Former Lab Members

Nerea Arias, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar

Dr. Arias is a native of Bilbao, Spain. She received her BSc in biology from the Alcalá de Henares University, Spain, in 2012 and her MSc in microbiology from the University of Basque Country, Spain, in 2014. She then completed a PhD on immunology and microbiology from AZTI (a food research foundation) and the University of Basque Country, Spain, in 2018. Her PhD thesis was titled, "Exploring new frontiers in host-microbiome interactions using zebrafish." She studied the interactions between the microbiota and immune system in zebrafish fed a high-fat diet, and also tried to establish a humanized model of gnotobiotic zebrafish. After receiving her PhD, Dr. Arias worked in IATA-CSIS in Valencia, Spain, as a postdoctoral fellow on a project titled, "Metamorphosis." It involved use of zebrafish to test the effect of an insect protein supplement on microbiota and innate immunity. Dr. Arias has joined the Jacobs Laboratory to continue her training in the microbiome field. She will be involved in projects using human microbiota samples and gnotobiotic mice to further understand inflammatory bowel disease. 

Grant Bennett
Undergraduate

Grant is a third year undergraduate student from Boulder, Colorado. He is majoring in biomedical engineering, along with a minor in Spanish. As an ulcerative colitis patient, Grant was drawn to microbiome research through a desire to learn more about the role that the microbiome plays in inflammatory bowel diseases. After completing his bioengineering degree, Grant plans to attend medical school and pursue a career as a pediatric gastroenterologist. He is also currently working to found an IBD club/support group for UCLA undergraduate students. In his free time, Grant enjoys skiing, hiking, going to concerts, and watching sports.

Tien S. Dong, MD, PhD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine

Dr. Dong graduated with distinction from Stanford University with a BS in biological sciences. He subsequently received his MD from the University of Chicago. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago, where he stayed on as faculty for an additional year as a liver hospitalist. While at the University of Chicago, he trained in the laboratory of Dr. Eugene Chang where he investigated the role of the gut microbiome on microRNAs and colon cancer. He then joined UCLA as a gastroenterology fellow in 2016 and continued his research training at UCLA through the Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph Pisegna and Dr. Jonathan P. Jacobs. He finished his PhD in molecular, cellular and integrative physiology in 2020. Dr. Dong is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology.
 
Dr. Dong's research interest involves machine learning and how the intestinal microbiome influences the development of obesity, metabolic syndrome, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. His clinical interests include cirrhosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis and other chronic liver diseases.

Joseph Ebriana
Research Coordinator

Joseph is a recent UCLA graduate who earned his bachelor of science degree in anthropology. He originally attended UCSD for his undergraduate studies, but subsequently transferred to UCLA upon being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2015. Inspired by his diagnosis, Joseph immersed himself in the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) world by interning for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, volunteering as a counselor for the CCF’s Camp Oasis, and joining Dr. Jacobs’s Laboratory researching the effect of stress on brain-gut-microbiome interactions in both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis patients. He plans to use these experiences as the basis for his book, “How to Love Life with Crohn’s,” aimed at empowering children and young adults afflicted with IBD. In his free time, Joseph also works with the homeless as part of a student club he co-founded while at UCLA called the Homeless Help Project. He also enjoys playing basketball, piano, and is currently training for NBC’s hit show, America Ninja Warrior.

Reza Farshchi
Research Coordinator

Originally from Tehran, Iran, Reza immigrated to the U.S. in his early teens and grew up in Santa Monica, CA. Reza graduated summa cum laude with both departmental and college honors from UCLA with a BA in philosophy in 2013. As an undergrad, he took an active role in various leadership positions and was president of Alpha Gamma Honor Society and Iranian Student Club, among others. Reza finds the brain-gut-microbiome interactions and its key role in gastrointestinal, emotional and behavioral disorders fascinating and as the research coordinator for multiple on-going projects at Dr. Jacobs’s Laboratory, he hopes to help in seeking a better understanding of the brain-gut-microbiome relationship. He enjoys reading, exercising, spending time with family and friends, and volunteering during his free time. He plans to attend medical school in the near future.

