University of California, San Diego
Dr. Elina Zuniga, PhD, PI CONTACT
I was honored with the highest recognition for best academic performance during my undergraduate education at the National University of Cordoba (Argentina) and completed my PhD on Trypanosome cruzi infection at the same institution and via an internship at the Birmingham Medical School (United Kingdom). My doctoral thesis work was recognized with an international award from the Belgium State Secretary for Development Co-operation. I then performed a five-year post-doctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla CA, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Oldstone, where I studied Dendritic Cells, T cells and viral infections and I was awarded two post-doctoral fellowships from Antorchas Foundation and Pew Charitable Trust. In 2007 I joined the UCSD Faculty to initiate my independent research program and since then I received several honors including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Scholar Award, the American Cancer Society Scholar Award, the Vilcek Finalist Prize For Creative Promise, the invitation for the American Association of Immunologists Vanguard Lecture, and the election as aFellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, among others. In addition, I am member of the NIH “Virology B” Study Section and the American Association of Immunologists Nominating Commitee.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Trever Greene, PhD CONTACT
UCSD, June 2017-present. Trever obtained his PhD degree from UC Berkeley. Since joining the Zuniga lab Trever has been honored with the Best Poster Award at La Jolla Immunology Conference (2018), an invitation to orally present his work at the American Association of Immunology Annual Meeting (2019) and the Best Poster Award at the American Association of Immunology Midwinter Conference (2020).
Carolina Ferreira Chiale CONTACT
UCSD, November 2020-present. Carolina received her BS and MSc from the University of the Republic in Uruguay, and she obtained her PhD degree from Albany Medical College.
Graduate Students
Katelynn Kazane CONTACT
PhD student at the Division of Biological Sciences-UCSD/Salk Graduate Program. July 2019-present.
Kateynn has been appointed as a trainee in the Cell and Molecular Genetics (CMG) Training Program in 2019.
Yuhui (Sunny) Luo CONTACT
PhD student at the Division of Biological Sciences-UCSD/Salk Graduate Program. July 2020-present. Sunny is co-mentored by Dr. Cory Root and Dr. Elina Zuniga.
Kiana Miyamoto CONTACT
PhD student at the Division of Biological Sciences-UCSD/Salk Graduate Program. August 2020-Present. Kiana completed her undergraduate education at UCSD in Cognitive Science and Physiology & Neuroscience in 2016. She received her Master's in Public Health from George Washington University in 2019. Kiana was appointed as a trainee in the T32 Pathways in Biological Science (PiBS) training program in 2020.
Dina Zangwill CONTACT
PhD Division of Biological Sciences-UCSD/Salk Graduate Program. August 2020-present. Dina completed her undergraduate education at Chapman University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2017.
Undergraduate Students
Tyna Ryu CONTACT
Undergraduate Researcher. UCSD. La Jolla. October 2018-Present
Lab Manager/Research Associate
CJ Hattori CONTACT
UCSD. La Jolla. October 2019-present.
Administrative Assistants
Alyona BobkovaCONTACT
Administrative Assistant. La Jolla. July 2019-present.
Jaymee SandfordCONTACT
Fund Manager. La Jolla. July 2018-present.
Former Lab Members
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Ellen Wehrens, PhD
UCSD, July 2013-June 2018. Awarded Rubicon postdoctoral fellowship by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and UCSD Chancellor’s Research Excellence Scholarships (CRES).
Andre V. Fernandes, PhD
UCSD, June 2017-May 2018.
Simone Dallari, PhD
UCSD, September 2013-March 2017. Awarded doctoral fellowship by University of Milan.Competed successfully for position as postdoctoral at New York University.
Kurt Wong, PhD
UCSD, January 2013-April 2016. Competed successfully for a Scientist position at Synthetic Genomics.
Eugenia Loureiro, PhD
UCSD, September 2012- April 2016. Competed successfully for an Assistant Investigator position at Argentinean National Research Council to initiate her independent research program.
Monica Macal, PhD
UCSD, September 2009-February 2016. Awarded NIH Diversity Supplement.Competed successfully for Scientist II position in Immuno-Oncology Research at Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc.
