Luis Carvajal-Carmona, Ph.D.

Prinipal Investigator

Luis joined UC Davis as an Assistant Professor in 2012 and was promoted to Professor in 2019. In addition to leading his research laboratory, Luis is the holder of the Auburn Community Cancer Endowed Chair in Basic Science and the Associate Director for Basic Science at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also is the leader of the Cancer Center’s Latinos United for Cancer Health Advancement (LUCHA) initiative and the co-director Community Engagement Program at the Clinical and Translational Science Center.

Luis has interest and expertise in cancer genetics, population genetics, genetic demography of minority groups and functional genomics. Before joining UC Davis, Luis was a Senior Research Fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in the University of Oxford. He did his postdoctoral fellowship at the London Research Institute and his PhD at University College London. Luis enjoys cycling, hiking and other outdoor activities. He also enjoys traveling and spending time with his young family.

Ashley Van Ostrand

Executive Assistant

Ashley is a new Executive Assistant in the lab.

Íñigo Verduzco Gallo

Project Coordinator

Íñigo joined the lab in 2022, where he is working on several lab initiatives that aim to better understand genetics, disparities, and precision medicine in minority populations. Prior to joining the lab, he ran and managed the UCDH’s ÓRALE COVID-19! project, which offered free COVID-19 testing to underserved Latinx communities in California’s Central Valley.

Íñigo has over 15 years of professional experience leading and managing complex multicomponent and multidisciplinary research projects with a focus on marginalized and underserved populations in the U.S. as well as in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. He holds a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard and a Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) from UC Berkeley.

Hongyong Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Project Scientist

Education: Ph.D. (Preventive Veterinary Medicine) from Jilin University in China (2003).

Research Interests:

• Characterizing Treatment Responses with patient-derived xenograft models for Gastric and Liver cancers
• Targeting nanotherapeutics against bladder cancer
• Targeting nanoparticles to eradicate leukemia stem cells

Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pFq4sKwAAAAJ&hl=en

Paul Lott, Ph.D.

Assistant Project Scientist

Paul joined the lab in 2013 as a Postdoctoral Scholar. He is interested in developing and applying bioinformatics tools to aid genetic analysis of cancer. Paul is currently involved in researching Gastric, Breast,and Colorectal cancer in Hispanic populations using GWAS’ and NGS datasets. He oversees the lab database and web development teams, as well as providing bioinformatics training for lab.

Paul enjoys development of bioinformatics applications that help wet-lab biologist to be able to more easily do bioinformatics. In his free time, he’s generally fiddling around with computer systems (PC, Raspberry Pi), electronics (CNC, 3D Printers, Arduino), overseeing a small Maker Club (LagunaCreekMakers) or chasing his three kids.

Dennis Montoya, Ph.D.

Assistant Project Scientist

Dennis is a wet-lab immunologist turned computational biologist.  He joined UC Davis Health as an Assistant Researcher in 2020 and the Carvajal-Carmona lab in 2022.  His current projects are in the genetic analysis of gastric cancer in Latino populations and the transcriptional analysis of the gastric tissue microenvironment.  Dennis also works with the Chien Laboratory where he is investigating the effects of germline SNPs on ovarian cancer progression.  He also is standardizing the often-overlooked patient treatment data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TGCA) where he is developing a web app to allow treatment-genomic and treatment-outcome associations.

Dennis has happily spent his whole career in the UC-system, receiving his BA at UC Berkeley, and Ph.D. at UCLA.  He is passionate that diversity promotes scientific excellence and has extensive experience in diversity outreach.  Dennis serves as a committee member of the Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity (I-DARE) Taskforce for the Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine department. On his downtime, Dennis enjoys gravel cycling, volunteering in the community activities, and spending time with his son.

Nicole Halmai, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Scholar

Nicole is a native of Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from Denison University with a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, where she was also a student athlete on the Denison women’s basketball team. At UC Davis, she earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology with a Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology and was an NIH MCB T32 Training Fellow. As a postdoctoral researcher in the Carvajal-Carmona lab, Nicole leads the functional genomics team, which focuses on the characterization of therapeutically-relevant cancer driver variants in patient-derived models, with a specific focus on racial and ethnic minority cancer patients, to address cancer health disparities. Her work includes the use of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology and patient-derived 2D and 3D cell culture models. Access her LinkedIn for more info about Nicole: www.linkedin.com/in/nicolebcoggins.

