Current Members

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Dr. 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.

6th 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
Email: nmdugan@ucdavis.edu

Natalie (she/her) was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. During undergraduate she worked on synthesizing small molecule inhibitors of the actin related protein (ARP2/3) complex to inhibiting the branching of actin polymers which halts important functions of the cytoskeleton in cells. In the Beal Lab she has worked on an EMERGE high throughput screen to assess potential guide RNA sequences to enable editing for the R255X mutation in Rett Syndrome and a computational chemistry project with the Vorobyov lab at UC Davis to assess new modifications to test in a guide RNA for ADAR.

Outside of the lab she enjoys engaging in science communication and outreach, reading, and baking.

Kristen Campbell
B.S. Biochemistry, Brigham Young University
Email: kcampbell@ucdavis.edu

Kristen (she/her) 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.

5th 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!

4th 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!

3rd Year Graduate Students

Olivia Jacobs
B.S. Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, Davis
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, watching tv, and building legos. She is always down to show you photos of her pet tortoise, Tortilla (Taylor’s Version), and her pet cat, Molecule.

Paul Rosa
B.S. Microbiology, Chapman University
Email: prosa@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

Christopher Cardenas

Email: cacardenas@ucdavis.edu

Christopher is a third year NPB major. He enjoys eating new food, trying new things, and coffee!

Bowen Dayrit

Bowen was born in Baguio, Philippines and raised in Sacramento, California. He is currently an undergraduate student at University of California, Davis majoring in Biomedical Engineering. In the Beal Lab, he works with Christine Tang on her research in RNA therapeutics using ADAR-mediated RNA editing. Bowen aspires to become a physician and researcher, with a particular interest in oncology and developing new approaches to cancer treatment.

In his free time, Bowen likes to go to the gym and play sports, hip-hop dancing, play the piano, and build projects with 3D printing.