Our community

Our highly individualized education is designed to focus on your scientific interests and career goals.

At the heart of the program is mentorship by outstanding faculty. Unique aspects of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Ph.D. program include:

Highly personalized curriculum with 1:1 tutorials
Career advising and support in research training
Immigration support
Training also offered in:
• writing and presentation skills
• leadership development
• career and professional development

Educating Ph.D. students to become the innovative biomedical scientists of the future.

Current graduate students

Katja Birker, B.S.

Katja’s work focuses on elucidating the molecular, cellular, and morphological processes of candidate congenital heart disease genes in the Drosophila heart.

Ryan Loughran, B.S.

Ryan is working to uncover new and important roles of phosphoinositide lipid kinase signaling in the context of tumor cell metabolism.

Karina Barbosa Guerra, B.S.

Karina’s research focuses on understanding the dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms in hematological malignancies to improve therapeutic interventions.

Current graduate students

Aleksandr Arzamasov
Alex will use comparative genomic and metagenomic approaches to predict metabolic interactions in the human gut microbiota under normal and pathological conditions.
Karina Barbosa Guerra, B.S.
Karina’s research focuses on understanding the dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms in hematological malignancies to improve therapeutic interventions
Nicole Bata, B.S.
Nicole’s work focuses on exploring STK3/STK4 kinases as modulators of autophagy in cancer.
Meher Beigi Masihi, M.S.
Meher’s work is focused on understanding underlying molecular mechanisms of pediatric brain tumor development to identify potential therapeutic targets.
Numana Bhat, B.S.
Numana is interested in studying B cell immunology and is utilizing mouse genetic models to understand how perturbations in the immuno-regulatory pathways in B cells lead to immunopathology and autoimmune disease.
Betsaida Bibo Verdugo, M.S.
Betsaida investigates the molecular sorting mechanisms that dictate the distribution of neutrophil serine proteases in azurophil granules.
Katja Birker, B.S.
Katja’s work focuses on elucidating the molecular, cellular, and morphological processes of candidate congenital heart disease genes in the Drosophila heart.
Scotty Cadet, B.S.
Scotty’s project will investigate the crosstalk between the Notch and Aryl Hydrocarbon receptors in pancreatic endocrine cell fate determination during cell reprogramming.
Alex Campos, B.S.
Alex's work focuses on understanding how cancer utilizes adaptive responses to stress, such as oxidative and metabolic stress, to provide growth, proliferation, and survival advantages over normal non-transformed cells.
Linda Chang
Linda’s work focuses on the neuroprotective mechanisms with Alzheimer’s disease, protein trafficking in neurons, and associated molecules, such as SORLA.
Zong Ming Chua, B.S.
Zong Ming's work focuses on elucidating the links between aging and cancer, specifically with AML in mice.
Lisa Elmen, M.S.
Lisa's research is focused on establishing the etiological role of the gastrointestinal microbiome in colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.
Jordan Friedlein, M.S.
Jordan's work will focus on using mouse models and genetic engineering techniques to identify mutations in cancer cells that act as a lifeline to many cancer types.
Joe Fromm, B.S.
Joe’s research looks into the role of Fatty Acid Synthase in cancer metabolism and the mechanism by which the protein recognizes and cleaves the proper substrate.
Mallika Iyer, M.S.
Mallika will be using structural bioinformatics to study protein conformational flexibility and how mutations altering this flexibility can lead to disease.
James Kent, B.S.
James’ work focuses on the structure of the outer membrane protein Ail from Yersinia pestis and how the native environment influences the biological activity of this protein.
Shaun Lim
Shaun's work explores the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate autophagic flux and their implications on aging using C. elegans as a model.
Tianhui Liu, B.S.
Tianhui is interested in contribution of autophagy in stress-induced cellular senescence.
Ryan Loughran, B.S.
Ryan is working to uncover new and important roles of phosphoinositide lipid kinase signaling in the context of tumor cell metabolism.
Michaela Lynott, B.S.
Michaela’s research focuses on identifying novel cardiac disease-associated pathways and innovative cardiac regenerative strategies using in vitro models and an automated screening platform.
Rachael McVicar, B.S.
Rachael’s research aims to characterize proximal lungs cells by unique cell surface markers in order to increase the efficiency of lung differentiation protocols and enrich the target cell populations.
Ayako Murao, B.S.
Ayako will be studying the role of TMEM2 in brain development using TMEM2 conditional knockout mice.
Stephanie Myers, B.S.
Stephanie’s research is focused on exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Ruslan Nuryyev, M.S.
Ruslan’s research will be focused on examining progenitor cells in a hypothermic environment in an effort to develop a neuroprotective treatment for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
Daniel Ojeda Juarez, B.S.
Daniel works in HIV-induced brain injury, a degenerative disease of the brain. His research is aimed to further increase our understanding of the pathological mechanism behind virally induced damage of the central nervous system.
Huiyu Ren, B.S.
Huiyu’s research is focused on identifying and characterizing signaling molecules and intracellular pathways involved in cell death and survival.
Pavel Ryzhov, B.S.
Pavel is using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods to investigate conformational dynamics of the pro-apoptotic protein BAX as it translocates between cytosol and the outer mitochondrial membrane resulting in programmed cell death.
Steven Sakuma, B.S.
Stephen's work focuses on elucidating the role of modulating nuclear pore complex composition and assembly at the cellular and organismal level.
Paloma Sanchez Pavon, B.S.
I study the role that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) plays in a neurological disease called hydrocephalus, trying to counteract its effects and improve the life of the patients.
Jessica Stupack, B.S.
Jessica is interested in elucidating underlying molecular mechanisms of various neurodegenerative diseases.
Benjamin Van Espen, M.S.
Benjamin’s research focuses on signaling pathways that are deregulated in cancer, putting an emphasis on the importance of ubiquitin ligases, which control cellular response to diverse stress stimuli.
Zhouting Zhu, M.S.
Zhouting will investigate the RNA methylation pathways and their impact on cancer development as well as identification of small molecule inhibitors of targets involved in cancer.

