Meet the advisor team
This team has two types of advisors—graduate and undergraduate students. Comprised of amazing individuals, they've volunteered their time to help answer any questions incoming or current transfer students might have about research in a specific area. Come chat with us on our discord server!
Graduate student advisors
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Alyssa Maness — Psychology PhD student
Gabrielle Wyatt — Plant Biology PhD student
Aaron Beckner— Psychology PhD student
Jake Russin — Psychology PhD student
Winnie Zhuang — Psychology PhD student
Jill Oberski — Entomology PhD student
Christian Pratt — Physics PhD student
Hi! I'm Amber (she/they), a junior at UC Davis! I'm a Global Disease Biology/ Plant Genetics major. I'm a Clinical Research Associate for the EMRAP program, in the UC Davis School of Medicine's Emergency Department. I work on clinical research in the Trauma Level 1 Center and burn facility. I'm also currently doing plant biology/genetics research with Brady Labs, using CRISPR/Cas9 to edit two genes in tomato root cells to increase suberin production and drought resistance. Outside of lab, I love painting, card games, and spending time with my friends/family! I'm really interested in public health, genetics, plant pathology, and medical sciences. I'm hoping to pursue medicine by getting a dual PA-MPH degree after graduation.
Feel free to reach out anytime!! My email is: ambellis@ucdavis.edu
My name is Chi Nguyen. I’m currently a third-year transfer student in Cell Biology major originally from Mission College in Santa Clara, Bay Area. I’ve been in the Heyer lab since Jun 2021 doing research about the regulation of MSH6 protein during homologous recombination (HR) in repairing DNA damage. DNA repair is an important process to maintain genome stability and prevent DNA damage-related diseases, such as cancer. Among the pathways to repair DNA damage, HR is the only high-fidelity one. The faithfulness of DNA repair depends on numerous regulatory factors, including the protein that I am interested in, MSH6. My project has multiple stages, starting with making my mutant Yeast strains by cloning and testing my hypothesis (genetically). After that, I’ll work with my mentor to characterize MSH6 mutants of interest (biochemically). It was really hard during the shelter-in-place year; moreover, adapting to the new environment at UCD while keeping my study and research on track put a strain on me. Thus, I picked up a new hobby of gaming during my free time or when I need to relax. I play Genshin on PC, Zelda and Fire Emblem on Switch, some gacha card games on mobile. My main genres are JRPG, strategy, adventure, dating sims, otome games. I also love to have food tours around Davis, checking new restaurants and trying new cuisines. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you are interested or have any questions about genetics/molecular biology/DNA research, or just because you would like to talk about games!
Hello! My name is Sarah and I’m an animal biology major and global disease biology minor. My current research is an experimental infection of canine distemper virus in macaque tissue explants at the Keel Laboratory. On my time off, I enjoy spending time in the outdoors, taking care of my pets, and reading.
Email: smmark@ucdavis.edu
undergrad student advisors
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Hi! I'm Momina, and I'm doing the B.S. Psychology with Biology emphasis major and am minoring in education. I transferred to UC Davis from Mission College in 2020 and am on track to graduate in Spring 2022. I'm currently a research assistant in the Attitudes and Group Identity Lab as well as the Trainor Lab. After I graduate from UC Davis, I plan to take a gap year before pursuing graduate school (I'm still deciding what graduate program is best for me!). When I'm not in class or researching, you can find me hunting for my new favorite Netflix binge.
Email: mnadeem@ucdavis.edu
Hello! My name is Lynnette Hersh and I am a Psychology Major in the Class of 2023. I am currently doing research for the Laboratory for Basic and Translational Cognitive Neuroscience as well as the Neurocognitive Development Lab, my research focus being mental health disorders and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Much of the research I am involved in entails EEG, eyetracking and audiometry data collection as well as ERP data processing. After graduation, I hope to pursue graduate school in the area of clinical psychology. In my downtime I enjoy drawing, playing the piano, and watching documentaries.
Hello hello! My name is Mykyta, and I am a senior transfer Physics major and a Chemistry minor. Currently conducting research in an Experimental Condensed Matter Research Group under Dr. Yu. The research consists of analyzing the photovoltaic properties of organic/organic halide perovskite crystals. My current focus is the modification of the procedures for crystal growth for better chemical and physical stability. I also have recently joined an Inorganic Chemistry research laboratory under Dr. Velazquez Mojica. For when I am not in the lab, I love to cook and bake. These are my stress relievers for the times of midterms and finals. So shoot me an email if you have any questions regarding the research in the Physics department.
Email: mdementyev@ucdavis.edu
Hi. My name is Peyton Hilford. I am a third-year biochemistry student with a minor in math. I am doing plant biology research involving diterpenes and plant enzyme structure-function. When I’m not in the lab or studying for class, I enjoy trying new foods, laughing with friends, running, and attempting to make music. When COVID is over (will it ever be over?), I hope to travel more, both in and outside of the US. If you have any questions about plant biology research or want some to go on a run with, send me an email. prhilford@ucdavis.edu
Hi everyone, my name is Chelsea. I'm a junior in Food Science major. I transferred from Foothill College last fall, and started working in Wang lab (Professor Selina Wang) the first Quarter I got here. Undergrads in our lab usually work with a graduate/phd student or with a research specialist. My mentor is a research specialist, she works on several projects on olive oil. My job is to run various kinds of quality tests (Pyropheophytins, DAGs, UV, total phenol content, fat content, etc), and collect the data. I also got to harvest olives at the orchard last fall, and extract oil using the Abencor system, which I found pretty cool. Please feel free to email me at qqchen@ucdavis-edu if you have questions on anything!
Hi everyone, my name is Audrey and I am a sophomore NPB major. I joined the Lein lab at UCD SVM in Fall 2021, where we focus on understanding and developing neurotherapeutics for things such as chemical threat agents (e.g., soman, organophosphates), Alzheimer’s disease, seizure disorders, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Undergrads in my lab typically work closely with a grad student mentor and can learn a variety of wet lab work from rodent handling and zebrafish husbandry to more typical molecular biology and biochemistry work. I am also part of the Undergraduate Research Center’s undergraduate research ambassador (URA) program. Feel free to email me at asluo@ucdavis.edu if you have any questions about neurotoxicology/neuroimaging or anything else! :)
Hi everyone, I'm Sherni (she/her). I just transferred last fall from a community college in San Diego. I'm a junior and a NPB major. I'm currently working in the Cognitive Control (CC) Lab. My main project is focused about the interaction between attention and reward-based decision making in humans. I also help with some of the psychophysics primate research in my lab. Its a brand new lab, so its been really interesting seen how my PI and other researchers have been working to get the lab established. If you have questions about primate research (or any other type of animal research), neuroscience, IRBs, or just how to get into a lab and how to work in a lab feel free to contact me.
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