Lab Members

Li-Fan Lu

PhD, Principal Investigator

Li-Fan Lu received his Ph.D. in Immunology from Dartmouth College. He did his postdoctoral training first at the University of Washington and then at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He now serves as the Co-Director of the Program in Immunology at UCSD and the President of the La Jolla Immunology Conference.

Nimi Marcel

Post Doc

Nimi did her doctoral studies in cell biology at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIRF, Bangalore, India; under the guidance of Prof. Apurva Sarin to study the regulation of T-cell homeostasis, particularly focusing on cellular mechanisms promoting survival in T-regulatory cells (Tregs). In the Lu lab, she will be exploring the role of TOX in controlling both cellular and humoral immunity.

Rasika Patkar

PhD Student

Rasika received her BS degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Davis. She then spent three years as a Research Associate at UCSF studying the heterogeneity within hepatocytes at homeostasis and in disease. As a PhD student in the Lu Lab, she is interested in studying tissue-specific immune regulation of Tregs. In her free time she enjoys cooking, painting, and dancing.

Jazz (Ziyue) Zhang

PhD Student

Jazz earned her BS and MS degree at UCSD. She is interested in the role of microRNA in regulating B cell activity. Outside the lab, Jazz enjoys watching movies and anime.

William Huth

Master Student

William earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biology at UCSD and is currently pursuing a master’s degree through the BS/MS program. He is interested in immunology, mitochondrial metabolism, and miRNA/lncRNA.

Kathy Law

Flow Core Manager

Kathy earned her BS degree in Human Biology from UCSD. She previously worked for the Hedrick lab to assist in immunology research by working in the vivarium for 3 years. Currently she is working as the Flow Core Manager and as a Clinical Laboratory Assistant at a fertility clinic. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dog, snorkeling, and finding new places to eat.

Gerdo Wagner-swanepoel

Undergraduate Student

Gerdo is a Junior at UCSD majoring in Human Biology. He is interested in immunology and physiology. In his spare time he enjoys Board Games, Salsa Dancing, and loves playing Dungeons&Dragons.

Alisa (Zihui) Xiao

Undergraduate Student

Alisa is a sophomore at UCSD double majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology and Statistics. She is interested in Immunology. She likes to play golf, snowboarding, and watch movies.

Jing-Ya Ding

Visiting Scholar

Jing-Ya earned her Ph.D. at Chang-Gung University in Taiwan where she studied anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies in the context of infectious diseases. In the Lu lab, she is exploring the molecular mechanisms that control germinal center responses and the resultant humoral immunity.

Outside the lab, she likes hiking, reading, singing, eating delicious foods, or walking to find new things around.

Alumini

Hyang-Mi Lee

Post Doc (2012-2015) Current position: Assistant Professor at Dongduk Women’s University, Korea

Duc Nguyen

Volunteer Researcher (2013-2015) Current position: Physician

Leilani Cruz

PhD Student (2011-2016) Current position: Research and Development Project Manager at Neomorph, Inc

Lindsey Warner

BS/MS Student (2015-2017) Current position: PhD student at University of Washington, Seattle

Nick Afanasiev

Undergraduate Student (2016-2017) Attending the MBA program at UCSD

Louisa (Qingyun) Zhai

Undergraduate Student (2016-2017) Current position: Senior Associate Scientist at Pfizer

Flavia Franco Da Cunha

Visiting Student (2016-2017)

Current position: Postdoc at UCSD

Chao (David) Yan

Visiting Scholar (2016-2017) Current position: Associate Professor at Xuzhou medical University, China

Jasmin Russ

Undergraduate Student (2017-2018)

Current position: Clinical Research Associate at Cedars-Sinai

Sunglim Cho

Post Doc (2012-2018) Current position: Deputy General Manager at GreenCross LabCell, Korea

Scarlett Qian

Undergraduate Student (2018-2019)

Attending Bioinformatics PhD program at UCSD

Cheng-Jang Wu

Post Doc (2014-2019) Current position: Senior Scientist at Atara Biotherapeutics

Jesse Tai

BS/MS Student (2018-2020)

Current position: Medical student at Stanford

Zhuofu (Emma) Liu

Visiting Scholar (2018-2019)

Current position: Physician at Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Pi-Hui Liang

Visiting Scholar (2019-2019) Current position: Professor in School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Ying-Yu (Michelle) Chen

Flow Core Manager (2019-2020) Current position: Associate Product and Marketing Manager at Biosensors International

Changwook Lee

Visiting Scholar (2019-2020) Current position: Associate Professor in School of Life Sciences, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Korea

Wei-Cheng Yang

Post Doc (2019-2021) Current position: Project Manager for Cell Therapy at BTRC (Biomedical Translation Research Center) of Academia Sinica, Taiwan