TEAM
Rosalie Lawrence
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry
Rosalie (she/her) received her B.A. from Swarthmore College, and completed her PhD at UC Berkeley, identifying mechanisms of cellular nutrient signaling by the mTORC1 pathway. During her postdoc at UCSF, she became fascinated by the Integrated Stress Response (ISR), and identified the allosteric mechanism that activates the ISR. She is excited by interdisciplinary research that combines tools from cell biology, structural biology, and neuroscience, and is motivated by mentoring and training the next generation. When not in the lab, you’ll probably find Rosalie swimming in one of the beautiful pools on UCLA’s campus, or cooking delicious food to refuel her metabolism.
Tamara Nadjsombati
Staff Research Associate
Tamara (she/her) grew up in Southern California and received her B.S. in Biochemistry with a minor in Bioinformatics from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. During her time at Cal Poly, she researched protein interactions, characterizing the thermodynamics of protein-nucleic acid binding for multiple antibiotic resistance regulator (MarR) proteins. She is interested in computational biology and protein chemistry and is excited about research that combines experimental and computational approaches to study molecular interactions. When she’s not in the lab, she enjoys soaking up the sun on a run, skiing in the winter and exploring new coffee shops.
Ruchira Krishnamurthy
Graduate Student, MBIDP Cell and Devlopmental Biology home area
Ruchira (she/her) is from the Bay Area and received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC Santa Barbara. As an undergrad, she studied gravitaxis in C. elegans as well as gamete fusion in the purple sea urchin. In the following years, Ruchira worked at a biotech startup where she conducted high throughput screening for drug discovery using super resolution microscopy. She is interested in cell biology, disease therapeutics, and studying how the ISR regulates metabolism in neurodegenerative diseases. Outside the lab, Ruchira can be found trying new restaurants in LA, watching horror movies, and attending concerts!
Colette Helou
Graduate Student, MBIDP Biochemistry and Biophysics home area
Colette (she/her) received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine. She was fascinated by intricate protein interactions and during her undergraduate research purified and crystallized bacterial toxin and immunity proteins for X-ray crystallography experiments. As a junior specialist, she explored ubiquitin signaling in cancer cells. She is excited to combine her interest in structure and biochemistry to elucidate protein interactions that regulate the Integrated Stress Response (ISR) and cell signaling. Outside of the lab, you'll find her playing basketball, enjoying the sunset at the beach or checking out the flowers in bloom at the botanical garden.
You?
We are hiring at all levels!