Burton Barnett, PhD
November 2013-October 2015. Awarded Lymphoma and Leukemia Society postdoctoral fellowship. Competed successfully for Research Scientist position at at Poseida Therapeutics.
James Harker, PhD
UCSD, June 2009-September 2013. Awarded Irvington NCI post-doctoral fellowship. He was awarded Wellcome Trust UK grant to initiate his independent research program.Competed successfully for Faculty of Medicine and Sir Henry Dale Fellow position at Imperial College UK.
Miguel Tam, PhD
UCSD, March 2010-November 2011. Awarded Swedish Research Council postdoctoral fellowship. Competed successfully for position as Technical Service Scientist at Biolegend.
PhD Students
Lara Labarta-Bajo
UCSD 2014-2020. Lara was awarded four doctoral fellowships, published her work in two first-authored papers in Journal of Experimental Medicine and PNAS, and defended her thesis in July 2020. Lara was also awarded the Melvin Cohn Award, which is selected by reviewers from top Institutions across the country and is the highest recognition for students and postdocs at La Jolla Immunology Conference.
Yeara Jo
UCSD 2014-2019. Yeara successfully defended her Doctoral Thesis in September 2019. She received numerous awards and published three papers from the Zuniga-lab, including a co-first authored publication in Immunity in 2018, and afterwards obtained a post-doctoral position at UC Berkeley.
Simone Dallari
Visiting PhD student from University of Milan, September 2013-December 2015. Awarded doctoral fellowship by University of Milan. Joined as post-doctoral fellow at Zuniga-lab, UCSD and subsequently competed for post-doctoral position at University of Cornel, New York.
Gavin Lewis
UCSD, July 2009-September 2015. Competed successfully for post-doctoral fellow position at joint program of Jansen Research Development (a unit at Johnson & Johnson) and University of Southern California.
Roberto Tinoco
UCSD, February 2008-July 2010. Competed succesfully for NIH IRACDA (Institutional Research & Academic Career Development Award) Post-doctoral Fellowship and obtained a position at the Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute.
M. S. Students
Warren Ko: UCSD, January 2019-September 2020
Anna Gramalla: Visiting Master Student from University of Lübeck. May 2018-November 2018.
Prae Pongtornpipat: UCSD, July 2016- November 2017
Phuc Bao: UCSD, August 2012-May 2015
Aron Chang: UCSD, January 2011- December 2012
Aleksand Dolgoter: UCSD, May 2010-November 2012
Charles Hesser:UCSD, May 2010-September 2012
Ellen Lee: UCSD, February 2008-September 2009. Thesis Defense August 31st, 2009.
Lauren Mack: UCSD, January 2008-September 2009. Thesis Defense August 31st, 2009.
Undergraduate Research Advisor
Siddharth Suresh: UCSD. La Jolla. October 2016-Present
Daniel Crubaugh: UCSD. La Jolla. October 2018-2019
Nga Van: UCSD. La Jolla. October 2018-2019
Alma Banag: UCSD.La Jolla. July 2017-September 2018
Ayesha Khan: UCSD. La Jolla. October 2015-June 2017
Maria Mccavitt-malvido:UCSD. La Jolla. July 2016-June 2017
Taylor Howell: UCSD. La Jolla. March 2016-June 2016.
Nathan Guerra: UCSD. La Jolla CA. September 2015-June 2016
Victoria Nudell: UCSD. La Jolla CA. August 2014-June 2016
Jesus Gastelum: UCSD. La Jolla CA. June 2013-December 2013
Natalie R Warsinger-pepe: UCSD. La Jolla CA. November 2010-June 2013
Aileen Espinoza: Visiting internship. UCSD. La Jolla CA. July 2010-August 2010
Poonam Manwani: UCSD. La Jolla CA. September 2009-June 2010
Amber Xu: UCSD. La Jolla CA. May 2009-June 2010
Jessica Lee: UCSD. La Jolla CA. September 2008-June 2009
Mathew Poling: UCSD. La Jolla CA. July 2007-September 2008
Marilyn Mendoza: The Scripps Research Institute. La Jolla, CA. February 2004-July 2006