Meet our Fall 2024 Graduate Cohort!

Ethan Beffert

Ethan received his B.Sc (research honors) degree in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota Duluth he worked in an organic synthesis lab doing research on breast cancer therapeutics and played football for the bulldogs during undergrad. After rotating with Kenton Hokanson, Ryan Mehl, and Dan Liefwalker, Ethan joined the Liefwalker lab as their first graduate student, and his research focuses on the epigenetics of Myc.

Davis Sharts

Davis received his B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (summa cum laude) from California Lutheran University. During undergrad, he played for his school's soccer team and worked in Dr. Michael Abdelsayed's lab discovering RNA thermometers regulating gene transcription in response to heat stress. Davis joined the GCE4All center under the guidance of Richard Cooley, where his research focuses on using x-ray crystallography to structure tRNA synthetases used for encoding non-canonical amino acids.

Nadia Gonzalez

Nadia grew up in Northern California and began her undergraduate studies at Folsom Lake College, where she also played soccer, before transferring to the University of California, Davis, to earn her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As an undergraduate, she worked in Dr. Alyson Mitchell’s lab, investigating the use of almond shell powder as a natural biosorbent for the removal of phenolics from food processing wastewater. Nadia rotated with Dr. Sarah Clark, Dr. Nate Mortimer, and Dr. Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer before joining the Vrailas-Mortimer lab, where her research focuses on using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to study how aging and toxin exposure contribute to neurological disorders.

Abraham Kpirikai

Abraham received his B.Sc. (honors) degree in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (magna cum laude) from the University of Ghana. During and after undergrad, he worked as a research assistant at the West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), where he contributed to malaria surveillance and its molecular epidemiology efforts. After rotating with Juan Vanegas, Dave Hendrix, and Nathan Mortimer, Abraham joined the Mortimer Lab, where his research focuses on host-parasite immunometabolism using the Drosophila-parasitoid wasp model.

Tepary Cooley

Tepary is a member of the Purice lab working on a project that aims to understand glial neuropeptides how they are processed, released, and their functions. He graduated in 2024 from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, with degrees in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, and Chemistry. In his free time, Tepary enjoys spending time outdoors, hanging out with friends, reading, and working on creative projects.

Sarah Perkel

Sarah received their B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon. Both during and after undergrad, they worked as a courtesy research assistant in the lab of Dr. Alice Barkan investigating light-induced translation in the chloroplast. After rotating with Nathan Mortimer, Elisar Barbar, and Sarah Clark, Sarah joined the Clark lab. Her research there is primarily on isolating and characterizing Drosophila melanogaster-specific members of the Deg/ENaC family of ion channels, which are involved in environmental sensation.