Members

Tim Chai, MD/PhD Student (joint with Irv Weissman's lab)
timchai@stanford.edu
BS, University of California, Los Angeles

Tim began his never-ending MD/PhD candidacy in 2016. He did not seriously consider a career in research until joining Owen Witte’s lab at UCLA in 2012. There, he realized that he was not good at memorization and needed another way to make a living. Jointly mentored by Irv Weissman and Kyle Loh, he is interested in T cell dysfunction within the tumor microenvironment and T cell maturation for the eventual development of cancer therapies. Outside of the lab, Tim enjoys pestering Warriors “fans.” Tim is supported by the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program.

Julie Chen, Undergraduate
jchen80@stanford.edu

Julie is an undergrad studying computer science but also incredibly fascinated by the wonder that is the biological world. Previously, she worked in the Abu-Remaileh lab at Stanford studying proteins involved in lysosomal lipid metabolism and in the Gladyshev and AbuGoot labs studying DNA methylation, aging and cellular reprogramming. She is broadly interested in understanding how cells make decisions and how environmental cues and intracellular crosstalk regulate cell identity. In her free time, Julie enjoys reading, writing and going running around Stanford campus. Julie was recognized by the Goldwater Scholarship, New Science Research Fellowship, and Time Initiative Fellowship.

Rayyan Jokhai, MD/PhD Student
rtjokhai@stanford.edu
BA, Johns Hopkins University

Rayyan is from Queens, New York and is pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. from Stanford School of Medicine. He is fascinated by the complexity of the central nervous system, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, and is interested in understanding how it develops. He hopes to apply this knowledge clinically to inform neuroregenerative treatments and create new platforms for disease modelling. Rayyan completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University, where he worked in the lab of Dr. Thomas Lectka to develop novel fluorination methods for biologically-relevant compounds. Outside of lab, Rayyan enjoys doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Rayyan's support comes from the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program and Stanford Medical Scholars Research Program, and he has been recognized by the Stanford Chi-Li Pao Foundation-AOA Student Research Fellowship.

Rachel Sunwoo Kang, Research Professional
rskang@stanford.edu
BA, Mount Holyoke College

Rachel received their B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior at Mount Holyoke College, where they researched the effects of glial tauopathy using Drosophila melanogaster (go flies!) under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth Colodner. Her study in neurodegenerative diseases sparked a further interest in better understanding cellular and molecular frameworks of neurobiology, as well as investigating how neural stem cells could be used as a potential therapeutic. During their free time, Rachel enjoys baking, going to farmers’ markets, and exploring new restaurants.

Kyle Loh, Faculty
kyleloh@stanford.edu
PhD, Stanford University; BA, Rutgers University (CV)

Kyle enjoys learning about developmental biology and using this knowledge to exert control over stem cells. He was a beneficiary of public schools (County College of Morris and Rutgers University) and conducted research at the Genome Institute of Singapore (with Bing Lim) and Stanford University (for his Ph.D., with Irv Weissman), with fellowships from the Hertz Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation and Davidson Institute for Talent Development. He then continued as a Siebel Investigator and later, as an Assistant Professor and The Anthony DiGenova Endowed Faculty Scholar, at Stanford. Kyle is a Packard Fellow, Pew Scholar, Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator and Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar, and has been recognized by the NIH Director's Early Independence Award, Forbes 30 Under 30, Harold Weintraub Graduate Award, Hertz Foundation Thesis Prize and the A*STAR Investigatorship. In his spare time, Kyle goes road biking, enjoys science fiction, and indulges his new fascination with biosafety level 4 viruses.

Aaron McCarty, Laboratory Services Manager (joint with Irv Weissman's lab)
mccartya@stanford.edu
BS, University of California, Davis

Aaron received his BS in Animal Science & Aquaculture from University of California, Davis (GO AGS!!). He then went on to cut his teeth in molecular biology and transgenic mouse production and management at several Bay Area biotech companies (Anergen, Deltagen, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals). In 2008, he joined the Stanford Veterinary Services Center before taking a position in Dr. Irving Weissman’s lab in 2012. He now splits his time as Lab Manager for Dr. Kyle Loh’s lab and Colony/in vivo resources manager for the Weissman lab. Aaron is a Bay Area native having been born and raised in San Carlos. He loves his Bay Area sports teams and is an unapologetic Dodger “disliker”. In his free time, he can be found exploring San Francisco with his family, attending his kids’ numerous school and sporting events, or working on his short game at the golf course.

