Post-Doctoral Fellows
Sukanya Mozumder
Ph.D. Biological Sciences, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India
Email: smozumder@ucdavis.edu
Sukanya is from Kolkata, India. She received her PhD degree in Biological Sciences at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India. In her PhD she mainly studied the ligand-based structure and dynamic properties of G-Protein Coupled receptors (GPCRs). In the Beal lab she will be focusing on the structural studies of ADAR1. Apart from the lab she is a trained Indian classical dancer (Bharatnatyam) and also loves to spend her time by cooking, traveling, watching Netflix and spending quality time with friends.
Raphael Bereiter
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Email: rbereiter@ucdavis.edu
Raphael comes from a small valley called Montafon in Austria, located in the center of the Alps. After his MSc, which he received in 2020, he started his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Ronald Micura at the University of Innsbruck (Austria), where he focused on the chemical synthesis of deazanucleoside-modified RNA and the engineering of covalent fluorescent light-up aptamers. He received his PhD in 2024 and started his postdoctoral research in the Beal lab shortly thereafter. In the Beal Lab he is synthesizing chemically modified guide strands to evaluate their impact on the ADAR activity. In his free time, depending on the season, he enjoys either snowboarding and skitouring or hiking and climbing in the mountains.
5th Year Graduate Students
Aashrita Manjunath
B.S. Biochemistry, California Polytechnic State University: San Luis Obispo, 2019
Email: amanjunath@ucdavis.edu
Aashrita (she/her/hers) is from the Bay Area in California. She graduated with her B.S. in Biochemistry from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2019, where she worked on the synthesis of 2-aminooxazole probes targeting kinase STK-16. She then spent a year as a research associate at Hexagon Bio. Outside of the lab, Aashrita enjoys singing, hiking, and cooking with friends and family.
Prince Salvador
B.S. Chemistry, California State University Channel Islands, 2020
Email: psalvador@ucdavis.edu
Prince (he/him/his) is from Los Angeles, California. He graduated with his B.S. in Chemistry from CSU Channel Islands in 2020, where he worked on investigating synthesized novel sulfonamide-nucleoside hybrid analogues as potential anti-cancer drugs through in silico molecular docking studies.
In the Beal lab, Prince aims to unlock the full therapeutic potential of ADARs. ADAR site-directed RNA editing faces a limitation due to ADARs selectivity for editing adenosines with specific neighboring nucleotides. Consequently, guide strands are readily designed for only a small fraction of target sites associated with disease-causing mutations that contain a 5’U, leaving disfavored sites (e.g., 5’C, 5’G) underserved. Prince, alongside his undergraduate mentees, Sherry, Megan, and Isaac, employ EMERGe, an innovative in vitro screening method that comprehensively assesses large ADAR substrates containing difficult-to-edit sites. They apply this methodology to a diverse array of disease-relevant target sequences to unveil previously unidentified guide RNA sequences, and in turn illuminate novel principles of ADAR-mediated editing.
Outside of the lab, Prince likes to go shopping, indulge in skin care and makeup, and go out for coffee and desserts. His favorite self-care activities are taking hot-girl walks, beautifying himself, and journaling. Prince also loves anything pink and Hello Kitty!
Twitter: @pj_salvador1
Linkedin: /princesalvador
4th Year Graduate Students
Randall Ouye
B.S. Biology and Chemistry, University of the Pacific, Stockton
Email: rbouye@ucdavis.edu
Randall was born and raised in the SF bay area and received B.S. in Biology and Chemistry at University of the Pacific, Stockton. There, he dabbled in site-directed mutagenesis to probe the foundations of the thermal stability of Taq Polymerase. After graduating, he spent an undisclosed amount of time as an industry scientist, where he was introduced to oligonucleotide chemistry. Randall now aims to apply his experience to study ADAR guide strand design.
When not in lab, Randall is passionate about naps and daydreaming and spends most of his waking hours eating and petting dogs.
Natalie Dugan
B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Linfield University, 2021
Email: nmdugan@ucdavis.edu
Natalie (she/her/hers) was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. During undergraduate she worked on synthesizing more potent small molecule inhibitors of the actin related protein (ARP2/3) complex to halt important functions of the cytoskeleton by inhibiting the branching of actin polymers. An additional project she worked on looked at modulating the copper concentrations for growing S. cerevisea to understand the basic science of mitochondrial metabolic processes such as the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation.Outside of the lab she enjoys communicating female health research and engaging in science outreach. She also enjoys playing the cello, yoga, and baking bread.
