Team

Aaron Meyer, Principal Investigator   

Ph. D., Biological Engineering, MIT
B.S., Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles

Aaron is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering and a member of the Bioinformatics IDP, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Broad Stem Cell Research Center, and Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences. He strives to learn how we can use computational models to control biological systems and treat disease. Outside of the lab, he can be found consuming anything that might be considered science fiction, reading about the philosophy/history of science, or cycling in the Santa Monica mountains.

Jackson Chin, Ph.D. Student   

B.S. Bioengineering, University of Washington

Jackson is a Ph.D. student who joined the lab during Fall 2020. He joins the lab from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he researched using metabolomics to predict type 1 diabetes onset. Jackson’s research interests include applying and developing tensor-based methods to unravel the mechanisms of disease. Outside of lab, Jackson is an avid soccer fan, board game collector, burrito connoisseur, and foodie.

Andrew Ramirez, Ph.D. Student   

B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis

Andrew is a Bioengineering Ph.D. student who joined in Fall 2021. In his free time, Andrew is an avid Netflix/Hulu watcher for shows like Modern Family, Dragon Ball Z, and Parks and Recreation, loves boba, and enjoys walking his pitbull Misty.

Michelle Loui, Ph.D. Student   

M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Arizona State University

B.S.E., Biomedical Engineering, Arizona State University

Michelle joined the lab in Spring 2022 as a bioengineering Ph.D. student. During her earlier studies, she worked on developing an injectable polymer for treating cerebral aneurysms and researched the extreme properties of amyloid materials through individual fibril analysis. Her research interests include therapeutic resistance in cancer. Outside of the lab, Michelle enjoys playing Animal Crossing and Mario Kart, consuming sweets, and volunteering at the West LA animal shelter.

Meera Trisal, Ph.D. Student   

B.S., Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara

Meera is an Ph.D. student who joined the lab in Fall 2022. Before coming to UCLA, Meera worked at Stanford University where she studied the mechanisms underlying the adaptive immune response to vaccination. In her free time, Meera enjoys spending time with friends, reading, playing soccer, dancing, and binge-watching TV.

James Popoli, Ph.D. Student   

B.S., Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles

James is a bioengineering Ph.D. student who joined in Summer 2024. His academic interests center around leveraging human biosystems to engineer new therapies or gain further understanding of how the body functions. For hobbies, James enjoys playing video games, practicing archery, and exploring Harbor Freight to find new tools for projects.

Sam Amidon, Ph.D. Student   

B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota

Sam is a bioengineering Ph.D. student who joined the Meyer lab in Fall of 2024. He grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota where he worked at pharmaceutical companies and University of Minnesota genetics and neural engineering labs. Through these experiences, Sam found broad interests in biological systems, drug design, and machine learning approaches. He likes to spend his free time outdoors—camping, hiking, fishing, and running, and has recently gotten into nature photography.

Nicole Bedanova, Ph.D. Student   

B.S.E., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania

Nicole is a bioengineering Ph.D. student who joined the Meyer lab in Fall of 2024. She previously worked at the Wistar Institute developing DNA based immunotherapy approaches for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. She is interested in using experimental and computational methods to better understand the immune response in the context of diseases and develop novel therapeutics. In her free time she enjoys running, trying new restaurants, making matcha, and exploring the outdoors.

Saki Minamino, M.S. Student   

B.E., Chemical Science and Engineering, Kobe University

Saki is a Master’s student who joined the lab in 2024. Her previous research involved developing a cancer drug for photodynamic therapy targeting NRAS mRNA. Saki’s current research interests include therapeutic resistance in cancer and cancer-related immunology research. In her free time, Saki enjoys playing tennis, practicing photography, and cooking.

Victoria Gong, Undergraduate Researcher   

Victoria is an undergraduate student majoring in biochemistry. She is interested in cancer-related immunology research, protein engineering and structural analysis, and drug discovery/design. In her free time, she enjoys archery and singing.

Allison Brookhart, Undergraduate Researcher   

Allison (Allie) is an undergraduate student at UCLA who joined the lab in the summer of 2022. She is currently working on the cancer serology project to help profile anti-tumor antibody responses. Allie is interested in the intersection between technology and medicine to improve the quality of care for patients. She also enjoys crocheting, being active, and exploring Los Angeles in her free time.

