Wells LabUCSF, Depts of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
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Lab Members

Principal Investigator

Jim Wells, Ph.D.
Professor

University of California San Francisco
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Phone: 1-415-514-4498
Email: Jim.Wells at ucsf.edu
www.epernicus.com/jaw2

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Coordinators

Mary Betlach, Ph.D.
Academic Coordinator III
Project: Fund-raising
Phone: 1-415-514-4504
Email: Mary.Betlach at ucsf.edu

Marja Tarr
Administration
Phone: 1-415-514-4757
Email: Marja.Tarr at ucsf.edu

PostDocs

Juan Diaz, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of California, Irvine
B.S. California State University, Fullerton
Project: Split Constructs
Email: Juan.Diaz at ucsf.edu

Zachary Hill, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Washington
B.S. University of Alaska Fairbanks
Project: Target Validation of Small-Molecule Inhibitors
Email: Zachary.Hill at ucsf.edu

Olivier Julien, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Alberta
B.S. Université Laval
Project: Caspases in differentiation
Email: Olivier.Julien at ucsf.edu

JT Koerber, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
B.S. University of Illinois
Project: Engineering Protein Scaffolds to Detect Cellular Apoptosis
Email: jt.koerber at ucsf.edu

Paul Marinec, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Michigan
B.S. University of Michigan
Project: Antibody Engineering Extraordinare
Email: Paul.Marinec at ucsf.edu

Jason Porter, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Arizona
B.S. Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Project: Split Constructs
Email: jason.porter at ucsf.edu

Kazutaka Shimbo, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Tokyo
B.S. Hokkaido University
Project: Apoptotic markers in cancer cells
Email: Kazutaka.Shimbo at ucsf.edu

Nathan Thomsen, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley
B.S. Whitman College
Project: Protein and Small Molecule Activators
Email: nathan.thomsen at ucsf.edu

Arun Wiita, M.D. Ph.D.
M.D./Ph.D., Columbia University
B.S. Princeton University
Project: Human apoptotic biomarkers
Email: Arun.Wiita at ucsf.edu

Min Zhuang, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Tennessee / St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
B.S. Nanjing University
Project: E3 Substrates
Email: min.zhuang at ucsf.edu

Graduate Students

Emily Crawford
A.B. Bryn Mawr College
Project: Evolution of caspases and their substrates
Email: Emily.Crawford at ucsf.edu
www.epernicus.com/edc

Hai Longtran
B.S. Emory University
Project: Natural Product Display
Email: Hai.Longtran at ucsf.edu

Charles Morgan
B.S. Lewis and Clark College
Project: Apoptotic Nodes
Email: Charles.Morgan at ucsf.edu

Justin Rettenmaier
B.S. University of California, Santa Cruz
Project: Small Molecule Activators of Kinases
Email: Terry.Rettenmaier at ucsf.edu

Julia Seaman
B.A. Pomona College
Project: Apoptosis and biomarkers in mice
Email: Julia.Seaman at ucsf.edu

Ashley Smart
B.A. Pomona College
Project: Apoptotic Nodes
Email: Ashley.Smart at ucsf.edu

Julie Zorn
B.S. New York University
Project: Small Molecule Activators of Procaspases
Email: Julie.Zorn at ucsf.edu

Lab Specialists

Michael Hornsby, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of California, Davis
B.S. Oregon State University
Project: Proteome-Antibody Center
Email: michael.hornsby at ucsf.edu

Tet Matsuguchi, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of California, San Francisco
B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Project: Proteome-Antibody Center
Email: tetsuya.matsuguchi at ucsf.edu

Lab Technicians

Maria Diaz
Lab Technician
Email: maria-elena.diaz at ucsf.edu

ALUMNI

Nick Agard, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Substrates of inflammatory caspases and cellular enzymology
Current position: Codexis
www.epernicus.com/nja

Deb Datta, Ph.D.
Graduate Student
Project: Allosteric circuitry and natural regulators of caspase-1
Current position: UCSF Medical School

Junjun Gao, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Conformationally selective antibodies
Current position: Viral biochemistry group, Roche Palo Alto

Dan Gray, Ph.D.
Graduate Student
Project: Chemically-inducible proteases.
Current position: Broad Institute

Gerald Hsu, M.D. Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Apoptotic biomarkers
Current position: Harvard Medical School

Sami Mahrus, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Global Profiling of Proteolysis in Apoptosis
Current position: Genentech

Chris McClendon, Ph.D.
Graduate Student
Project: Computational modeling of allostery
Current position: UCSD
www.epernicus.com/clm

Huy Nguyen, M.D.
Fellow, Hematology/Oncology
Project: Identification of apoptotic peptide signatures for use as diagnostic biomarkers in hematologic malignancies.

Enrique Perez-Paya, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Caspase enzymology
Current location: Cipf – Csic, Valencia, Spain

Yingfeng Qiao, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Tethering of RAS
Current position: UCSF School of Pharmacy

Jack Sadowsky, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Allosteric modulation of protein kinases.
Current position: Carmot Therapeutics
www.epernicus.com/jds4

Hikari Yoshihara, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Kinase tethering and tags for N-terminomics
Current position: UCSF Radiology Department

Pete Wildes , Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Extracellular protease signaling
Current position: Genencor
www.epernicus.com/dw2

Dennis Wolan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project: Structure and regulation of caspases by small molecules
Current position: The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego
www.epernicus.com/dww