CURRENT MEMBERS

Li-En Jao
Assistant Professor, Cell Biology and Human Anatomy
ljao@ucdavis.edu | twitter: @lienjao

Li-En received his B.S. in Life Science from National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) before moving to the US for his graduate study. He joined the lab of Kuang Yu Chen at Rutgers University to study eIF5A, translation, and posttranscriptional gene regulation. He stayed in the Chen Lab for a short postdoc before moving to NIH to work with Shawn Burgess on developing genome-wide retroviral mutagenesis strategies in zebrafish. He then went back to the root of gene regulation and did another postdoc with Susan Wente at Vanderbilt University on RNA metabolism and human disease modeling using the zebrafish and cultured cell systems. At the end of his postdoc training in the Wente Lab, he stumbled upon a connection between RNA metabolism and centrosome function, a topic he has been pursing since. In his spare time, Li-En enjoys the California sun, family time, and photography.

Li-En is a mentor for the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program at UC Davis. Please visit https://eeop.ucdavis.edu/marc for details.

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Xueer Jiang
Graduate student, BMCDB Group
xujiang@ucdavis.edu | twitter: @XueerJiang

Xueer received her B.S. in Microbiology from University of California, Davis in 2017. In her undergraduate years, she studied the dynamics of microtubules during cell division in Arabidopsis thaliana in Dr. Bo Liu’s lab. Xueer is currently working on the projects that aim to elucidate the mechanisms of co-translational protein targeting and centrosome assembly. In her free time, Xueer enjoys indoor gardening, baking, and spending time with her cats.

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Jennielee Mia
Junior specialist
jjmia@ucdavis.edu

Jennielee has joined the lab since her undergrad years. She used to help maintain the zebrafish facility and worked as an undergrad research assistant. After graduation, she became a technician in the FitzGerald and Jao Labs. Her interests include human anatomy, drug development, and microbiology. She plans to go to either medicine or pharmacy school in the near future. During her free time, she creates digital artworks, listens to music, and watches TV shows.

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ALUMNI

• Mark Antkowiak (Junior Specialist, 2014–2016): General surgery resident at UC San Diego
• Evan Brahms (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2015–2016): Senior Technical Specialist at Prellis Biologics
• Hashim Shaikh (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2015–2018): Staff Research Associate at UCSF
• Janice Tam (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2015–2016): Senior Research Associate II at Kite Pharma
• Daniel Yoon (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2015–2016): Junior Specialist at UC Davis
• Noemi Castro (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2016–2018): Incoming graduate student at UC Davis
• Lana Christensen (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2016–2018): Graduate student with Jeff Coller at Johns Hopkins University
• Karan Mahe (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2016–2019): Junior Specialist at UC Davis/soon-to-be graduate student at Caltech
• Marvin Orellana (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2016): Associate at Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Guadalupe Sepulveda (Junior Specialist, 2016–2017): Graduate student with Rebecca Heald at UC Berkeley
• Alan Zhong (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2016): Student at Cornell University
• Lee Cheung (Volunteer, 2017–2018)
• Tingyoung Ou (Junior Specialist, 2017–2018)
• Tam Ho (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2018–2020): Research Associate at Stanford University
• Deger Carda (Undergrad Research Assistant, 2019–2020)