CURRENT MEMBERS
Principal Investigator
Dirk Hockemeyer
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley
Postdoctoral Fellow in Genetics (2007-2012)
Advisor: Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch, Whitehead Institute
Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology (2002-2007)
Advisor: Dr. Titia de Lange, Rockefeller University
B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry (1998-2002)
Advisor: Dr. Alfred Nordheim, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen
Staff Research Associates
Stella Tran
B.S. in Biochemistry, Minor in Microbiology
California State University, Long Beach
Research interests in the lab: Studying the role of POT1 protein in telomere length regulation and also studying human diseases using functional genomics in primary stem cell models.
E-mail address: stellatran[at]berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Fellows
Robert Lu
Ph.D. in Medicine (2016-2020)
Children's Medical Research Institute, University of Sydney, Australia
B.S. in Biochemistry (2011-2014)
University of Sydney, Australia
Research interests in the lab: I'm interested in using leveraging genetic stem cell models to study how telomere maintenance mechanisms become activated in cancers.
E-mail address: robertlu_dh[at]berkeley.edu
Graduate Students
Vincent Pham
Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
M.S. in Biology
Tufts University
B.S. in Neuroscience
Brown University
Research interests in the lab: I am studying the contribution of neural crest cells in the development of the heart and the gene regulatory networks that govern species-specific regenerative response to heart injury. I'm using hiPSC/hESC-derived cardiac organoids (cardioids) to study this in humans.
E-mail address: vincent.pham[at]berkeley.edu
Anna Horacek
Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
B.S. in Biology and Anthropology and Minor in Chemistry
University of Oregon
Research interests in the lab: Employing next-generation sequencing to study the role of disordered protein domains in DNA-protein interactions during stem cell development.
E-mail address: annahoracek[at]berkeley.edu
Jan Schabort
Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
M.S. in Veterinary Biochemistry (2019-2021)
Advisor: Dr. Je-Yoel Cho, Seoul National University
B.S. in Biochemistry (2014-2018)
Advisor: Dr. Michael Carastro
Research interests in the lab: My interest lies in leveraging our human pluripotent stem cell system and acute and high-throughput incorporation of genetic mutations to understand the regulation of the telomeric overhang and specifically how these processes are disrupted in diseases such as cancer or Coats Plus Syndrome.
E-mail address: j.schabort[at]berkeley.edu
Carter Simington
Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
B.S. in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology
University of Arizona
Research interests in the lab:Uncovering the molecular mechanism of telomere length homeostasis
E-mail address: carter_simington[at]berkeley.edu
Shayan Hosseinzadeh
Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
B.S. in Biochemistry (2010-2014)
Advisor: Dr. Herbert Waite, UCSB
Research interests in the lab: Sequence-function analysis of the shelterin protein, TRF2, and its protein interaction partners to study their essential functions for telomere protection and telomere length homeostasis in human pluripotent stem cells.
E-mail address: shayanrhoss[at]berkeley.edu
Shaghayegh Jahanbani
Ph.D. Student in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
E-mail address: sjahanbani[at]berkeley.edu
Lindsey Qian
Ph.D. Student in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
B.S. in Biology, specialization in Developmental Biology (2019-2023)
Advisor: Dr. Victoria Prince, University of Chicago
E-mail address: lqian[at]berkeley.edu
Xiaoying Xiao
Ph.D. Student in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
E-mail address: xiaoying[at]berkeley.edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Jianpu Gao
B.A. in Data Science and Statistics, College of Computing, Data Science, and Society
University of California, Berkeley
Research interests in the lab:Employing machine learning and ai-based algorithms for multi-linear regression training in genetic study and automation for image recognition and classification.
E-mail address:jianpugao[at]berkeley.edu
Richard Ho
B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, Molecular Therapeutics
University of California, Berkeley
Research interests in the lab:Functionally characterizing mutants in telomeric DNA-protein complexes using high-throughput immunofluorescent assays.
E-mail address:richardho[berkeley.edu
Maya Singh
Undergraduate Research Assistant in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
Research interests in the lab:Characterizing BRCA2 Loss of Function Mutants with Imaging-Based Methods
E-mail address:mayasingh[at]berkeley.edu
Frances Kueper
B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology (2023-2027)
University of California, Berkeley
Research interests in the lab:Identifying tissue-specific genetic drivers of BRCA2-related cancers
E-mail address:frances_k[at]berkeley.edu
