Wang Lab Members

Former Wang Lab Members

Srinivas Garlapati

I work on Giardiavirus, which specifically infects the most primitive protozoan parasite, Giardia lamblia. I am trying to understand the mechanism of Internal Ribosomal Entry Site (IRES) mediated translation of the viral transcript. IRES of Giardiavirus is unique compared to other eukaryotic viral IRESs in that it consists of the 5' untranslated region plus 264 nucleotides of the capsid coding region. This unusual feature is probably a reflection of the translation initiation process that occurs on cellular mRNAs with unusually short (1-14nt) 5'UTRs.
I come from Hyderabad City, in India, and I got my PhD from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India. When not in the lab I enjoy reading, traveling, and photography.

Potter Wickware

I manage Eukaryotic Cell, the American Society for Microbiology's newest journal, of which C. C. is Editor-in-Chief. When not working on the journal I also write for Nature, Nature Medicine and other publications. (For a list of pubs see my web page). My degrees are in English (BA, UC Berkeley) and molecular biology (MS, San Francisco State). I live in Marin County with my wife, Abby, and enjoy biking, skiing and indulging my six grandchildren.

Stephane Gourgechon

Using the yeast-two hybrid system, I'm working to identify novel cyclin-interacting proteins in T. brucei. I'm glad to be in sunny California after four years in stormy Dundee Scotland, where I did my PhD. When I'm not in the lab I enjoy soccer and badminton.

Ziyin Li

I work on the cell cycle regulation in Trypanosoma brucei. Using techniques of genetics, cell biology and biochemistry, I try to dissect the molecular mechanisms of mitosis and cytokinesis in T. brucei by investigating several protein kinases such as aurora-B kinase and Tousled-like kinase.
After receiving my Ph.D from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, I came to UCSF, detoured to Singapore for a year in 2003, then returned to UCSF in early 2005. When not working in the lab, I enjoy playing games with my kid, telling stories and teaching Chinese language.

Ashesh Saraiya

I did my doctoral work at Wayne State University where I used site-directed mutagenesis to explore protein expression in the E. coli ribosomal system.
At UCSF I look at gene regulation in Giardia lamblia. I want to know if the micro RNA regulatory mechanism exists in the organism. Also I'm identifying initiation factors that bind the giardiavirus internal ribosomal entry site. A deeper understanding of the IRES system coud eventually lead not only to identifying a chemotherapeutic target in the parasite but also provide basic insights into expression which could be extended to higher organisms, which are less tractable to study than this primitive organism.
When not in the lab I enjoy reading, exploring San Francisco, and rooting for Detroit's great baseball team. Go Tigers!

Takashi Umeyama

I did my PhD work in the Lab of Fermentation at the University of Tokyo, where I looked at triggers of secondary metabolism and antibiotic production in Streptomyces. As a post-doc at Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases I studied Candida and other fungi, and developed a PCR-based diagnostic for coccidiomycosis, a dangerous airborne fungal pathogen. At the Wang lab I explore the role of Polo-like kinase in the cell cycle of T. brucei.
When not in the lab I enjoy exploring the Bay Area with my family.

Zhi Li

I did my PhD at the Center for Parasitic Organisms at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou. Under Prof Zhao-Rung Lun I studied the ability of rat macrophages to resist infection by Toxoplasma. Here at UCSF I'm working on control of the cell cycle in Trypanosoma. When I'm not working in the lab I enjoy playing basketball. Watch out Yao Ming and Houston Rockets!