About Us – Meet the Lab!

Selma Masri, Ph.D.  Principal Investigator

Selma received her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the City of Hope in 2009 and completed her postdoctoral training in Circadian Biology and Metabolism, with an emphasis on circadian disruption and tumorigenesis. Selma is currently tenured faculty in the Department of Biological Chemistry at UC Irvine, a member the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a member of the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism. Selma was named a V Foundation Scholar in 2018.

Sungkook Chun, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow

Sungkook completed his PhD in Circadian Biology at the Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, discovering small molecule inhibitor of Cryptochrome as putative modulator of molecular circadian clockwork. His current research interests include studying how circadian disruption could affect hepatic glucose metabolism in pathological condition.

Aya Ead, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow

Aya earned her PhD in Nutritional Biology at the University of California, Davis. Her doctoral work focused on the impact of dietary fat quantity and composition in pancreatic cancer development. She became interested in understanding the impact of adipose tissue as a potential promoter of cancer development and progression. She is excited to continue studying pancreatic cancer in a new lens of circadian biology in the Masri Lab.

Alisa Mahieu, Graduate Student

Alisa received her bachelors of science in molecular biology from Brigham Young University. Her undergraduate research utilized halophytic bacteria to increase plant tolerance to saline stress. She then worked in a laboratory performing gene expression screenings for cancer patients. Now, she is happy to join oncological research at UCI!

Shannon Pfeiffer, Graduate Student

Shannon studied archaeology at UC Berkeley during her undergraduate career, but after graduating she discovered data science and an interest in cancer research. She received her masters degree in bioinformatics from Northeastern University and then worked in industry for a couple years, analyzing multi-omics data collected from clinical trials to determine mechanisms of response and resistance to immunotherapies.

Amy Song, Graduate Student

Amy studied molecular biology at Cal State Long Beach where she discovered her interest in stem cell research. She went on to study neural stem cells as a CIRM intern at UC Irvine. Then, she was the lab manager and technician for the Masri lab where she found an interest in cancer research and circadian biology. Now, she is excited to continue stem cell research as a graduate student in the Masri lab. 

Amber Lewis, Graduate Student

Amber studied molecular biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she developed an interest in cancer immunology research. After undergrad, she worked for two years as a lab assistant on a project using CAR-T cell therapy to target ovarian cancer. She is excited to continue cancer immunology research through the lens of circadian biology.

Angie Nguyen, Graduate Student

Angie received her B.S. in Genetics from UC Irvine where she became interested in using -omics data to answer biological questions. During her undergraduate studies, she researched the global phylogeny of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the open ocean in Dr. Adam Martiny’s lab. Her interest in both medicine and research led to her joining UCI’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD). Angie is excited to start the research phase of her program while focusing on computational approaches to oncology research.

Jolene Viramontes, Graduate Student

Jolene received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine where she majored in Biological Sciences and minored in medical anthropology. As an undergraduate she researched marine mussel thermal tolerances across life stages. After undergrad, she moved on to work at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the tumor immunology lab of Stephen Shiao, MD, PhD. Now she has returned to UCI and is happy to continue her research in cancer immunology as a graduate student in the Masri Lab!

Ellianna Damozonio, Graduate Student

Ellie received her bachelors of science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Davis. Her undergraduate research focused on the tumor suppressor BRCA2, and its DNA binding activity in homologous recombination. She is now a jointly mentored graduate student in the Masri and Pannunzio Labs, studying the mechanisms by which the circadian clock induces genomic instability. 

Kiley Roach, Lab Manager

Kiley received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Vermont and is the lab manager and lab assistant for the Masri Lab.

Alumni:

Bridget Fortin, Graduate Student (Mabswitch Inc., Torrance, CA)

Bridget received her bachelors of science in biochemistry with a minor in computational science from Point Loma Nazarene University. Her previous research focused on elucidating pathways hijacked by cancer cells to promote pro-inflammatory macrophage polarization. Bridget’s PhD research focused on discerning how circadian disruption accelerates colorectal cancer with a focus on anti tumor immunity. After graduating with her PhD in Biomedical Sciences, Bridget has obtained a Scientist 1 position at Mabswitch Inc., where she will be researching antibody treatments with affinity switches.

Amandine Verlande, Ph.D Postdoctoral Fellow (Altos Labs, San Diego CA)

Amandine received her M.S. in Biology and Biotechnology from Lille University of Science and Technology, France, and her Ph.D. in Medical Biology from Masaryk University, Czech Republic, where she studied the regulation of the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway by metabolic stress in melanoma. Amandine is investigating the relationship between tumorigenesis and disruption of circadian rhythms in peripheral tissues. Amandine is the Hitachi-Nomura Postdoctoral Fellow.

Natalie Larson, M.Sc Associate Specialist (US Department of the Navy)

Natalie received her M.Sc. in Computer Science from UCSD, B.Sc. degrees in math and computer science from Vanderbilt University, and B.A. in studio art from Grinnell College.  She has worked with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MIT’s Haystack Observatory, NASA’s Langley Research Center, the US Navy, and Norway’s Simula Research Lab.  Her interest in biology was deepened by her competitive marathon and ultra running.  She currently holds the Fastest Known Time on the 1,200 mile California Coastal Trail.  She is excited for the ways computational techniques can accelerate biological research.

Rachel Fellows, Ph.D. Postdoctoal Fellow (Altos Labs, Cambridge UK)

Rachel received her B.Sc in Biochemistry from Bath University and her PhD from Cambridge University in the UK, where she studied the influence of intestinal microbial metabolites on host intestinal epithelial cell epigenetics. Rachel is currently interested in the relationship between circadian rhythms, cancer and microbiota in the intestine.

Maggie Goodson, Lab Assistant III (Huntsman Cancer Institute, Clinical Research Coordinator, Salt Lake City, UT)

Maggie completed her bachelors of science in human biology at UC San Diego and was the lab manager and lab assistant for the Masri Lab.

Giulia Giammo, M.S. Graduate Student

Giulia received her B.S. in Biochemistry and M.S. in Biotechnology from Northeastern University in Boston. She then worked in industry for a number of years focusing on profiling covalent kinase inhibitors and developing novel assays and platforms to aid drug discovery. Giulia is investigating how disruption of the circadian clock affects metabolic processes in colorectal cancer. Giulia is funded by the Cancer Biology T32 Training Grant.

Lu Tian, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow (Gracell Biopharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA)

Lu completed her PhD in Cancer Biology at the University of Lille, Lille, France,  investigating the function s-SHIP promoter as a putative mammary cancer stem cell marker in transgenic mouse models. She is currently studying how circadian processes affect colorectal cancer development, progression, and response to therapy.