 |
 |
Lab Members
Click on each name to read more
 |
 |
 |
David Chan
Graduate Student
David is a second year Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology major originally from Hong Kong.
He received his bachelor's degree in Biology from UC Irvine where he also studied gene expression in
viral models. He has been a graduate researcher in the Lowry lab since the summer of 2007 through
UCLA’s ACCESS Program. He is currently studying the factors involved in self-renewal and
differentiation of neural stem cells. |
 |
 |
 |
Hung Trinh
Undergraduate Student
Hung is a third year Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology major originally from the
Sacramento area. He has a member of the Lowry lab since the summer of 2007 through UCLA’s
Biomedical Research Minor. He is currently studying the factors involved in growth and
differentiation of epidermal progenitor cells. Outside of the lab, Hung is also interested
in public health issues and is involved with the Mobile Clinic Project and UCLA’s Community
Service Commission. In his free time, Hung enjoys bicycling, playing tennis, and eating a
wide variety of ethnic cuisines. |
 |
 |
 |
Albert Hwang
Undergraduate Student
Albert is from Los Altos Hills, California. He is a fourth year undergraduate at
UCLA, studying Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. He has been a member of the Lowry Lab since
September 2007, and is currently working on epidermal differentiation. His ultimate goal is to whittle
down the 30,000 genes of the human genome into a subset of genes and gene clusters that are responsible
for directing differentiation along the epidermal lineage. When he is not hitting the books or working
in the hood, Albert enjoys playing the cello and watching Food Network. |
 |
 |
 |
Shankar Lyer
Access Graduate Student |
 |
 |
 |
Bill Lowry
Assistant Professor
Bill grew up in Seattle, WA and received his B.S. from the University of Washington in 1996.
He then moved to New York to do his graduate work in signal transduction and cell biology with
Xin-Yun Huang at Cornell Medical College in the fall of 1997. Bill then went across the street
to work with Elaine Fuchs at the Rockefeller University in 2002 where he studied the mechanisms
of quiescence and activation in stem cells of the Epidermis. In the summer of 2006 Bill joined
the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at UCLA to explore adult stem cells
and embryonic development. Bill holds the Maria Rowena Ross Term Chair in Cell Biology, and is
supported by the March of Dimes, CRCC, JCCF, and ACS
|
 |
 |
 |
Laura Richter
Staff Research Assistant
Laura Richter is originally from Redding, California. She graduated in 2006 from UC Berkeley
with a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology. She came to the lab in 2007 as a Staff Research
Associate. She is interested in modeling ectodermal development using human embryonic stem cells.
Laura regularly volunteers at Mattel Children's Hospital and will be attending medical school
in the fall of 2008.
|
 |
 |
 |
Andrew White
Postdoctoral Fellow
Andrew received his Ph.D. from Washington University. He studied lung morphogenesis and pulmonary
angiogenesis through mouse models during his graduate work, and has transitioned to cancer biology
of the epidermis for his postdoc in the Lowry lab. Andrew enjoys the good weather of Southern
California on his free time.
|
 |
 |
 |
Lab Doggie
Mole’ was rescued from a shelter in Queens, NY where she studied peeing on the floor and cage management.
Mole’ moved to Manhattan in 2004 where she enrolled in puppy training and finished first in her class (out of 2
enrolled). Mole’ then moved to Beverly Hills in 2006 where she is now working towards a graduate degree in fetch.
She is keenly interested in anyone who comes to Bill’s office and her thesis is titled, “Olfactory mechanisms of
foot recognition.”
|
 |
 |
|
Kathy Tran
Kathy is a fourth year Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology major originally from Anaheim.
She has been a member of the Lowry lab since winter quarter 2008 and is currently studying the
connection between stem cells and tumor formation. Besides research, she interested in environmental
issues and is involved with E3 and ESLP.
|
 |
 |
 |
Otaren Aimiuwu
Staff Research associate
Otaren is originally from Benin-City, Nigeria. He obtained his Bachelors degree from Cal. State
Dominguez Hills in General Biology and Biochemistry where he also studied HPA Axis activation and
Nicotine Addiction. He is about to obtain a masters in Public Health from Charles Drew University.