Alumni

"Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute graduate students are bright and highly driven with a clear focus on their next career step. Upon graduation, most of our students have moved on to become successful biomedical researchers in both fields of industry and academia."

- Malene Hansen, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Student Affairs

Cameron Pernia, Ph.D.

"A great feature of Sanford Burnham Prebys graduate school is its size, we have more faculty members than students, so I have easy access to mentors. I could not be happier with my decision to pursue my Ph.D. here, and I am confident it will be one of the best choices I will ever make."

Marisa Sanchez, Ph.D.

"I chose to study at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute because it is leading the frontiers of translational biomedical research. I have always had a fascination for research and discovering new ways to improve the lives of people suffering from disease."

Miguel Reina Campos, Ph.D.

"I was drawn to Sanford Burnham Prebys for its clinically oriented goals, state of the art facilities and the great talent that inhabits the institution. It appeared to me as the perfect blend of the will to cure and the genuine curiosity that drives the finest basic research."

Alumni

2019

Anjali Gupta
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: CRTC Signaling in the Heart of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Ocorr lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
Cameron Pernia
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Hyper-Excitable Neurons Produce Hypo-Functional Neuronal Networks: Evidence from Modeling CRMP2 in Bipolar Disorder
Marisa Sanchez
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Coordination of Adaptive and Pro-apoptotic Responses to Oxidative Stress at the mRNA Translation Level
Miguel Reina Campos
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Increase Serine and One-Carbon Pathway Metabolism by PKC Lambda/Iota Deficiency Promotes Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer
Clyde Campbell
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: In vivo Lineage Conversion of Vertebrate Muscle into Early Endoderm-Like Cells
Current Position: Adjunct Assistant Professor at Iowa State University

2018

Róisín Puentes
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Targeting the CNK1 PH domain to inhibit mutant KRAS cancer growth
Marco Maruggi
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Elucidating the Mechanisms Underlying Resistance to Targeted Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate, Powis lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
Francesca Boscolo Sesillo
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Role of p53 in balancing self-renewal, myogenic commitment, and cellular transformation of muscle stem cells
Current position: Postdoctoral research fellow, Alperin lab at University of California San Diego
Wesley McKeithan
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Reengineering an Antiarrhythmic with Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, Lim lab at University of California San Francisco
Monica Gonzalez
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: The role of caspases in inflammation
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Newton lab in the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) program at University of California San Diego

2017

Jinsha Liu
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: T-cadherin and Adiponectin in hippocampal synaptic functions and behaviors
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scientist, Eli Lilly & Company
Victoria Thaney
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Neuroprotection by IFN-beta in HIV/gp120 Brain Injury
Current Position: HCA Technical Sales Specialist at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Khooshbu Shah
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Pathological Interactions of Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) Cardiomyocytes with ARVD/C Mesenchymal Stromal Cells
Current Position: Applications Scientist at Bio-Techne
Gianluigi Lichinchi
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Dynamics of RNA methylation during HIV and ZIKV infections
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scientist at Roche