Liying Ou, Administrative Associate (joint with Phil Beachy's lab and Lay Teng Ang's lab)
lou15@stanford.edu
MA, University of Ottowa; BS, North China Electric Power University

Liying is an administrative associate at the Ang, Beachy and Loh labs in Stanford’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. After earning a M.A. degree in Public Administration at the University of Ottawa in 2010, she is currently pursuing a preliminary teaching credential and probably an accounting certification. Although a busy working parent of a rabbit son and a human daughter, Liying enjoys volunteering, reading non-fiction medieval history books, experimenting in the kitchen, and grocery shopping as a competitive sport.

Yimiao Qu, Postdoctoral Fellow
yimiao.qu@stanford.edu
PhD & MS, Peking University; BA, Shandong University

Yimiao obtained her Ph.D. from Peking University where she discovered a molecular mechanism whereby a cell evaluates and keeps a memory of its environment to make a better decision for when to subsequently proliferate. From then on, she has been fascinated by the molecular mechanisms underlying how a cell’s environmental history could reprogram its behavior. A cell’s environmental history also shapes its identity during development. She is now beginning to study whether and how the history of environmental signals can direct the trajectory of the cell differentiation over time during mammalian development. Yimiao believes her research will unveil the molecular mechanisms underlying the landscape of cell differentiation trajectories during early mammalian development. Outside of the lab, she enjoys watching movies (Marvel movies are the best) and travelling around. Yimiao has also developed a new hobby of observing wild animals since she moved to the Bay Area. Yimiao is supported by the Stanford School of Medicine Dean's Postdoctoral Fellowship and Stanford MCHRI Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Alicia Wong, Research Professional
awong12@stanford.edu
BS, University of California, Los Angeles

Alicia received her B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of California – Los Angeles. Since her undergrad, she has been trained as a molecular biologist with a focus on cancer biology. In her previous lab, she worked on creating genetically defined models of bladder cancer that better recapitulated human disease. She really enjoys learning about new research fields and different experimental techniques and is excited to pursue a new interest in stem cell biology and virology. During her spare time, she enjoys beer tasting and attempting to garden.

Qingqing Yin, Postdoctoral Fellow
qingqyin@stanford.edu
PhD, Peking University; BS, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University

Qingqing received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics at Peking University, where she focused on cancer nanomedicine. Mentored by Yiguang Wang, she developed a binary ratiometric nanoreporter that converts pH changes during cellular endocytosis into digitized signal output, enabling the quantitative imaging of nanoparticle internalization in vivo. As a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford, she first worked in Tanya Stoyanova's laboratory, where she learned about cancer biology. Now, she is excited to start a new journey in molecular biology and virology. Outside of the lab, Qingqing enjoys cooking Chinese cuisine and playing Lego. Qingqing is supported by the Stanford School of Medicine Dean's Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Sherry Zheng, PhD Student
slzheng@stanford.edu
BS & BA, University of California, San Diego

Sherry is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford. She is fascinated by the mechanisms that coordinate pattern formation and maintenance during early organismal development. Her undergraduate research (conducted in the labs of Andrew Chisholm at UC San Diego and Dan Starr at UC Davis) centered on the patterning of structural components in the C. elegans extracellular matrix. At Stanford, she aims to understand how vascular-derived signals influence the development of various organ systems. Outside of the lab, Sherry enjoys visiting the ocean, eating sandwiches, and watching F1 auto racing. Sherry is supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Alumni (and where they went next)

Angela Chen
Scientist, Orca Bio

Alyssa Holman
Ph.D. Student, UC San Diego

Alana Nguyen
Ph.D. Student, UC Davis

Xiaochen Xiong
Ph.D. Student, Stanford University