Biochemistry

Jake LeVieux is a biochemist with an enzymology, assay development, and multi-omics background. He earned his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, studying the structure and mechanism of bacterial enzymes that degrade toxic components of crude oil. He then began working in the biotech industry at Element Biosciences, where he co-invented and developed DNA sequencing chemistry. He currently works at Element on a spatial biology platform as a Senior Scientist. Jake enjoys surfing, running, and playing guitar in his free time. 

Agape M. Awad, Ph.D., is currently serving as a Medical Communications Manager in the Oncology Division in Amgen, Inc. In her role at Amgen, Dr. Awad serves as the US Leukemia Lead for FDA-approved therapeutics and pipeline products. Previous to her work in Amgen, Dr. Awad was a Senior Scientist at Edwards Lifesciences, a cardiovascular medical device company that specializes in transcatheter and surgical heart valve technologies, as well as critical care technologies and devices. Previously, Dr. Awad served as an Instructional Faculty Member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, where she taught Biochemistry and led Biochemistry laboratory original research. Dr. Awad received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Structural Biology, and completed her Post-doctoral Fellowship at UCLA, as well. Her research focused on metabolism and medical/pathological implications of impaired metabolic states and how to potentially treat such diseases through bona fide molecular pathways. Dr. Awad has over 12 years of laboratory experience and 8 years of teaching/lecturing experience. In her free time, Dr. Awad enjoys spending time on the water, playing basketball and volleyball, teaching Sunday School to children, and traveling.

Brett Barbaro is a consultant at Scripps Research Institute where he is currently working on building physical and atomic-resolution computer models of biological systems. He has over 15 years of laboratory experience and has published numerous articles and several book chapters. He is a graduate of Harvard University’s biochemistry program and received his Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine, where he studied the molecular mechanisms of Huntington’s Disease.

Brett Barbaro is a consultant at Scripps Research Institute where he is currently working on building physical and atomic-resolution computer models of biological systems. He has over 15 years of laboratory experience and has published numerous articles and several book chapters. He is a graduate of Harvard University’s biochemistry program and received his Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine, where he studied the molecular mechanisms of Huntington’s Disease.

Ace Santiago obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Cornell University and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biochemistry and Microbiology from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Santiago taught Biochemistry and General Chemistry courses during his graduate studies at Cornell. He has specialized skills in protein sciences, molecular biology, microbiology, fluorescence microscopy, genomics, and computing. His notable discoveries include 1) how transcription factor unbinding can be regulated, 2) how metal ion transporters assemble in living cells, and 3) the identification of the first protein regulator of a serine-threonine kinase in a bacterial pathogen, which gave insights into cell wall biosynthesis and antimicrobial resistance in gram-positive bacteria. Previously, Dr. Santiago worked as a Biochemist and Molecular Biologist at Siemens Healthineers and 10x Genomics, respectively, where he helped create state-of-the-art technologies for clinical diagnostic or genomics discovery applications. Ace enjoys drawing, reading, exploring cities or nature, and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Praveen Kumar brings his strong interdisciplinary interest and outstanding training in the fields of Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Cell Biology, and pathophysiology to his course on human physiology. Dr. Kumar has been working for the Biotechnology/ Pharmaceutical industry for the last 9 years where he has been involved in cutting-edge research to understand the molecular basis of disease and to support drug discovery programs. He has 10 years of research experience from UCSF in basic science and has published his work in peer-reviewed journals and has presented it at leading national and international conferences. In his spare time, Dr. Kumar enjoys hiking and biking.

Kirthi Reddy received her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she studied effects of chromatin modification on DNA double-strand break formation. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researching how interactions with microbes influence neuronal signaling and behavior. She then spent over ten years as a research scientist at UCSD and the Salk Institute where she worked in a broad range of fields including pathogen resistance, the genetics of autism, and cancer biology. She has published numerous journal articles and has mentored many students in the lab. In her free time, Dr. Reddy enjoys spending time with her kids, playing ping-pong, and solving puzzles. 

Matthew Weinstock is a Group Leader at the biotechnology company AbSci where he is currently leading a team of scientists in the Molecular Sciences group in developing bacterial strains to produce complex biopharmaceuticals.  Previously he was a scientist at Synthetic Genomics, Inc. where he focused on large-scale genome engineering of novel microorganisms for biotech applications. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Utah, where he worked on the discovery and development of mirror-image peptide therapeutics for emerging infectious diseases.
 

Kirthi Reddy received her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she studied effects of chromatin modification on DNA double-strand break formation. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researching how interactions with microbes influence neuronal signaling and behavior. She then spent over ten years as a research scientist at UCSD and the Salk Institute where she worked in a broad range of fields including pathogen resistance, the genetics of autism, and cancer biology. She has published numerous journal articles and has mentored many students in the lab. In her free time, Dr. Reddy enjoys spending time with her kids, playing ping-pong, and solving puzzles. 

