular recognition |
| Stuart Conway | Mol. & Med. Pharm. | Use of synthetic organic chemistry to develop molecular tools to enable the study of biological systems |
| Ajit Divakaruni | Mol. & Med. Pharm. | Mitochondrial metabolism control of cell function and fate. |
| David Eisenberg | Chem. & Biochem.; Biol. Chem. | Study of proteins by X-ray diffraction and computational methods; bioinformatics |
| Juli Feigon | Chem. & Biochem. | Conformational studies of nucleic acids using multidimensional NMR techniques |
| Tomas Ganz | Medicine (Pathology) | Iron homeostasis in health and disease |
| Neil Garg | Chem. & Biochem. | Synthetic organic chemistry |
| Thomas Graeber | Mol. & Med. Pharm. | Systems biology of cancer signaling |
| Mingxia Gu | Medicine | TBA |
| Feng Guo | Biological Chemistry | Heme and microRNA maturation |
| Patrick Harran | Chem. & Biochem. | Chemical Synthesis of Biologically Active Small Molecules |
| Kendall Houk | Chem. & Biochem. | Theoretical organic chemistry and biochemistry; enzyme design |
| Jing Huang | Mol. & Med. Pharm. | Chemical biology, functional genomics and proteomics |
| Steven Jacobsen | Mol. Cell & Devel. Biology | DNA and histone methylation |
| Mireille Kamariza | Bioengineering | Biomolecular engineering to monitor and control infectious microbes |
| Kalli Kappel | Chem. & Biochem. | TBA |
| Carla Koehler | Chem. & Biochem. | Mitochondrial biogenesis |
| Ohyun Kwon | Chem. & Biochem. | Organic synthesis and chemical genetics |
| Heather Maynard | Chem. & Biochem. | Polymer synthesis applied to biology and medicine |
| Jennifer Murphy | Mol. & Med. Pharm. | New fluorination methods for synthesis of imaging probes |
| Margot Quinlan | Chem. & Biochem. | Role of Spir-Capu complexes |
| Caius Radu | Mol. & Med. Pharm. | Cancer research |
| Jose Rodriquez | Chem. & Biochem. | Fundamental aspects of protein structure |
| Avi Samelson | Neurology; Biological Chemistry | TBA |
| Danielle Schmitt | Chem. & Biochem | Regulation of cellular metabolism |
| Hannah Shafaat | Chem. & Biochem. | TBA |
| Ellen Sletten | Chem. & Biochem. | Nanotherapeutics and diagnostic tools |
| Alex Spokoyny | Chem. & Biochem. | Organomimetic clusters and assemblies |
| Yi Tang | Chem. & Biomol. Eng. | Natural product discovery, biosynthesis and engineering |
| Jorge Torres | Chem. & Biochem. | Mitotic Spindle Assembly |
| Antonio Tinoco Valencia | Chem. & Biochem. | TBA |
| Shimon Weiss | Chem. & Biochem. | Single molecule biophysics |
| Owen Witte | MIMG/BSCRC | Mechanisms of stem cell differentiation and signaling in cancer |
| Otto Yang | Medicine (Infectious Disease) | Therapies and vaccines for HIV |
| Hong Zhou | Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics | TBA |
Updated: July 23, 2026
Prospective applicants are encouraged to explore the research interests of current CBI faculty and trainees to determine whether the program aligns with their academic and research goals.
Students interested in learning more about Chemical Biology are also encouraged to enroll in Chem 206: Chemistry of Biology Seminar, offered each quarter and taught by CBI Principal Investigator, Dr. Patrick Harran. The Fall and Spring seminars focus on current topics in Chemical Biology, while the winter seminar features presentations by current CBI trainees highlighting their ongoing research. The course is open to all students in the Department of Chemistry. Students outside the Department of Chemistry should contact chemgrad@chem.ucla.edu for enrollment information.
Please reach out to the CBI Administrator, Alex Castaneda (alexcastaneda@ucla.edu) for any questions.