Lab Members
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
gelbart@chem.ucla.edu
Professor Charles (Chuck) Knobler
Professor Emeritus
knobler@chem.ucla.edu
Post-doctoral Fellows
Ana Luisa (Anilú) Duran-Meza, PhD
Email: analuisa.duranmeza@gmail.com
Projects: Distribution of RNA Ends in Multiplet-Capsid Structures, and In Vitro Synthesis of Enveloped Virus-Like Particles (EVLPs)
Adam Biddlecome, PhD
Email: adamb@chem.ucla.edu
Projects: Design and synthesis of self-replicating forms of mRNA (replicons), and in vitro reconstituted CCMV virus-like particles for delivery of self-amplifying cancer antigens
Anish Nag, PhD
Email: anish@chem.ucla.edu
Projects: In vitro reconstituted TMV virus-like particles for delivery of chemo and Sindbis RNA therapeutics as an ovarian cancer treatment
Odisse Azizgolshani, PhD
Email: odisse@chem.ucla.edu
Projects: In vitro reconstituted TMV virus-like particles for delivery of chemo and Sindbis RNA therapeutics as an ovarian cancer treatment
Graduate Students
Jerrell Tisnado (2014 - present)
Email: jerrelltisnado@gmail.com
Projects: Targeted delivery of gene therapies through protein fusions and chemical conjugations of ligands to reconstituted virus-like particles
Cheylene Tanimoto (2016 - present)
Email: cheylene@chem.ucla.edu
Projects: Characterization of Assembly Mechanism through Cryo-Electron Tomography of Individual RNA-Capsid Protein Assembly Intermediates
Zach Gvildys (2017 - present)
Email: zgvildys@chem.ucla.edu
Projects: Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Studies of Protein-RNA Interactions
Undergraduates
Abby Thurm (Class of 2020)
UCLA Undergraduate
Projects: RNA Homopolymer Packaging by CCMV - the Role of RNA Secondary Structure on Self-Assembly, Delivery of microRNA replicons as a pancreatic cancer treatment, and Defective interfering RNA as a Yellow Fever anti-viral
Nina Le (Class of 2021)
UCLA Undergraduate
Projects: Distribution of RNA Ends in Multiplet-Capsid Structures
Vladimir Musatov (Class of 2021)
UCLA Undergraduate
Projects: Targeted delivery of gene therapies through protein fusions and chemical conjugations of ligands to reconstituted virus-like particles
Emily Joyner (Class of 2021)
UCLA Undergraduate
Projects: Defective interfering RNA as a Yellow Fever anti-viral
Albert Mendoza
Visiting Student from Rio Hondo College
Projects: In vitro synthesis of Enveloped Virus-Like Particles (EVLPs)
Group Alumni "in the virus era" (i.e. since 2000)
Christian Beren (Graduate Student 2012-2018, and Boyer Cram Libby Teacher Scholar 2018-2020)
Teaching Assistant Professor at Colorado School of Mines Department of Chemistry, Golden, CO
Rich Sportsman (Graduate Student 2013 -2020)
Diego Castaneda (Lab Technician)
Pamchal Faroghi (Lab Technician)
Devin Brandt (Graduate Student 2012-2018, and Postdoctoral Fellow, 2018-2019)
Lucia Cabrales (Vising Student from Rio Hondo College, 2017-2019)
Undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara
Shriram Chennakesavalu (Amgen Scholar, Summer 2018)
Undergraduate at University of Chicago
Liya Oster (UCLA Undergraduate, B.S. 2018)
Graduate Student at UC Berkeley (Biophysics)
2018 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Recipient
Yuxin Pan (UCLA Undergraduate B.S. 2018)
Graduate Student at University of Washington (Biochemistry)
Lisa Dreesens (Master's Rotation Student, 2017)
Graduate Student at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands (Bionanomaterials)
Ben Kartub (UCLA Undergraduate, B.S. 2017)
Medical Student at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine
Katie Liu (Visiting Student from Scripps, 2016)
Graduate Student at Stanford University
Cho Ki Tam (UCLA Undergraduate, B.S. 2016)
D.O. Program, Western University of Health Sciences
Walter Singaram (Graduate Student, 2011-2016 PhD)
Postdoctoral fellow at Brandeis University
Cathy (Yan) Jin (Graduate Student, 2015 PhD and Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2018)
Rees Garmann (Graduate Student, 2014 PhD)
Post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University
Irina Zhang (UCLA Undergraduate, B.S. 2013)
Graduate Student at University of Michigan
Ruben Cadena-Nava (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2007-2013)
Associate Professor, UNAM, Ensenada
Mauricio Comas-Garcia (Graduate Student, PhD 2013)
Assistant Professor, UASLP, San Luis Potosi, Mexcio
Ajaykumar Gopal (Postdoc, 2006-2012)
Chanrith Siv (UCLA Undergraduate, B.S. 2012)
Graduate Student at University of Michigan
Odisee Azizgolshani (Graduate Student 2004 - 2012)
Li Tai Fang (Graduate Student 2004 - 2011)
Jae Ho Kim (Master's Student, M.S. 2011)
Venus Vakhshori (UCLA Undergraduate, B.S. 2009)
Medical Student at University of Pennsylvania
Aron Yoffe (Graduate Student 2002 - 2009)