Roni Haas

Roni Haas is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Boutros’s lab at the Department of Human Genetics. She earned her PhD in the field of yeast quantitative genetics at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Following her doctoral studies, she completed a short postdoctoral research position at the Technion, focusing on RNA bioinformatics.  Her research in the Boutros lab is dedicated to studying cancer, aiming to develop novel prognostic cancer biomarkers for early detection and therapy targets. Her greatest passion is studying how genetic variants contribute to cancer biology. She is developing novel bioinformatics frameworks and creating models to predict the clinical and molecular consequences of heritable genetic variants.  Roni is a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Award fellow. She has also received the Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, which will help her transition into an independent research role.

Ivan Salladay-Perez

Ivan, a native of Southern California from Long Beach, CA, began his academic journey at Long Beach City College, where he excelled as a biology student and as an athlete in track and field for the CCCAA. He later pursued and completed a bachelor’s degree in general biology with a focus on molecular parasitology research at CSU-Long Beach and a masters in biochemistry with a research focus in bioenergetic mitochondrial metabolism.

Currently, Ivan is a doctoral candidate supervised and mentored by Anthony J. Covarrubias in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA. His research utilizes computational and high throughput methods to explore globally deregulated processes in aging immune systems. Throughout his doctoral studies, Ivan has been recognized with several prestigious fellowships and awards, including the Best Graduate Student Presentation Award at the 1st Annual Gerontology Los Angeles Meeting and the recent Whitchome Predoctoral Fellowship.

Outside of academia, Ivan cherishes time with his family – his wife and two daughters – enjoys culinary adventures, and at times competes in small basketball leagues. Looking ahead, Ivan aims to leverage his PhD to pursue a career as a faculty member or mentor at a research-focused institution, integrating his experiences from UCLA into his teaching and research endeavors

Emily Smith

Emily Smith graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2017 with a degree in Biology. Following graduation, she completed a two year research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Emily joined the Tarling-Vallim lab at UCLA in July 2021. Her research project focuses on metabolic diseases, such as obesity, type II diabetes, and atherosclerosis. While one of the key drivers of metabolic disease is elevated plasma lipid levels, less is known on the molecular underpinnings that occur during lipid accumulation. Through the use of CRISPR genetics targeting proteins in the liver, Emily’s research found that specific changes in the peroxisome drive lipid homeostasis and inter-organelle responses, allowing for an advanced understanding of intracellular communication in both healthy and diseased states. Emily is an active member of the MBI community holding leadership positions on various committees and panels (for recruitment and otherwise). She is also a NIH F31 fellow. In her free time, she enjoys spending time at the beach or camping in the mountains with her husband, daughter and dog.

Prashant Kaushal

Prashant Kaushal is a Postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Mehdi Bouhaddou’s lab in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics (MIMG) at UCLA and co-affiliated with the Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences (QCBio). He earned his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul, South Korea, where he utilized mass spectrometry proteomics to investigate post-translational modifications on the N-terminal end of proteins. He continued to pursue his postdoctoral work in Prof. Jyoti Choudhary’s lab at the Institute of Cancer Research, London. During this period, he was involved in developing high-throughput proteomics methods to explore changes in the native structure of proteins. Before joining UCLA, he worked in a proteomics core facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he expanded his technical proficiency in operating state-of-the-art mass spectrometry instruments. In the Bouhaddou lab at UCLA, he is interested in applying his prior experience in mass spectrometry to the field of virology. His research is focused on developing novel chemical and computational approaches to globally quantify post-translational modifications on newly synthesized viral proteins in an unbiased manner, with applications to other areas of biology.

Arissa Young

Arissa Young earned her B.S. in Biology from Tufts University. She then went on to attend medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine where she earned her MD and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society. She completed internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she also participated in the Vanderbilt Stimulating Access to Research during Residency (V-STARR) program. During her time in the V-STARR program, she worked in Jeff Rathmell’s lab where she investigated lipid metabolism in CD4+ T cells. Following residency, she matched at UCLA for rheumatology fellowship where she was also admitted to the Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program. As a STAR rheumatology fellow, Arissa is currently earning her PhD in cell and developmental biology in the lab of Heather Christfok, PhD. Her PhD project is focused on the adipocyte to myofibroblast transition in a mouse model of systemic sclerosis. Clinically, Arissa is interested in systemic sclerosis and sees patients with this disease in her clinic each week with her clinical mentor, Elizabeth Volkmann, MD.

Helen Vuong

Helen Vuong earned her B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She continued her graduate education at UCLA, earning her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology under the mentorship of Dr. Nicholas C. Brecha. During her graduate studies, Vuong investigated the anatomical and electrophysiological regulation of retinal microcircuits by neuropeptides, including somatostatin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide. For postdoctoral training, she worked with Dr. Elaine Y. Hsiao at UCLA, studying the role of the maternal microbiome in fetal brain development, including modulation of neuronal connectivity, activity and function, and behavior. She is a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award fellow, where she conducts research while pursuing her passion in education and outreach. In addition, Vuong was recently awarded the NIH-National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Pathway to Independence Award that will facilitate her transition into an independent research position.

Einav Tayeb-Fligelman

Einav Tayeb-Fligelman is a postdoctoral fellow at the Eisenberg laboratory at the UCLA-DOE institute, a wife, and a mother of three amazing children. She completed all her degrees at the Technion- Israel institute of technology. Her PhD work, focused on functional amyloid-like fibrils, resulted in many exciting findings, including discovering a novel amyloid-like architecture, which was published in Science journal. At the Eisenberg laboratory, she studies the interactions and cross-seeding propensities of the two main proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease. Einav is also participating and coordinating a collaborative project in which they study amyloid formation by the Nucleoprotein of SARS-CoV-2, its role in viral replication, and the potential of our de novo designed amyloid-inhibitors as treatments for Covid-19. For her studies, she is integrating methods from biochemistry, cell biology, X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, and more. Along with her research, she is also very passionate about teaching and about promoting inclusion and equity in science. With two former female members of the Eisenberg lab, they founded a group for women in science (WISE) which Einav has been managing for over a year now. This group was initiated for the Eisenberg female lab members but now had expanded to include women scientists from other labs and departments at UCLA. The aim is to empower our WISE members, introduce them to the various professional paths available in academia and industry, and provide a safe environment for sharing and seeking support. The proof that men and women, parents or not, could be equally capable and successful is found in Dr. Eaton’s life story, achievements, and commitment to her science and family.