2016

Mirco Guigli
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Investigation of Structured Illumination Confocal Microscopy for High Content Screening
Current Position: Instrumentation Engineer at Vala Sciences
Stephen Soonthornvacharin
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Systems-Level Analysis to Elucidate the Regulation of the RIG-I-Mediated Antiviral Innate Immune Response
Current Position: Research Scientist I at Tocagen
Paula Coutinho Toto
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Cell Quiescence, Proliferation and Differentiation by Brahma-based SWI/SNF Chromatin-Remodeling Complex
Current Position: Associate Faculty at Mira Costa College
Matthew Tierney
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Regulatory mechanisms controlling muscle stem cell behavior during skeletal muscle repair
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Fuchs Lab at Rockefeller University
Alessandra Dall'Agnese
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: MYOD-directed changes in the nuclear architecture during myogenic conversion of somatic cells
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate at the Whitehead Institute

2015

Giuseppina Claps
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Redefining AFT2 in Braf-driven melanoma
Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate at Institut Gustave Roussy
Saumya Nagar
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Role of MEF2 in photoreceptor degeneration
Yi Ding
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Structural and Functional Studies of the Outer Membrane Protein Ail from Yersenia Pestis
Current Position: Data Scientist at Sysco
Sara Gelino
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Investigating the Mechanisms of Autophagy-Mediated Longevity During Dietary Restriction
Current Position: Project Manager at Anza Innovations

2014

Angel Bottini
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Drug Discovery Studies on Influenza A Virus and Yersinia Outer Protein H (YopH)
Current Position: Assistant Project Scientist at University of California San Diego
Ryan Esquejo
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Integration of Lipid Synthesis and Other Biological Processes via Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Proteins
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Biology at Pfizer
Domenico Fasci
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: New Insights into the Regulation of SUMO Dynamics by the Human SUMO-specific Proteases (SENPs)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
Lorenzo Giordani
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institut de Myologie in Paris, France
Ryon Graf
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: The Regulation of Breast Cancer Metastasis by Caspase-8
Current Position: Senior Biomarker Scientist at Epic Sciences
Janna Hachmann
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Activity and Specificity of the Human Paracaspase MALT1
Current Position: Manager Validation Fund, Berlin Institute of Health
Philip McQuary
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Understanding the longevity of rsks-1/S6K C. elegant mutants
Current Position: Director of Product Development, OncoCyte Corporation
Goonho Park
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Investigation of Aberrant Epigenetic Mechanisms in Parkinson's Disease Pathogenesis
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Edward Koo at UCSD
Judith Scheliga
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Role of elf3e in mRNA Translation
Current Position: Technical Applications Scientist at Illumina
Danhua Zhang
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: The Specification of Ductal Lineages in Liver and Pancreas
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Farham Imam at UCSD

2013

Xin Wang
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Loss of Sorting nexin 27 Continues to Excitatory Synaptic Dysfunction Via Modulation of Glutamate Receptor Recycling in Down Syndrome
Current Position: Principal Investigator, School of Medicine at Xiamen University
Wenqing Cai
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Stage-Specific Cell Fate Commitment During Cardiac Differentiation in mESCs
Current Position: Research Fellow at Boston Children's Hospital

2012

Runquan Zhang
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Novel Synthetic Ligands of CCR5 and CXCR4: Biochemical Characterization and Preclinical Studies
Current Position: Scientist at QoolAbs
Corrine Lee
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Spinal Disinhibition in a Rodent Model of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Mark Tuszynski's Lab at UCSD

2011

Cheng-Ho Chung
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Title: Adult Beta Cell Regeneration
Current Position: Physician, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Johanna Samuelsson
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences 
Thesis Title: DNA Demethylation of SST1 Pericentromeric Repetitive Elements in Human Cancer
Current Position: Gene Regulation and Product Services Manager at Active Motif
Ying Zhang
Ph.D. in Biomedical Biosciences 
Thesis Title: Integrating Computational Structure-Function Analyses for the Genome-Scale Modeling of Metabolic Networks
Current Position: Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island

2009

Annelies Zinkernagel
Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine 
Thesis Title: Exploring Bacterial Pathogen Interactions with Host Phagocytes to Identify Novel Approaches to Infectious Disease Therapy
Current Position: Attending and Physician Scientist at University Hospital Zürich, Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology
Lorena Puto
Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine 
Thesis Title: Epigenetic Control of Apoptosis and Autophagy Gene Expression and Promotion of Tumorigenicity by Nuclear Body Protein, Daxx
Current Position: Faculty Member, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles