Current Lab Members
Flavia Da Cunha Franco, Ph.D.
Flavia received her Ph.D in Brazil and is a postdoctoral Fellow in the lab interested in translational biomedical and cancer research.
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Jeffrey White, Ph.D.
Jeffrey received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and is a post-doctoral fellow in the lab interested in translational biomedical and cancer research and bioinformatics.
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Mo Ruchhoeft, Ph.D, Lab Manager
Mo received her B.A. in Biology from Wellesley College and her Masters and Ph.D. from the Group in Neurosciences at UCSD. She joined the Klemke lab in 2021 as a research assistant and lab manager, after many years away from scientific research. She is happy to be back in an academic environment, and is enthusiastic about contributing the lab's goal of creating new bioinspired therapeutics to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Former Lab members
Hua Wei Wang, Ph.D.
Huawei Wang was a Senior Assistant Project Scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab. He received his Ph.D. from Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He joined the Klemke lab in September 2012 as a postdoctoral scholar. He established the PEAK1 knockout mouse model and identified the important role of PEAK1 in both development and tumor-induced angiogenesis. He then took the lead role in the lab to develop the novel Cargocyte platform, which is in development to treat cancer and other inflammatory diseases. Hua Wei recently accepted a faculty position in Guangzho, China.
Willie Pi, M.S.
Willie received his B.S in Biochemistry/Cell Biology at UC San Diego. He joined the Klemke Lab as a volunteer in Spring 2018 and hopes to gain more experience in a research lab setting. He is interested in translational research and how cell-based therapies can be used to treat various conditions. Willie received his Masters degree from UCSD in 2021 and is now working in the biotechnology industry at Sorrento Therapeutics in San Diego.
Dale Allen, B.A.
Dale received a B.A in Biology from the University of San Diego. Before joining the Klemke lab in May 2019, Dale did research at USD and in the biotech industry. Companies included Samumed LLC, and Arcturus Therapeutics. Dale is interesting in gaining research experience to prepare himself for a future PhD program. He is interested in cell biology and inflammatory diseases. Dale now works in a laboratory at the Scripps Institute.
Christina Alarcón, Ph.D., D.V.M.
Christina graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology and a concentration in animal models of human disease in 2006. During that time, she worked as a necropsy technician in the Stanford School of Medicine under the tutelage of veterinary pathologist Dr. Donna Bouley, DVM, PhD, DACVP. It was there that she discovered her passion for veterinary pathology, animal models in research, and teaching. She received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012, and then completed a residency in Veterinary Anatomic Pathology with an emphasis in Laboratory Animal Pathology, also at UC Davis in 2015. She started the UC San Diego Biomedical Sciences graduate program in Fall 2015 with an interest in cancer biology, and joined the Klemke lab in Winter 2016. She will be completing the American College of Veterinary Pathologist (ACVP) board certification exam in the Fall 2016. She is excited to start experiments investigating mechanisms and optimization of natural killer cell function as immunotherapeutic agents against primary and metastatic cancers. Christina earned her Ph.D. in the Klemke lab at UCSD and is now working in the biotechnology industry in San Diego.
Bei Liu, Ph.D.
Bei received her Ph.D. as a joint training student of the University of Science and Technology of China and the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. As a graduate student of Dr. Jinhui Wang, she focused on morphological and functional changes of dendritic spines in neurons during the formation of anxiety-like behavior in mice. In February 2016, she joined the Klemke lab as a post-doc. Her interests include immunotherapies of glioblastoma and brain metastases of breast cancer.
Felicia Watson, B.S.
Felicia graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology in 2016. During her time there she volunteered in Dr. Rodrigo Almeida's lab in the College of Natural Resources studying the biology and ecology of insect-transmitted plant pathogens in California. She joined the Klemke lab in June 2016 as a research assistant and lab manager. She is looking forward to gaining more experience in academic research and learning more about biomedical science and cancer.