Lab Members

Principal Investigator (PI)

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Glenn Yiu, M.D., Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Glenn is a clinician-scientist, and the principal investigator of the lab. He obtained his M.D.-Ph.D. degrees at Harvard Medical School, underwent residency at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, and vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at Duke. He joined UC Davis’s faculty in 2014, and established this research laboratory in 2015. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, photography, fixing up his home, and spending time with his family.
Read more Glenn Yiu, M.D., Ph.D.'s biography

Current Members

 

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Zoey Mayo

Junior Specialist (2025-present)

Zoey graduated from UC Davis in June 2025 with a B.S. in Genetics and Genomics. She is interested in translational medical research using gene therapies and aims to pursue a PhD in the future. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, playing tennis, and showing off her cat, Gojo.
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Yanbing (Claire) Qian

Junior Specialist (2025-present)

Claire earned her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a B.A. in Classical Civilization from UC Davis in 2025. She is interested in AMD as a marker of aging. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, digital art, and painting.
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Mirella Rivera-Velazquez

Graduate Student (2025-present)

Mirella (Mi-rea-YA) is a second-year PhD student in the Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Group. She earned her B.S in Neuroscience from UC Santa Cruz. Post-graduation, she conducted research at two biotechnology companies focused on developing novel gene therapies for rare diseases. She is interested in enhancing the safety and efficacy of ocular gene therapy using suprachoroidal AAV delivery by improving biodistribution within the suprachoroidal space, engineering novel AAVs, and characterizing the immune response to suprachoroidal injections. When she's not working, you'll find her on a trail, halfway through a new country, or hunting down the perfect trinket.  
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Sophie Le

Graduate Student (2024-present)

Sophie is a second year PhD student in the Graduate Group of Integrative Pathobiology with a Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology. She attended UC Davis for her undergraduate degree and majored in Animal Science. She is interested in researching AMD in multiple animal models. She is currently aiming towards a career in industry. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her cats, work out, make stained glass, DJ, and try new foods. 
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Bum-Joo Cho, M.D., Ph.D

Visiting Scholar (2025-present)

Bum-Joo Cho, MD, PhD, is a visiting scholar from Hallym University College of Medicine, Korea, where he serves as an ophthalmology professor and AI Center director. His research at UC Davis focuses on deep learning applications in retinal imaging including retinal biological age estimation. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling and playing chess.
 

Uday Kumar Chekkilla, Ph.D

Post-doctoral Scholar (2026-present)

Uday Kumar Chekkilla, Ph.D is a post-doctoral scholar from India.

 
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Jensen Kwong

Undergraduate Student (2026-present)

Jensen Kwong is a third-year Animal Science and Management major from Los Angeles, more specifically Venice. He is interested in pursuing a career in clinical research management or clinical trial coordination within medical device companies, biotechnology companies, or clinical research organizations. Outside of academics and career interests, he enjoys playing baseball, traveling, trying new foods, and spending time with friends and family. 

 
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Youcef Sahraoui

Undergraduate Student (2023-present)

Youcef is an undergraduate majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, aiming for a career in the medical field. When he's not in the lab or studying for exams, you can find him playing soccer, gaming with friends, and trying new cuisines. 
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Maleah Hunyh

Undergraduate Student (2026-present)

Maleah is an undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Cell Biology. She plans to pursue a career in optometry and vision research. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, dancing, and spending time with family and friends. 
 

Isabella Kanemura  

Undergraduate Student (2025-present)
 

Kopratha Satchidanantham 

Undergraduate Student (2024-present)
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Angel Joshy

Undergraduate Student (2024-present)

Angel is currently an undergraduate Systems and Synthetic Biology major. In her free time she loves to crochet, read novels, paint and take care of her plants. 
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Julieta Juarez-Cruz

Undergraduate Student (2024-present)

Julieta is an incoming freshman at UC Davis majoring in Medical and Molecular Microbiology, and is passionate about pursuing a career in medicine and research. Julieta likes to spend time with my friends and family during free time. 
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Karunya Ramamoorthy

Undergraduate Student (2024-present)

Karunya is currently an undergraduate student at UC Davis studying Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, hanging out with friends and family, and exploring new restaurants.

 

Alumni Members

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Lien Tu

Junior Specialist (2021-2024)

Cell Biology
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Tzu-Ni (Mini) Sin

Undergraduate Student, Junior Specialist (2019-2024)

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

 
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Shaheen Sulthana Mohammad, Ph.D

Staff Research Associate (2021-2025)

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
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Kriti Iyer

Junior Specialist (2024-2025)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
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Carol Iveth Villafuerte Trisolini, M.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher (2022-2025)
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Trisha Jainshankar

Undergraduate Student (2022-2025)

Biotechnology and Public Health Sciences
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Jack Dragoli

Undergraduate Student (2023-2025)

Medical Microbiology
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Sruthi Ramesh Kumar

Undergraduate Student (2023-2025)

Medical Microbiology
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Aurora Duan

Undergraduate Student (2023-2025)

Biological Sciences and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
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Tony Shen

Undergraduate Student (2023-2025)

Biology
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Sonya Ahuja

Undergraduate Student (2023-2025)

Human Biology
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Megan Gong

Undergraduate Student (2023-2025)

Biology
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Navin Chakravarty

Undergraduate Student (2024-2025)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
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Doaa Mohammad

Undergraduate Student (2024-2025)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
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Suchita Anigol

Undergraduate Student (2020-2024)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior

 
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Lana Salve

Undergraduate Student (2020-2024)

Cell Biology 

 
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Anjani Kedia

Undergraduate Student (2020-2024)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
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Kiana Nava

Undergraduate Student (2020-2024)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
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Leon Huynh

Undergraduate Student (2021-2024)

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
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Jennifer Ngo

Undergraduate Student (2021-2024)

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

 
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Sook Hyun Chung, Ph.D.

Postdoc (2017-2021)

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Brian Dang

Junior Specialist (2019-2021)
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Sarah Tau

Undergraduate Student (2019-2021)

 

 
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Therlinder Lo

Medical Student (2019-2020)

 
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Taylor Ngo

Undergraduate Student (2019-2020)

Genetics
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Daniella Schochet

Medical Student (2019-2020)

 
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Nefte Lopez

Undergraduate Student (2018-2020)

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
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Iris Mollhoff

Junior Specialist (2017-2019)

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

 
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Cindy Wang

Undergraduate Student (2017-2019)

Neuobiology, Physiology and Behavior

 
Tu Nguyen  

 

Tu Nguyen

Undergraduate Student (2018-2019)

Cell Biology, Music, English

 
Sara Cao  

 

Sara Cao

Undergraduate Student (2018-2019)

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

 
Natalie Stucka  

 

Natalie Stucka

Undergraduate Student (2018-2019)

Biomedical Engineering

 
Amy Nguyen  

Amy Nguyen

Undergraduate Student (2017-2018)

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Alice Wang  

Alice Wang

Vetinary Student (2017)

Eric Tieu

 

   

Eric Tieu

Junior Specialist (2015-2017)

Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Tianjiao Weng  

Tianjiao Weng

Undergraduate Student(2017)

Biomedical Engineering

Brittany Wong

 

  

Brittany Wong

Undergraduate Student (2015-2016)

Neuroscience, Chemistry

Christian Munevar

 

  

Christian Munevar

Veterinary Student (2016)

 

 

Research

Optically-triggered Drug Delivery

Optogenetic Disease Modeling

CRISPR-based Gene Editing

Imaging in Retinal Diseases

Primate Research in Macular Degeneration

Related Links