People (old)

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CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

David Gold

Primary Investigator

Noemie Sierra

Noémie Sierra

Graduate Student - NSF Fellow

Noémie is a graduate student in the Integrative Genetics and Genomics graduate group at UC Davis and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She is interested in the evolutionary history of aging and the genetic underpinnings of various tissue regeneration strategies...
Hannah Kempf

Hannah Hensel

Graduate Student - CA Sea Grant Fellow

I am interested in how animals respond to environmental stress on various timescales. My work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing from genomics, biogeochemistry, sclerochronology and Indigenous knowledge. My dissertation focuses on how the Pacific littleneck clam (Leukoma staminea) responds to ocean...
Bio

Tessa Brunoir

Graduate Student

Originally from North Carolina, I graduated from Smith College (‘17) with a BA in Geosciences. I am an “early life” geobiologist and a paleobiologist primarily interested in major biotic turn over events during the Neoproterozoic. My previous experience is in...

Chris Mulligan

Graduate Student

Chris (he/him) graduated with a BA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from CU Boulder, and he is currently an Earth and Planetary Sciences PhD student here at UC Davis. Chris had a wide range of research experiences before starting grad...

Liyu Mekonnen

Undergraduate Fellow

Originally from the Bay Area, Liyu is an undergraduate student currently working towards a B.S in Chemistry and a minor in Geology. Her interests have always lived within the walls of science and history, leading her curiosity to the development...

LAB ALUMNI

Paóla Benefo

Lab Manager

Paóla J. A. Benefo is a Ghanaian-Italian who grew up in Columbus, Ohio. She is a Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds Scholar, New York Times Opinion author, and Phi Kappa Phi scholar amongst many other achievements. She is interested in all things science,...

Roxanne Banker

Postdoctoral Researcher

I am interested in the growth and function of molluscan shells, as well as understanding the ecological and oceanographic contexts in which adaptations evolve. I am currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Davis investigating how oyster gene expression and microbiomes...

Jashanpreet Khaira

Undergraduate Researcher

I'm a 4th year undergrad student majoring in Biological Sciences. I'm interested in research involving genes and evolution in the context of paleobiology. My academic goals include finishing my BS degree and pursuing medical education in the future.

Jacob Lipovac

Undergraduate Researcher

I’m a transfer student from Butte College, up in northern California near my hometown of Paradise. When I first started school, I rapidly became involved with and amazed by all things biology, a fascination that has never faded! I am...

C.C. Clark

Undergraduate Researcher

I am a second year undergraduate here at UC Davis who is majoring in Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity. I am interested in studying evolutionary biology, genetics/genomics, conservation biology, marine biology, ecology, paleobiology, and much more! I am super excited to...

Tiezheng Fan

IGG Rotation Graduate Student

My research interests lie in the processes and mechanisms of how organisms adapt to their changing environments. I am interested in microevolutionary aspects of adaptation where specific traits are favored or selected against as a result of various selection forces,...

Emily Shane

Undergraduate Researcher

I am passionate about topics related to paleobiology, plant science, and wildlife biology and how research into these fields can help us understand ways to mitigate climate change and restore ecosystems. My career goals include lab work combined with field...

Ismael Acedo

IGG Rotation Graduate Student

I am interested in using bioinformatics to interpret sequencing data and understand what lies hidden in a genome. I am particularly interested in metagenomes/microbiomes.

Liyu Mekonnen

Undergraduate Fellow

Originally from the Bay Area, Liyu is an undergraduate student currently working towards a B.S in Chemistry and a minor in Geology. Her interests have always lived within the walls of science and history, leading her curiosity to the development...

John LaRue

Undergraduate researcher

One of the most interesting questions in Evolutionary Biology is how changes in DNA sequence can lead to the evolution of entirely new morphological structures and body plans. I’m interested in the patterns and processes of molecular evolution that drive...

Maddie Albert

Undergraduate Researcher

I am a fourth-year undergraduate student currently working towards a B.S. in Global Disease Biology here at UC Davis. My interests include comparative biology, molecular evolution, and marine biology. I am extremely interested in learning about the interdependencies between organisms...

Irene Lai

Undergraduate Researcher

Irene is a Global Disease Biology major and intends to become a pediatric nurse in the future. Her project is focused on the environmental factors and moon jellyfish's mechanism in repairing external damage. She is most excited to learn about techniques and...

Rakhay Burtzlaff

Undergraduate researcher

My research is focused on the effect of environmental factors on the physiology of moon jellyfish. Specifically, the process of reverse-development, which allows the jellyfish to go back on it's lifecycle to repair damage. My goal is to understand the...

Aeddon Mckaba

Undergraduate Researcher

I am interested in researching the genetic and evolutionary factors that determine the morphology and physical properties of diatom frustules. Diatoms have always fascinated me with their elaborate and complex shapes, and I am curious to better understand the frustule...

Zayna Siddiqi

Undergraduate Researcher

I am fascinated by the discovery of genomic linkages between ostensibly unrelated organisms – far-flung, millions of years apart – yet an evolutionary thread of inheritance seems to run through them. And on the other hand, there are several examples...

PREVIOUS UNDERGRADUATE AND POSTBACCALAUREATE MENTEES (PRIOR TO UC DAVIS)

Micah Battson (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: Masters student in Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Abigail Caron (MIT)
Last Position after the lab: PhD student in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago.

Kira Cozzolino (UCLA: visiting student from Northwestern University)
Last Position after the lab: Research Technician at Northwestern University.

Holly Fuong (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: PhD Student in Evolutionary Primatology at Columbia University.

Nicholai Hensley (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: PhD student in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara.

Gregory Kao (UCLA)

Irrawaddy Lamouth (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: Emergency Medical Technician at ‎UCLA Health

Clive Long Fung Lau (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA.

José Andrade López (UCLA: visiting student from UC Berkeley)
Last Position after the lab: Masters student in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of  Michigan.

Michelle Martin (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: Premedical post-baccalaureate student at the Keck Graduate Institute.

Ignacio Navarrete (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: PhD student in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at UC Berkeley.

Dhruv Patel (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: Masters student in Global Medicine at USC.

Kia Safatian (UCLA)

Megan Sailors (UCLA)
Last Position after the lab: Pharmacy student at UC San Diego.

Aubrey Silva (UCLA)

Andrew Suh (UCLA)

Mariam Tabatabaee (UCLA)