Edward Galfayan
Research Coordinator

Edward is a fourth-year biology major at UCLA. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and his interests include watching and participating in basketball, soccer, and water polo. Edward has had extensive experience aiding medical professionals and patients while volunteering at his local hospital, skills which he now applies to his research in the Jacobs laboratory. As a research coordinator, his role is to recruit patients with colon cancer prior to surgery and collect specimens for microbiome analysis as well as relevant clinical data. His study will investigate how surgery and chemotherapy affect the microbiome and how the microbiome influences the response to treatment. The effects of the gut microbiome on the human body and important diseases such as cancer are new and exciting areas of study, which is what drew Edward to this project.  

Meg Hauer
Technician

Meg is a third year undergraduate student from Tucson, Arizona. She is currently studying human biology and society. She became excited about microbiome research after taking Intro to Society and Genetics. Her research in the Jacobs Laboratory focuses on the effect of inflammatory bowel disease associated microbial states on colitis and ileitis in humanized germ-free mice. At UCLA, she is involved in the Society and Genetics Undergraduate Organization, Bruins for Ronald McDonald House, and is a founder of the club, Love Your Melon. Meg is also the vice president of Academic Excellence for her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Nancy Huang, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow

Dr. Huang completed her undergraduate studies in computer science at the University of Oregon. After receiving a master's in biotechnology (bioinformatics track) from the University of Pennsylvania, she joined the IT industry as a researcher and developer to implement algorithms for virus and spam detection in emails. The knowledge and experience she gained in the industry inspired her to pursue further studies in the field, and led her to obtain a PhD degree in computer science from the National Taiwan University. Dr. Huang's research interest is in devising machine learning algorithms to solve biological puzzles. She is especially fascinated by contrast pattern mining and its applications. Her current project involves utilizing computational models to analyze microbiome and metabolomics data. 

Will Katzka
Technician

Will earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology at The University of Chicago. Following graduation, Will worked as a laboratory technician under Dr. Stephanie Dulawa for The University of Chicago and later the University of California, San Diego. His research, while in the Dulawa Lab, focused on epistatic modifiers of the BTBD3 gene and its role in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Will first learned about the microbiome while researching the effects of the gut-brain axis on psychiatric disorders, then decided to focus specifically on the microbiome upon arriving at UCLA. Since joining the Jacobs Laboratory, Will has primarily worked with the Microbiome Core and also contributes to research involving transgenic animal models and co-cultures of microbes with epithelial/immune cells in order to gain a greater understanding of inflammatory bowel disease. 

Ben Kashanchi
Undergraduate

Ben is a fourth year undergraduate psychobiology major. Born and raised in Newport Beach, he chose to attend UCLA because of its beautiful campus, fantastic dining halls, and invaluable educational opportunities in the life sciences. His interest in the human body, particularly the digestive system, motivated him to join the Jacobs Laboratory, where he has been learning more about the role of the gut microbiome in the development of gastrointestinal diseases. In his free time, Ben loves to go to the beach, exercise, and talk about the NBA. After graduation, he hopes to attend medical school.

Venu Lagishetty, PhD
Project Scientist

Dr. Lagishetty received his undergraduate (1994-1997) and master's (1998-2000) degrees at Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He received his PhD degree (biochemistry) in 2007 from the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India. He started his postdoctoral research at UCLA with Dr. Martin Hewison in 2007. His research explored the effects of vitamin D-insufficiency on immune function in mice and its impact on models of inflammatory bowel disease. He then joined Dr. Jonathan Braun's lab at UCLA as a research associate studying the intestinal microbiome. Dr. Lagishetty was an assistant project scientist in the Jacobs Lab studying the impact of local microbial communities on chronic mucosal inflammatory disease. He took an active role in management of the UCLA Microbiome Core, which performs 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing of human and animal samples. He was responsible for development of an integrated approach to study microbial ecology in the gut using metagenomics, metaproteomics, and metabolomics. Dr. Lagishetty has published over 29 papers in peer reviewed journals and has one issued patent. 