When she is not in the lab, Nicole enjoys her role as a kickboxing instructor at Performance 22 in Davis. She can usually be found exploring new hiking trails or food spots around the Davis/Sacramento area with her husband and puppy.

Ana Estrada-Florez, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Scholar

Ana is from Colombia, she graduated from the University of Nariño with a BS in Biology. She became a member of the “Cytogenetics Research Group” at the University of Tolima in 2012 during her M.Sc. in biology and her research was to study the association between papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and SNPs, previously reported in European and Asian populations.

During her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Caldas, she joined Dr. Carvajal’s lab as a visiting scholar to conduct research aimed to analyzing the epidemiology of thyroid cancer in Latinos and to discover new variants associated with the risk of the disease by using GWAS and WES.

She loves to bike, hike and dive.

Guadalupe Carvajal, M.Sc.

Associate Research Specialist

Guadalupe is an experienced wet lab scientist who worked in several UK research groups (University College London, London Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London and University of Oxford) before joining our group. She has extensive expertise in genomics and molecular biology and enjoys training both UC Davis students and international visitors. She enjoys reading and watching drama series.

Alma Poceros-Coba

Integrative Genetics and Genomics Graduate Student Researcher

I am a Ph.D. student in the Integrative Genetics and Genomics program at the University of California Davis. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Biology, and Pharmacology at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico. My interest is to understand the new approaches to elucidate the cancer etiology and the relevance of the environmental factors, with a focus on minority populations. Another goal is to develop my bioinformatics skills along with my career. I am a recipient of the UC Mexus-CONACYT fellowship.

April Vang

Junior Specialist Researcher

April received her Bachelor of Science in Statistics with an emphasis in Data Science and a minor in Computer Science from the University of California, Davis. In her undergraduate senior year, she was a student statistician in the Carvajal-Carmona lab looking into cancer registry data, community-based cancer health survey, and aided in statistical research analysis. April will be focusing on genetic epidemiological analysis, analyses of cancer registry data, and the application of disease gene mapping techniques and modeling. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, video making, biking, and playing chess.

Katherine Chiu

Junior Specialist – Bioinformatics

Katherine received her Bachelor of Science in Genetics and Genomics and Bachelor of Arts in Music from UC Davis in 2022. She is interested in the intersection of data science and healthcare– specifically, using genomics to address racial and ethnic cancer health disparities. As a researcher in the lab, she has been conducting local ancestry analyses to characterize ancestral differences in cancer development. In her spare time, Katherine enjoys playing trombone, hiking, and surfing.

Catalina Rubio

Visiting Graduate Researcher

Catalina is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Tolima, she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at the same institution. She has been working with the sister laboratory of Carvajal-Carmona in Colombia, “Cytogenetics, Phylogeny and Population Evolution Group” (GCFEP) since 2018 as a young researcher, in population genetics diseases analysis, which is her main area of interest, specifically the structure and genetic load in Colombian indigenous communities

Daniel F. Molina Campos

Visiting Graduate Researcher

Daniel is from Colombia, where he obtained his BS in Biology in 2018 and started his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences in 2020 at the University of Tolima. Since 2018 he became a member of the Cytogenetics, Phylogeny, and Populations Evolution Research Group (GCFEP-UT) of the same institution, where he’s developing his doctoral research focused on searching and discovering genetic risk factors related to cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes in some Colombian indigenous communities, through NGS approaches; aiming to provide early prevention tools that could enhance and strengthen public health strategies in these vulnerable ethnic groups, which remain geographically isolated and experience notable health disparities.

Recently Daniel joined the Carvajal-Carmona group (2022) as a research scholar to receive bioinformatical training in WES data analysis and continue his research. He likes to spend his leisure time doing outdoor activities such as bike riding, hiking, camping, and rock climbing.

Wendy Montero-Ovalle, M.Sc.

