Principal Investigator
Julie Law
Associate Professor
Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory
Hearst Foundation Developmental Chair
Postdoctoral Fellows
En Li
Postdoctoral Fellow
Originally from China, En obtained her PhD from China Agricultural University in 2020, where her research focused on the roles of nucleosome organization and three-dimensional chromatin structure in maize growth and development. Following her PhD, She pursued two post-doctoral positions: one investigating the domestication of the Jasmonate pathway in tomatoes at the Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and another studying RNA modification in Arabidopsis at the University of Chicago. In September 2023, She joined Julie Law’s lab at Salk Institute to further her research journey. Her main points of interest are: 1) the molecular mechanisms of RNA-directed DNA methylation establishment, and 2) how chromatin modifications influence DNA repair.
Laura Martins
Postdoctoral Fellow
Fuxi Wang
Postdoctoral Fellow
Fuxi Wang received her PhD from University of Maryland – College Park in 2022. Her thesis work focused on understanding how the cell cycle is integrated into plant meristem development in Arabidopsis Thaliana. She worked on characterization of the TSO1 regulatory pathway in the shoot apical meristem and the root apical meristem using both genetic tools and single cell RNA sequencing. As a postdoctoral fellow in Julie Law’s lab, she will be exploring the roles of chromatin modifications in mediating tissue-specific patterns of DNA methylation using both genetic and genomic approaches.
Guanghui Xu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Bioinformatics
THERESA PAPIKIAN
BIOINFORMATICS ANALYST I
Theresa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computational and Systems Biology with a concentration in Neurosystems from UCLA. Theresa’s thesis work in Dr. Matteo Pellegrini’s lab focused on whole genome DNA methylation analysis methods using bisulfite sequencing and how methylation levels correlate with age. She joined Dr. Julie Law’s lab in 2023 where she is interested in analyzing genomics data to understand the mechanisms that regulate gene expression and suberin synthesis. Theresa is also a tennis player.
Matt Simenc
BIOINFORMATICS ANALYST II
Research Assistants
Joshua Eis
Research Assistant II
Joshua Eis received his Bachelors of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, San Diego. During his undergraduate, he was a research assistant in Dr. Linda Holland’s lab at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography where he studied the role of FGF in establishing somite boundaries of Branchiostoma Floridae and how it compares to vertebrates. Additionally, he spent a summer in Dr. Emma Farley’s lab to study the role of the ZRS enhancer in expressing the Sonic Hedgehog Transcription Factor in mice. He also helped facilitate an upper division course called Eukaryotic Gene Expression under Dr. James Kadonaga. Eis joined the Law lab in April 2022 as a volunteer and began his Research Assistant I role in August 2022. Currently, he is working with Dr. Laura Martins to elucidate how the CLSY proteins are involved in establishing methylation patterns in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome via the RNA-directed DNA Methylation (RdDM) pathway.
PALOMA MALDONADO
Research Assistant II
Paloma received her Bachelor of Science through a joint program between CEU San Pablo University in Madrid, Spain, and the University of California, San Diego. Her bachelor’s thesis focused on characterizing the West Nile Virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. She moved to San Diego during her last year of undergraduate where she joined Jose Pruneda-Paz’s Cell and Developmental Biology lab, standardizing a method to increase CRISPR/Cas9 homologous recombination efficiency, using Arabidopsis Thaliana as a model. Paloma joined the Law lab as part of the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI), contributing to the development of different strategies for carbon sequestration in plants. For this, she uses confocal microscopy and sequencing techniques such as DAPseq, among others. She is also helping in the efforts of translating these traits into crop plants. In her free time, she’s out skateboarding, convincing herself that she will learn how to surf, and trying not to break any more bones.
Liam Sheedy
Research Assistant II
Lab Technicians
Kristen Werner
Lab Technician
Kristen Werner received her Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Vermont in 2021. Due to her long-time interest in environmental issues, Kristen spent her first two years at UVM living in the Sustainability learning community where she became familiar with the local ecology through hands-on outdoor classes and worked with her peers to incorporate sustainable practices, like composting, into everyday dorm life. Kristen went on to participate in undergraduate research under evolutionary biologist Dr. Laura J. May-Collado in 2021, using auditory data from Puerto Rico to study how climate change has affected the physiology and vocalizations of the Coquí frog. Kristen joined the Law Lab as a Lab Tech in 2022 to provide support for the projects and research efforts of the lab.
Student Trainees
Yuhan Chen
Student Trainee
Yuhan Chen is a current undergraduate pursuing a double major in Pure Mathematics and Molecular and Cellular Biology at UCSD. Previously, he conducted research in the Chen lab and the Antos Lab of Tongji and ShanghaiTech university, where he investigated Th2 immunological activation during Schistosomiasis and the role of Sonic Hedgehog signaling during zebrafish fin regeneration, respectively. Yuhan joined the Law Lab in August 2022, where he is interested in how protein and DNA factors collaborate to direct CLSY dependent DNA Methylation. He is currently completing a senior honors thesis under the tutelage of the Law Lab. He hopes to eventually obtain a PhD and further investigate the mechanisms of epigenetic gene regulation, eventually employing this knowledge to improve human health.
RONGJUN HAN
Student Trainee
Rongjun Han is an undergraduate student majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology at UCSD. Before moving to San Diego, he was working on investigating the symbiotic interaction between bacteria and seagrass in Dr. Jonathan Eisen Lab at UC Davis. For 2023 summer, he joined Dr. Chao Wang’s lab at Jinan University in China to study protein structures in chicken muscle. In October 2023, Rongjun joined the Law lab as a student trainee. He is working with Dr. Fuxi Wang on studying the chromatin modification in mediating tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns.
Carsten Hoeke
Student Trainee
Carsten Hoeke is a fourth year General Biology undergraduate student at UCSD. He started his journey in plant research at the Jacobsen lab at UCLA/HHMI. There, he worked on identifying interaction networks of potential Histone binding proteins. Carsten joined the Law lab as a student trainee in October 2023. He is currently working with Dr. Fuxi Wang. He is interested in understanding DNA methylation patterns and inheritance influenced by the CLSYs. Besides studying and research, he likes to go sailing, play golf, and hang out with friends.
Solomon Huang
Student Trainee
Solomon Huang is an undergraduate student at UCSD, majoring in Neurobiology and set to graduate in 2025. Alongside his studies, he has a keen interest in epigenetics. In April 2023, Solomon joined the lab as a volunteer, working under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Martins. His current research investigates the role of CLSY proteins in the RNA-directed DNA Methylation (RdDM) pathway, the latter of which is involved in establishing de novo DNA methylation throughout the Arabidopsis thaliana genome.