Kang Lee, MD, PhD
Visiting Scientist

Dr. Lee is a visiting scientist from Hanyang University, Korea. He received his MD from Hanyang University in 1999, completed residency training in internal medicine in 2008, completed gastroenterology fellowship training in 2010, and received a PhD in internal medicine from Hanyang University in 2011. Afterwards, he has worked as an associate professor of medicine with clinical and research interests in inflammatory bowel disease, functional GI disorders, and endoscopic diagnosis/treatment of early gastrointestinal malignancies. He has confronted many challenges in managing IBD which have motivated him to pursue research to improve the quality of life of his IBD patients. To that end, he has joined the Jacobs Laboratory to study the association between intestinal bacteria/fungi and clinical outcomes in IBD and identify novel predictive biomarkers that could be used to guide treatment decisions for IBD patients.

Derek Li
Undergraduate

Derek is a sophomore majoring in microbiology, immunology, molecular genetics (MIMG). He is from Guilford, CT - a quiet town off New Haven, CT. He chose to attend UCLA not only because of the weather, but also because of the many research opportunities and the strong life science programs UCLA offered. Derek joined Dr. Jacob's Laboratory to learn more about the human microbiome and how certain bacteria can cause inflammatory bowel disease. His current project focuses on R-type bacteriocin therapy for IBD. Besides research, Derek volunteers for several on-campus organizations such as Bruin Shelter and Habitat for Humanity. He plans to go to medical school in the future.

Shumin Li
Undergraduate

Shumin is a senior majoring in veterinary medicine at Jilin University, China. She is a visiting student in Dr. Jacobs' lab through the CSST (Cross-disciplinary Scholars in Science and Technology) program this summer. She’s always fascinated with the microbiome world, an interdisciplinary area. Her previous research focused on how the gut microbiota influence susceptibility of diary cows to developing mastitis. She is now investigating in the Jacobs Lab whether dysbiosis of the gut microbiome precedes the development of IBD using family cohorts affected by IBD. Besides the wet lab work, she has also been very excited about using bioinformatic tools to decipher 16S ribosomal RNA sequence data. She appreciates this learning opportunity and enjoys the process of challenging herself to develop as a scientist.

Fengting Liang
Technician

Fengting is a recent graduate of UCLA with a BS in physiological sciences. She is currently working as the lab technician in the Jacobs Lab and Microbiome Core. Before she joined the lab as staff, she was a member of the lab as an undergraduate researcher, where she worked on a study investigating fibrosis in Crohn's disease in relation to the microbiome. She also assisted with a clinical study investigating microbiome changes in colon cancer patients post-surgery and during chemotherapy. In her free time, she enjoys running, hiking, reading, and exploring LA.

Kayti Luu
Research Coordinator

Kayti is a second year life sciences major at UCLA. Originally from Singapore and raised in Orange County, Kayti enjoys having the best of both cultures. She frequently travels back and forth between Southern California beaches and Singapore - often visiting tropical locales along the way - to mix in with both lifestyles. Her love for food and interest in how diet affects health motivated her to research the digestive diseases. She is currently studying the use of bacteriophages to target potentially pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli in inflammatory bowel disease. She is passionate about science and particularly enjoys working closely alongside her labmates to perform experiments as a team. An avid tennis player, Kayti enjoys participating in outdoor physical activities.

Lanna Pathman
Undergraduate

Lanna is a fourth year undergraduate student from Los Angeles, California. She is currently studying psychobiology and pursuing a career in medicine, particularly in the field of pediatrics. Lanna became interested in digestive diseases research after learning about the increasing importance of the microbiome and its role in human health and disease. Her research in the Jacobs Laboratory focuses on collecting microbiome samples, performing DNA extraction, creating histology slides, and processing human samples. At UCLA, Lanna is on the committee for mentorship, an organization that pairs UCLA students with youth from North Hollywood. She also served as the vice president of community service for her sorority, Kappa Delta. In her free time, Lanna enjoys yoga, exploring LA, spending time with friends and family, and working as a summer camp counselor.