Visiting Doctoral Student (National University of Colombia)

I’m a doctoral student in oncology at the National University of Colombia. I received my BS in chemistry at the Francisco Jose de Caldas District University in Bogotá, I got my master’s degree in Science-Biochemistry at the National University of Colombia. I’m part of the Cancer Biology Research Group of the National Institute of Cancerology in Colombia (INC), where I developed my master’s thesis about molecular subtypes and prognostic biomarkers in prostate cancer. Now, in collaboration with the INC and Carvajal-Carmona Lab, I’ll focus on global and isoforms gene expression profiles in colorectal cancer and their association with the prognosis and ancestry of Colombian patients. 

I enjoy walking in nature, biking, going to the gym, watching horror series/movies, painting, and traveling.

Justin Ibarra

Undergraduate Researcher

Justin is an Undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Human Biology with a minor in English, and he is also an NSF/LSAMP CAMP Scholar. He has done work on identifying the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in gastric cancer and observing its frequency in comparison to patient-derived xenografts and organoids. Currently, he is learning how to generate and maintain organoid cultures of minority patients with gastric adenocarcinomas and will work towards testing different therapeutics to determine the most effective drug combinations.

Justin also volunteers at a UC Davis student-run clinic, Clínica Tepati, where he helps provide medical care to underserved Latino communities in the greater Sacramento area. In his free time, Justin enjoys reading, cooking, and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Caitlin Leong

Undergraduate Researcher

Caitlin is a third-year undergrad pursuing a degree in psychology. She volunteers at Health Education & Promotion and serves as an editor at Open Ceilings magazine. In the future, she hopes to pursue physician assistant school and write a novel. After a summer spent interning at an optometrist clinic, she’s continuing her 2022-2023 year with the bioinformatics team at the LCC lab!

Yessy Vega

Undergraduate Researcher

Yessy is an undergraduate student at UC Davis who is majoring in Biological Sciences. She is a CURE scholar and is currently working on identifying RHOA synthetic lethal interactions in genomically stable gastric cancer and finding therapeutics to effectively treat this molecular subtype. 

Yessy has worked as a certified medical assistant for several years and will pursue medical school where she hopes to combine her research and clinical experiences to treat and care for underserved communities. In her free time, Yessy enjoys spending time with her family and dogs, doing CrossFit, gardening, and caring for her backyard chickens. She hopes to have a farm of her own one day. 

Michelle Wong

Undergraduate Researcher

Michelle is a third year undergraduate pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Statistics with a minor in Biology. She is a wet lab researcher turned statistics enthusiast and is interested in studying Biostatistics in graduate school. She’s excited to be joining the LCC Bioinformatics team this year! 

Michelle also volunteers at the Joan Viteri Memorial Clinic to provide primary care and harm reduction services to the Sacramento Oak Park community. She can usually be found on campus tutoring Statistics and Physics in the library, or running with the cross country club team. 

Adrian Duenas Ramirez

Undergraduate Researcher

I am a 3rd year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Aside from my lab position, I am a volunteer at a student-run clinic, Knight’s Landing One Health Center. Through my clinical and lab experience, I hope to be able to perform future research in a way that tailors to the community’s needs and accessibility to make research a more personalized process.

My personal mission in life is to help a cause that is much bigger than myself and reaches the communities that need the most help. I hope to go onto Graduate School after UC Davis to pursue a research-based career where I can accomplish all that I set my mind to. Throughout my journey I hope to never stop learning, growing, and questioning.

Adrian Quiroz

Undergraduate Researcher

Adrian is an undergraduate pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. After graduation, he plans to stick around the Davis area working at the Carvajal-Carmona lab and other genomics-based labs at UC Davis. In the future, Adrian plans on continuing to conduct research in the genomics field and would eventually like to pursue a bioinformatics career in the biotech industry.

Adrian also volunteers at a wildlife rehabilitation center, International Bird Rescue, where he provides care for many avian patients at the clinic. In his spare time, Adrian enjoys playing video games, reading, and cooking. 

Swati Pothukuchi

Undergraduate Researcher

Swati is a second-year undergrad majoring in Biotechnology with an emphasis on Bioinformatics. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in the biotechnology industry.

Swati also volunteers at the Pantry (a student-run organization to reduce food insecurity)  and works in a wet-lab on campus to identify mutants in zebrafish genes. In her free time, she enjoys painting, baking, and sleeping.