Lab News

Charles moved all the way from Berkeley to Zurich with the Corn Lab. If he had stayed at Berkeley, he would have taken a qualifying exam. Things are a bit different across the pond, but there’s still a milestone at the end of the 2nd year of grad school. Charles passed with flying colors and had the honor of wearing the traditional Corn Costume.

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We have two new Ph.D. students at ETH Zurich: Marija Banovic and Lilly van de Venn. Marija is interested in the biology of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and translational research with the special emphasis on the implementation of genome editing technologies for therapeutic purposes. Lilly’s interests include DNA repair mechanisms, as well as the potential use of genome editing for therapeutic purposes. Welcome!

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The semester is over, and our undergrads gave stellar presentations over three packed days of Corn Lab Undergradapalooza. Many of the lab undergrads are graduating, which is bittersweet. It’s great to see them doing well, but sad to see them go. Farewell to Saba Ahmed, Leo Chen, Jennifer Chung, Sharon Feng, Rachel Lew, Tracie Luong, Shirley Shao, and Ankita Singh. Wishing you all the very best for each and every one of your future endeavors.

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Chris Richardson joined the lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow in July 2014 and made huge advances in human gene editing. He developed new ways to improve NHEJ and HDR, plus discovered out that genome editing in human cells works via the Fanconi Anemia Pathway. Three major first author papers in three years – not bad! Chris will be joining Spotlight Therapeutics as a Group Leader, and may have some additional career news to share soon. We wish you success in all your future endeavors!

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Not your typical news post! The Corn Lab will be moving to the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. Jacob is accepting a position as a full professor in the Institute for Molecular Health Sciences. The IGI and UC Berkeley MCB have been wonderful places to do research and work to make an impact on genetic disease. It’s hard to believe that it’s only been 4 years since Jacob moved from Genentech to help start up IGI. And reflecting back, it’s wild to see how much IGI has grown! What a great time!

We’ll be fully moved in October of 2018. The main thrust of my research program won’t change, so get in touch if you’re interested in a Ph.D. or postdoc in working on gene editing, DNA repair, hematopoietic stem cell biology, or organelle autophagy. I’m looking forward to new friends and colleagues, and to having current friends and colleagues come visit the Alps!

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Benjamin Gowen joined our lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow in May 2015 and used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to study T cell regulation. Congratulations on his big step in becoming the Co-Founder and CEO at Peregrine Biotechnology, Inc. Wishing you much luck on your new business venture.

Hong Ma joined the lab as a Research Associate I in February 2016. She has accepted a Research Associate II position in Kramer Lab. Best wishes as you embark on a new challenge.

Rachel Valenzuela joined the IGI staff as a Postdoctoral Fellow in July 2016, and used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to study the factors involved in metabolic disorders in human and mouse models. She will be a Cell Line Engineer at Memphis Meats. Best of luck in your new job!

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We’d like to welcome Beeke Wienert to join our lab as a postdoctoral researcher.  She received her PhD in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry from UNSW Sydney in 2016 and then continued to work as a postdoctoral researcher investigating molecular mechanisms of hemoglobin disorders with Merlin Crossley.  Her main research interests are transcription factors, their binding profiles and how genomic variation causes disease and she is currently using CRISPR/Cas9 to study transcriptional programs of red blood cell enucleation.

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