Congratulations to Angelika and Dani, who both passed their Ph.D. qualifying exams! This major milestone reflects a tremendous amount of knowledge, preparation, and hard work—and possibly enough caffeine to qualify as a research subject of its own.
They are now officially Ph.D. candidates. In other words, they’ve passed the “Are you sure you want to do this?” exam with flying colors. We’re incredibly proud of them both!
It’s award season in the lab—and the A’s are cleaning up! Andrew received the prestigious NIH NIGMS F99 Award, supporting his journey from doctoral training toward research independence. Angelika received a Bioindustrial Engineering for a Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) training fellowship, preparing her to tackle major challenges in sustainable bioindustrial engineering.
Two awards, two outstanding trainees, and one very happy PI...
We’re excited to announce a new NSF grant, “Gene-Specific Nuclear mRNP Assembly and Quality Control.” The four-year project will investigate how cells assemble and inspect messenger ribonucleoprotein particles, helping ensure that genetic instructions leave the nucleus and reach the right place at the right time. This work could deepen our understanding of gene regulation while contributing to advances in biotechnology and biomanufacturing.
Delaney had plenty to celebrate at the recent ASEV National Conference! She was named a recipient of a 2026–2027 ASEV Traditional Scholarship and was selected for the best flash talk for her presentation, “Leveraging Volatile Sensing for Rapid Detection of Smoke-Derived Signatures in Grapes and Wines.” The talk may have lasted only three minutes, but Delaney’s research clearly made a lasting impression. Great work!
We are thrilled to share that Theresa and collaborators in the lab have just published a new research paper—an exciting milestone that reflects her hard work, creativity, and dedication. This achievement is a wonderful end to her time in the lab and a contribution we are all very proud of.
We’re excited to share that Dani has been awarded a T32 trainee fellowship! This recognition not only celebrates Dani’s hard work and potential, but it will also help launch an amazing graduate school journey ahead. Well done!
Congratulations Dr. Theresa Wechsler! A freshly minted PhD from the UC Davis BMCDB program. Next stop: Seattle and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center for a postdoc, where she’ll trade California sunshine for rain, amazing science, and perhaps a few too many flannel shirts and some great coffee.
Big cheers to Mirjam & Sydney, UC Davis V&E Master’s graduates! From juice stains, MOG, to harvest research chaos, they’ve mastered the science, the art, and the swirl, so they’re ready for release—watch out, wine world! 🍇🥂
Congratulations to Breanne for her selection for a NIH Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)! These highly competitive awards support the training of promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators. With this support Breanne is performing research to define core principles of mRNA packaging, including common RNA arrangements used to modulate nuclear packaging and/or export, and their regulation by RNA-binding proteins.
