JOHN C. GREENE SOCIETY
2021 - 2022 OFFICERS
Meredith Zhou
President
Meredith graduated from Northwestern University in 2019 with majors in biology and psychology. During the first half of undergrad, she worked under Dr. Amanda Mathew as a clinical research assistant examining treatments for smoking cessation in individuals with major depressive disorder. In the latter half of undergrad, Meredith studied the effect of neutrophils on colorectal cancer progression in mouse models, under the guidance of Dr. Ronen Sumagin and Dr. Veronika Butin-Israeli. In her free time, she loves going on walks and corgi-spotting!
Jai Eun Huh
Vice President
Jai Eun graduated from Duke University in 2020 with a BS in Molecular & Cellular Biology. Her undergraduate research experiences include studying rapidly unfolding and folding (RUF) domain of Protein A in Staphylococcus aureus under Dr. Terrence Oas, bacterial growth dynamics under Dr. LingChong You, and downstream targets of Receptor Interacting Protein Kinase 3 (RIPK3) under Dr. Ashley Jen-tsen Chi. Outside of academics, she enjoys jogging, cooking, drawing, and catching up with friends and family.
Brian Lee
Secretary
Brian Lee graduated from UC Berkeley in 2019 with a degree in Integrative Biology. During his undergraduate studies, he worked in Dr. Caroline Williams' lab and studied the effects of soil microclimate and its effects on adipose tissue concentrations in Willow Beetles. He was also part of Dr. Robert Full's Lab, where he analyzed the biomechanics of the Emerita mole crab with the ultimate goal of designing a robot that mimics Emerita's movement for uses such as landscape surveying. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, photography, and baking.
Adam Hinshaw
Treasurer
Adam Hinshaw graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Legal Studies. Inspired by his colleagues’ research in dental school, Adam recently started his research experience at the San Francisco VA where he primarily works on a maxillomandibular fixation study. The study seeks to understand whether a training module is adequate to learn or refresh clinical skills related to Maxillomandibular Fixation Crisis, particularly MMF release and cricothyrotomy. Outside of academics, Adam enjoys ceramics, big wave surfing, and Steely Dan.
Sean Ganther
Senior Journal Club Coordinator
Sean Ganther is a 6th-year DDS/PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Yvonne Kapila at the University of
Calfornia, San Francisco. He is particularly interested in better understanding oral microbial-host interactions
and how these events lead to the progression of oral pathogenesis through the modulation of cellular and
tissue processes at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels. Thus, by investigating into the cell populations,
pathways, and gene regulatory network involved in periodontal pathogenesis, he strives to develop the most
efficacious strategies for better patient outcome. As a dental clinician, he hopes to make molecular connections
underpinning similarchronic diseases such as osteoarthritis and gut dysbiosis, in an effort to bridge the gap
between oral pathology and systemic health. In his spare time, Sean enjoys weigh lifting, cooking, listening to
podcasts and audible books and hiking.
Olivia Yu
Graduate and Communications Liaison
Olivia Yu graduated from Tufts University in 2020 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. During her undergraduate program, she worked in Tufts Kaplan Lab studying silk hydrogels as bio-scaffolds for corneal epithelial cell regeneration and HSDM Rosen Lab investigating BMP3 and Noggin in bone and cartilage development using cKO mice models. Outside of school, Olivia enjoys cooking, taking polaroid pictures, and watching movies.
Brandon Saavedra
Co-Senior Journal Club Coordinator
Brandon Saavedra graduated from California State University Fullerton double majoring in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology and Analytical Chemistry. During his undergrad, he became part of a research program funded by CIRM where he conducted stem cell and biomedical translational research at his undergraduate institution and at Stanford University School of Medicine focusing on a wide variety of projects including neurodegenerative disease modeling, T cell immunotherapies for solid-tumors, T cell development and differentiation for congenital T cell disorders and pre-clinical applications, and safeguard-gene systems to improve the safety and efficacy of cell-based therapeutics. Currently his research interestes are focused on genome engineering technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9, in the context of disease modeling and its applications in the gene therapy space which he plans to apply for oral and head/neck cancers in his future research career. Outside of research and academics, Brandon loves the outdoors, drawing, film photography, and food.