Kristen Campbell
B.S. Biochemistry, Brigham Young University
Email: kcampbell@ucdavis.edu
Kristen (she/her/hers) grew up in 7 different states (!!) but is most recently from Washington state. She received her bachelor’s from BYU in Biochemistry. In between her bachelor’s degree and graduate school, she performed research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) working on synthesis of polymers as fuel additives, characterization of gas/diesel/jet fuels via NMR spectroscopy, and bioengineered yeast to produce biofuel precursors.
In her free time she loves to bike, homebrew, play video games, and mess around with her pets. If anyone wants a plant buddy, she’s always willing to give some cuttings of plants that she tries to propagate.
3rd Year Graduate Students
Charles Seo
B.S. Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea
Email: chseo@ucdavis.edu
Charles was born in New Jersey and grew up in Seoul, Korea.He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in Korea. In his undergrad, he conducted various research about medicinal chemistry, bioinformatics, and bioengineering.
In the Beal lab, Charles is studying various ways to improve ADAR editing efficacy, currently focusing on the effect of ribo pyridine-2-one on the orphan position on ADAR1 deamination.
Outside the lab, he likes cooking for his friends, traveling, and visiting art galleries. He also enjoys learning new languages!
2nd Year Graduate Students
Christine Tang
B.S. Biochemistry, University of California, Riverside
Email: cbtang@ucdavis.edu
Christine (she/her) is from the Bay Area in California. She graduated from University of California, Riverside where she worked on synthesizing 6PPD-quinone to characterize its toxic properties and X-ray crystallography of XAC bacteria for structural analysis to understand its role in Citrus Canker Disease.
In the Beal lab, she is interested in performing EMERGe screening with libraries of chemically modified oligonucleotide hairpins and ADAR. In her free time, she enjoys exercising, shopping, and collecting Cinnamoroll items. She also loves to cook and spend time with family and friends!
1sy Year Graduate Students
Olivia Jacobs
B.S. Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, Davis, 2024
Email: osjacobs@ucdavis.edu
Olivia (she/her) is from Sonoma County in California. She graduated from University of California, Davis where she did her undergraduate research here in the Beal Lab where she worked on synthesizing chemically modified nucleotides to place in synthetically modified RNA guide strands in order to improve site directed editing of ADAR.In the Beal Lab, she is interested in looking into different nucleotide modifications and continuing to explore their effects on site directed ADAR editing. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, hanging out with friends, watching tv, and building legos. She is always down to show you photos of her pet tortoise, Tortilla (Taylor’s Version).
Paul Rosa
B.S. Microbiology, Chapman University, 2024
Email: osjacobs@ucdavis.edu
Paul was born and raised in Santa Clara, California. He received his Bachelors of Science in Microbiology at Chapman University ’24. During his undergraduate degree, Paul was busy modeling chemical reactions using Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Molecular Dynamics (MD). Specifically, he was investigating the mechanism for Sulfonyl (VI) Fluoride exchange reactions (SuFEx) and how they can be done with earthly abundant Lewis acid salts.
In the Beal lab, Paul will work on the rational design of modified oligonucleotide guide strands to recruit ADAR for site-specific deamination of targeted mRNA transcripts. His focus is on correcting missense mutations in the PPP2R5D gene, which have been identified as the cause of Jordan Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Undergraduate Students
Isaac Yang
Email: isyang@ucdavis.edu
Isaac (he/him) is a third year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Major, additionally pursuing a minor in Professional Writing. He is currently working with Prince Salvador to explore the therapeutic applications of ADAR through the labs high throughput screening assay.
Whenever Isaac isn’t working in lab or studying, he enjoys playing his guitar, strumming to his favorite 80s and grunge songs. He is an avid fan of Nirvana, Sixpence None the Richer, and The Cure.
Anthony Surkov
Email: adsurkov@ucdavis.edu
Anthony (he/him) is a third-year double majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Statistics. He works with Natalie Dugan to validate promising guide RNA candidates and hopes to explore statistical approaches to uncover deeper patterns in high-throughput assay data.Outside of academics, Anthony enjoys perfecting his coffee brewing process, playing violin, and spending time outdoors.
