Originally a Bay Area native, Maria received her BS in Microbiology from UC San Diego. Previously, she worked making antigenic proteins and aiding in therapeutic antibody discovery and production. In the Ott lab, she is interested in exploring airway organoids and other methods to study SARS-CoV-2 infection and developing therapeutics against viral protein targets. Outside of the lab, Maria enjoys camping, hiking, traveling, and lacrosse.
Research Area: COVID-19 (SARS COVI-2)
Zapatero Belinchon
Francisco (Fran) comes originally from Spain and obtained his PhD in Virology at Hannover Medical School in Germany. His main interests are the dissection of viral entry and host‑pathogen interactions of emerging and re-emerging pathogens using novel proteomics approaches. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking, camping, playing video games, and tasting a good ol’ brew.
Padget
Rachel received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Central Missouri, an M.S. in Biology from Missouri State University, and her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, where she studied the roles of viruses in sudden cardiac arrest. In the Ott lab, she focuses on the role of factor acetylation in HIV latency and SARS-CoV-2 toxicity in the heart. Outside of the lab, she enjoys running down to the ocean and taking the bus back uphill, playing video games with her cats, and baking cookies.
Matsui
Yusuke studied basic HIV research and clinical medicine at Kyoto University, Japan.
He then joined the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan, where he was involved in the outbreak control of infectious diseases with molecular techniques.
At Ott lab, he is working on research to eradicate diseases caused by HIV and SARS-CoV-2 by studying them from the molecular level.
Outside of the lab, he enjoys participating in marathon races around the world.
Chen
Originally from Los Angeles, Irene is a graduate student in UCSF’s BMS program. She is interested in how viruses hijack host transcription during infection.When she isn’t in lab, Irene can be found going off trail in the mountains, eating her way through SF, and taking care of her succulents.
Kumar
Renu is in awe of viruses – tiny entities that can create big havoc in a cell and the world. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley with Britt Glaunsinger researching host shut-off in herpesvirus infections and pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at Gladstone Institutes with Melanie Ott focused on HCV proteomics and genomics. She has taken a ‘scenic’ path since then – developing antivirals for HBV in industry and leveraging synthetic biology for virology applications at CZ Biohub. Here, Renu is a Scientific Program Manager fostering COVID-related R&D and translating research into products such as viral diagnostics. In her free time Renu loves cooking without recipes, reading novels, and exploring the world through her love of travel.
Tsou
Chia-Lin received her B.S. in agronomy from National Taiwan University, and her M.S. in genetics from UC Davis. Before joining the Ott lab, she studied the role of chemokine receptor CCR2 involved in cell signaling and trafficking of monocytes, macrophages, hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells. She is currently the lab manager, and works on generating viral proteome library and CRISPR-Cas13a SARS-CoV-2 detection assay. In her free time, Chia-Lin enjoys experimenting new recipes in the kitchen, jewelry making, orchids growing, playing Chinese music instruments, and singing in a chamber chorus.
Hayashi
A San Francisco native, Jennifer left the Bay Area to study microbiology at UC Davis and subsequently UMass Amherst. During her PhD, she explored growth associated membrane domains Mycobacteria; in the Ott Lab, she studies viral protein-mediate alterations to host lipid metabolism. Outside of the lab, she enjoys eclectic cooking, hiking, and playing with all the dogs
Suryawanshi
Rahul was born in India. After predoctoral research on HIV, Rahul did his Ph.D. in Biotechnology at North Maharashtra University, India. With prior experience on host-virus interaction his focus is to study the in-vivo aspects of coronavirus infection. In the spare time Rahul likes to travel the world and spend time with his family.
Stephens
Graduated from University of San Francisco with a B.S. in Molecular Biology. Currently working on direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 using CRISPR-Cas13. In my free time I love exploring and traveling, basically you will always find me on a new adventure