Business Development Fellows
Fabio Anza
The complex behavior of quantum systems
Fabio Anza is a postdoctoral researcher working on quantum information and quantum technologies. He holds a three-year fellowship from Templeton World Charity Foundation to study the complex behavior of quantum systems, both for fundamental reasons and for future technological purposes. Anza has a B.S. in physical sciences from the University of Palermo; a M.S. in physics from the University of Pisa; and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University at Oxford.
Yike Chen
Organic waste management and bioenergy production from waste materials
Yike Chen is a doctoral student in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at UC Davis. He holds a B.S. with a major in bioengineering from East China University of Science and Technology and an M.S. in biological/biosystems engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Angel Cobo
Designing new-age therapeutics with enhanced therapeutic activity.
Angel Cobo is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in chemistry who designs and builds complexity and functionality into biologically relevant molecules. He aims to further his research designing new-age therapeutics with enhanced therapeutic activity, using silicon as a novel building block. Cobo seeks to translate his technical skills toward building a biotech company with a focus on the development of small-molecule pharmaceuticals.
Luis Eduardo Contreras-Llano
Novel cell-free protein synthesis systems and engineering natural and artificial cells.
Luis Eduardo Contreras-Llano is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the biochemistry, molecular, cellular and developmental biology graduate group. He holds a B.E and an M.S. in biotechnology and has carried out research in areas such as plant and microbial biochemistry, molecular biology and synthetic biology.
Youtian Cui
Chemical biology and synthetic biology techniques to develop innovative ideas
Youtian Cui is a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry with more than six years of research experience in solving real-world problems by chemical biology and synthetic biology techniques. Cui received his B.S. and M.S. in bioengineering from Jiangnan University in China.
Cheyanne Harris
The intersection of infrastructure implementation and community stewardship
Cheyanne Harris is pursuing her M.S. in civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. She received her B.S. in civil engineering from University of the Pacific in 2017 and developed a passion for sustainable infrastructure while studying in Japan.
Alaknanda Mishra
Exploring pathophysiology and translational therapies in retinal degeneration
Alaknanda Mishra is a postdoctoral fellow studying retinal degeneration disorders, their pathology, and underlying mechanisms in both animal models and human samples. She earned her Ph.D. (regenerative medicine) at the National Institute of Immunology (Delhi, India), and her M.S. (zoology) and B.S. (botany, chemistry and zoology) at Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi, India).
Ryan North
More effective evaluation of rehabilitation techniques
Ryan North is a Ph.D. student in bioengineering and biomedical engineering and a graduate research assistant at the College of Engineering, where he works in collaboration with the National Primate Research Center in quantifying nonhuman primates’ behavior before and after injury. He plans to use the same methodology in a human population to create a more direct translative method for evaluating rehabilitation techniques between populations.
Achala Rao
A commitment to SynBio entrepreneurship and global sustainability
Achala Rao is a master’s student in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering; she received her B.S. in biological systems engineering from UC Davis in 2019.