Nathaniel Thomas, Undergraduate Researcher   

Nathaniel is an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science who joined the lab in the summer of 2023. His research interests include applying computational methods to further understand biological and chemical systems. In his free time, he enjoys playing pop songs on the piano, trying new foods, and keeping up with the latest TV shows.

Breanna Remigio, Undergraduate Researcher   

Breanna is an undergraduate student majoring in Computational and Systems Biology who joined the lab in the fall of 2022. She is interested in applying computational methods to biological systems to further understand how these systems function. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, film photography, and dancing traditional Peruvian dances.

Aoi Tomoeda, Undergraduate Researcher   

Aoi is an undergraduate student majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering who joined the lab in fall of 2024. She is interested in cancer-related immunology research, protein engineering, and drug discovery and development. Outside of the lab, she likes watching J-dramas, K-dramas, and exploring different cafes.

Former Members

Sean Pascoe, Amgen Scholar (currently Ph.D. Student, Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Manmeet Bains, M.S. Student

Het Desai, M.S. Student

Crystal Xiao, Development Engineer

Armaan Abraham, Development Engineer

Hakan Alpay, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Frontend Engineer, Facebook)

Jamie Stickelmaier, Undergraduate Researcher

Ethan Hung, Undergraduate Researcher

Enio Hodzic, M.S. Student (currently Machine Learning Algorithm Engineer, Adaptive Dynamics)

Eva Hunter, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Medical Assistant, Glaucoma Center of San Francisco)

Emily Lin, Undergraduate Student (currently Ph.D. student, Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania)

Aditya Sivakumar, Undergraduate Researcher

Luka Karginov, NCI CSBC Summer Scholar (currently Ph.D. student, Biological Engineering, MIT)

Eli Snyder, Undergraduate Researcher (currently M.D. Student, University of Hawaii)

Madeleine Murphy, M.S. Student (currently Associate Computational Biologist, Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard)

Peter Emmel, Undergraduate Researcher

Heather Carmen Mercieca, Amgen Scholar

Amanda Tsao, Undergraduate Researcher (currently M.D. student, University of Southern California)

Sumedha Kanthamneni, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Software Engineer, Google)

JC Lagarde, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Process Engineer, Illumina)

Scott Taylor, Development Engineer (currently Senior Research Associate, Xencor)

Brian Orcutt-Jahns, Ph.D. Student (currently Postdoctoral Associate, Genentech)

Willie Wu, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Software Engineer, Rivian)

Donya Khashayar, UCLA Transfer Student Summer Research Program

Katrina Warner, Amgen Scholar (currently Ph.D. student, Biomedical Sciences, Harvard)

Alison Tran, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Biosciences Account Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

Micah Bryant, Undergraduate Researcher (currently M.S., Mechanical Engineering, UCSD)

Robert Theisen, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Ph.D. student, Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan)

Zoe Kim, Undergraduate Researcher (currently GaN Corporation)

Stephen Lees, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia)

Linnet Chang, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Analyst, Accenture)

Catera Wilder, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (currently Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco)

Marc Creixell, Ph.D. Student (currently Scientist, Calico Life Sciences)

Farnaz Mohammadi, Ph.D. Student (currently Postdoctoral Associate, Genentech)

Cyrillus Tan, Ph.D. Student (currently Postdoctoral Associate, New York University)

Adam Weiner, Ph.D., Undergraduate Researcher (currently Ph.D. Student, Tri-Institute CompBio)

Ali Farhat, Undergraduate Researcher (currently M.D./Ph.D. Student, University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago)

Rui Yan, Undergraduate Researcher (currently M.S./Ph.D. student, ICME, Stanford)

Moriah Garcia, Development Engineer (currently Project Manager, Genentech)

Song Yi Bae, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow (currently Senior Scientist, Astrin Biosciences)

Nicole Kramer, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Postdoctoral Research Associate, UNC at Chapel Hill)

Ryan Robinett, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Ph.D. student, Computer Science, University of Chicago)

Ning Guan, Undergraduate Researcher (currently Ph.D. student, Systems Biology, Harvard)

Edward Richards, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate (currently Associate Principal Scientist, AstraZeneca)

Christina Bray, Undergraduate Researcher

Simin Manole, Technical Assistant (currently Ph.D. student, Molecular & Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Annelien Zweemer, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate (currently Assistant Professor, Leiden University)