Anila Venable Madiraju, Ph.D. is a senior research associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences where she currently researches the role of mitochondrial signaling in regulating metabolism, inflammatory pathways, and aging. Her major focus is to elucidate how nutrition, diet and exercise impact the human body at the molecular and cellular level, and answer fundamental questions on how to prevent aging-related diseases such as diabetes and cancer by targeting mitochondrial function.

Anila has dedicated nearly two decades to scientific research. As a young scientist at the age of 19, Anila won the Intel Foundation Award of a 50K scholarship to any university, and was selected to attend the Nobel Ceremonies where she presented her research. She holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. from Yale University, and was honored as the Jonas Salk Fellow in 2016-17. She recently was awarded a research sponsorship grant by Gilead Life Sciences Inc. as the Life Sciences Research Foundation Gilead Fellow.

Carla Uranga, Ph.D., is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the J. Craig Venter Institute, where she is actively working on studying the metabolomics of microorganisms. With a specialty in purification method development, her current focus is on purifying small molecules produced by bacteria from the human oral microbiome and studying their physiological effects on the host immune system and on other bacteria.
 
Prior to joining JCVI, she worked in industry in a variety of capacities, including purification, especially as applied to virus and virus-like particles (VLPs) for oncolytics and vaccine purposes at PaxVax (now Emergent Biosolutions) and in plant molecular biology at Syngenta. She and her husband started a business in Baja California during her doctorate and they currently make natural lotions and soaps for the Guadalupe Valley wine country in Baja California.
 
She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and her doctorate in Life Sciences/Biochemistry from CICESE in Ensenada, Mexico.

Tobey Tam, Ph.D., has a background in the fields of biotechnology patents, computation biology, and health care. She prosecuted biological, biochemical, and medical device patents in local law firms and in a biotech company. She also holds a California teaching credential and has taught a variety of science and health care courses at the college level for over ten years and has taught at UCSD, CSUSM, and the San Diego Community Colleges. She received her Ph.D. in biology from UCSD and conducted her post-doctoral research at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. When she is not working, she enjoys nature by visiting the state parks.

Teaching Experience
During his scientific career, Dr. Saborio has taught in-person full or part of courses in Biochemistry and in Molecular Biology to graduate students, and a Biology course in two community colleges: Irvine Valley College, at Irvine, CA, and Saddleback College, at Mission Viejo, CA. Dr. Saborio has been an instructor in eight Biochemistry courses offered by UC San Diego Extended Studies.

Research Experience 
At the Department of Molecular Biology of Beckman Instruments, Inc., Fullerton, CA, Dr. Saborio developed procedures for bulk production of recombinant proteins and antibodies used for diagnostic tests, and later on became Quality Assurance Manager for the company's Molecular Biology product line. 

The following link [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sort=date&term=Saborio+JL&cauthor_id=7806347] opens a list of articles Dr. Saborio has published in peer-reviewed Journals during his scientific career. The articles are listed in no especial order but can be grouped as follows: 1) Studies on Poliovirus that describe work done at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Nutley, NJ. USA, 2) Studies on Adenovirus that describe work done at the Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden; 3) Articles on Cytoskeletal and Muscle proteins, done at the Institute of Advanced Studies, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, Mexico; and 4) Articles on T. cruzi flagellar proteins, done at the Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, and at several sites in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil. This site allows people to read the summary of the articles, and to assess the impact of those articles on the community working in those particular fields.

Agape M. Awad, Ph.D., is currently serving as a Medical Communications Manager in the Oncology Division in Amgen, Inc. In her role at Amgen, Dr. Awad serves as the US Leukemia Lead for FDA-approved therapeutics and pipeline products. Previous to her work in Amgen, Dr. Awad was a Senior Scientist at Edwards Lifesciences, a cardiovascular medical device company that specializes in transcatheter and surgical heart valve technologies, as well as critical care technologies and devices. Previously, Dr. Awad served as an Instructional Faculty Member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, where she taught Biochemistry and led Biochemistry laboratory original research. Dr. Awad received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Structural Biology, and completed her Post-doctoral Fellowship at UCLA, as well. Her research focused on metabolism and medical/pathological implications of impaired metabolic states and how to potentially treat such diseases through bona fide molecular pathways. Dr. Awad has over 12 years of laboratory experience and 8 years of teaching/lecturing experience. In her free time, Dr. Awad enjoys spending time on the water, playing basketball and volleyball, teaching Sunday School to children, and traveling.

Brannon McCullough Ph.D. has been serving as a Preclinical Research Scientist at W.L. Gore & Associates for over the past five years. His professional responsibilities include developing innovative medical products and technologies. Dr. McCullough's academic background includes B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Wyoming, followed by a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. His distinguished dissertation research focused on the mechanics of actin filament turnover. He then served as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, where he researched brain cancer cell migration. Subsequently, he taught Chemistry and Biochemistry at Northern Arizona University. In his free time, Dr. McCullough enjoys being with his wife and three sons, exploring the outdoors, and traveling to new destinations.