Newsletter Editor in Chief
Vivian Nguyen
Vivian graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2020 with a degree in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. During her undergraduate program, she worked in the Park Lab at the UCLA SoD studying the pathological associations of periodontitis and atherosclerosis through the use of mouse models analyzed for systemic inflammation, aortic plaque formation, and periodontal disease. In her free time, Vivian enjoys baking, painting, and Yelp-ing new foods to try.
Lara Fu
Senior Advocacy Chair
Lara Fu graduated from University of Toronto majored in Biomedical Engineering. She also holds a master degree in bioengineering from Penn. Her research focused on tissue engineering and translational research. Her previous works range from designing a non-invasive device that removes muscle artifacts in Brain Computer Interface (under Dr. Tom Chau from Unvieristy of Toronto) to developing a novel antitumor drug delivery system via microparticle-loaded mesenchymal stem cells (under Dr. Jeff Karp from MIT). Outside of school, Lara is passionate of hiking, food, and cats!!!
Andrew Lee
Junior Journal Club Coordinator
Andrew Lee graduated from University of California Los Angeles 2019 with a B.S in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetic. During his time in undergrad, participated in research projects in Ting’s lab, Friese’s lab and Huntley’s lab. The topics of the projects include ``The Effect of the Ketogenic Diet on Mices Metabolic Rate’’, ``The Effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Streptococcus Bacteria’’, and ``Effectiveness of Fibromodulin on Dermal Fibroblast Activity’’. In January of 2020, he contributed to UCLA phage hunting project and published a complete genome of Mycobacteriophage Ajay and Mycobacteriophage Grungle on NCBI Genebank. Outside of research and classes, he enjoy exploring nearby restaurant and watching horror movie.
Kayla Lieuw
D2 Representative
Kayla Lieuw graduated from Dartmouth College in 2019 with a B.A. in Psychology. During her first half of undergrad, she worked in the Jack Lab utlizing CRISPR to study the DRNL gene in the Arabidopsis thaliana that encodes the AP2 domain transcription factor SUP. In the latter half of undergrad, she worked in the Bucci Lab studying the neurological basis of PTSD by performing conditioning studies on rats. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, baking, and trying new restaurants around the Bay.
Tess Foote
D1 Representative & Historian
Tess Foote graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with a B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior. During her time in undergrad, she participated in research projects in Dr. Maura Boldrini's lab at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The lab focused on studying the effect of Major Depressive Disorder on adult neurogenesis by analyzing neuronal maturation in the hippocampus through immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization in postmortem human brains. Tess also has a background in public health research as she worked at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Kingston, Jamaica. There she assisted the advisor for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Taraleen Malcolm with conducting literature reviews on the transmission of the Zika virus and compiling the country's regional health portfolios. In her free time Tess loves to read, bake and watch movies.
Andrew Nguyen
Junior Newsletter Editor
Angela Lee
Junior Newsletter Editor
Andrew Nguyen graduated from University of California, Irvine with a Biological Sciences major. During his undergrad, he participated at the Gillispie Neuroscience Research Facility, where he focused on the Neuropep/plasticity department. He prepared mice brains by meticulously slicing through the hippocampus and dividing the brain into ventral and dorsal sections to explore these interests. He compared the intensity distribution plots for wild type versus Ts65Dn mice and found that the mutant mice had more labeled synapses at the extreme ends of the intensity histograms. This difference in distribution hinted at disrupted regulation of proteins involved in long term potentiation. His efforts were noticed at the 25th annual UCI Undergraduate Research Symposium. During his free time, Andrew loves photography, trying out new restaurants, and music!
Angela Lee graduated from UC Berkeley in 2020 with a B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. David Savage's lab at the Innovative Genomics Institute. Here, she studied the CRISPR-Cas systems and worked to engineer the Cas9 protein to be less immunogenic, an emerging problem in genome editing, through Minimization by Iterative Size Exclusion Recombination. In her free time, Angela enjoys exploring scenic places, finding new places to eat, and watching movies!
Anna Nguyen
Junior Advocacy Chair
Anna Nguyen graduated from the University of Virginia in 2021 with majors in biology and statistics. During her undergraduate career she participated in research projects with the Gibson Lab in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior. There she studied the effects of genetic diversity on parasitic infections across a wide range of biological systems through meta-analysis. In her free time Anna loves to read, cook, and watch reality TV.