He is currently working on his thesis “Effects of air pollution and water contamination among rural
population in Southern Nigeria”. He plans to attend medical school in fall of 2010 and he enjoys
playing Soccer, Basketball, reading novels and watching movies.
|
 |
 |
 |
Michaela Patterson
Graduate Student
Michaela is a second year MCDB graduate student. She grew up in Fresno, CA, although she received her
B.S. from Bates College in Maine where she majored in Spanish and Biology. Prior to starting graduate
school, Michaela worked in Ole Isacson’s lab at Harvard where she studied regenerative treatments for
Parkinson’s disease. She joined the Lowry Lab in June 2008 through the UCLA ACCESS program. In 2009
Michaela was awarded a training grant from Genetic Mechanisms here at UCLA. She is interested in using
pluripotent stem cells to model ectodermal development in vitro.
|
 |
 |
 |
Iris Claire Ha
Iris is currently a third year Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology major, Biomedical
Research minor originally from San Jose, CA. Since joining the Lowry Lab in spring 2008, she
has been using human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells to model human
embryonic development. Iris is also a member of the UCLA Undergraduate Science Journal research
review board, 2008 Amgen Scholar, Howard Hughes Undergraduate Researcher (HHURP), and both a College
Honors student and Honors Fellow mentor.
|
 |
 |
 |
Joan Khuu
Joan is a fourth year Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics major at UCLA.
She has been a member of the lab since winter quarter of 2009. She is interested in
furthering her education in the pre-health field. In her spare time, she is a mentor
to elementary school students. Her favorite quote is, "stay hungry, stay foolish."
|
 |
 |
 |
Christine Deng
Christine is a fourth year Biochemistry major, originally from Cerritos, CA. She joined the Lowry Lab
in the summer of 2010, and is interested in studying the biology of squamous cell carcinoma. Outside
of the lab, she spends time volunteering with VA hospital and Alpha Phi Omega. She hopes to attend
pharmacy school in the fall of 2012.
|
 |
 |
 |
Soheila Azghadi
Staff Research Associate
Soheila is originally from Tehran, Iran. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.
She has joined the Lowry lab since July 2010. She is interested in studying induced pluripotent stem cells and their use in clinic. In
her spare time she enjoys swimming and spending time with her family. She has two sons. Rod is six years old, and he is a black belt in
Tea Soo Do. Ryan is three years old, and he goes to UCLA pre-school. Her husband, Shawn, is an industrial-electronics engineer.
|
 |
 |
 |
Adelaja Akinolou
Adelaja is a Master’s student at California State University Northridge originally from Nigeria.
He received his bachelors and masters degree in Anatomy from Universities of Ilorin and Ibadan in
Nigeria respectively where he studied the Neurotoxic effects of Artemether (an antimalarial drug)
on the cytoarchitecture of the Trapezoid Nuclei and Cerebellum in Adult Male Wistar rats. He joined
the Lowry Lab in August 2010 as an Intern through the CSUN-UCLA STEM CELL BRIDGES PROGRAM and
currently studies the Generation of Region - Specific Neural Progenitor Cells from Human Induced
Pluripotent Stem Cells. His future interests are the applications of stem cells in the treatment of
neurodegenerative diseases and cancers.
|
 |
 |
 |
Peiyee Lee
Peiyee grew up in Bronx, New York. She received her BS degree in biochemistry at SUNY Binghamton in 1995. She
then went back to the Bronx, again, to Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she completed MD-PhD in 2003.
During her graduate study, she explored mechanisms of apoptosis in cardiac myocyte during ischemia-reperfusion.
She then moved to California and completed neurology residency at UCLA in 2007. She went on to subspecialize in
movement disorder at UCLA and completed her training in 2009. She was awarded with CIRM Clinical Fellowship training
grant and joined the Lowry lab in July 2010. Her interest is to develop neurological disease models using induced
pleuripotent stem cells.
|
 |
 |
 |
Yongyan Cui
Yan is a fourth year Psychobiology major, Political Science minor at UCLA. She was born in Australia,
but has spent most of her life in Chicago. She has been a member of the Lowry Lab since fall quarter of 2007.
Yan is interested in pursuing a career in medicine. Outside of school, Yan is involved with the Watts Tutorial
Program, teaching and mentoring children from the Watts and William Mead housing projects.
She is also very enthusiastic about clincal work, shadowing doctors. In her free time, Yan enjoys running,
doing yoga, cooking, and eating.
|
|
 |
|
 |