Carrie Partch (CV) 

Principal Investigator
Email Address: 
Superpower: Prolific consumption of caffeinated beverages
 

I graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics, where I worked with Aziz Sancar to study the molecular basis of circadian rhythmicity. I went to the 'dark side' for my postdoctoral fellowship, training in biophysical techniques including solution NMR spectroscopy at UT Southwestern Medical Center. I worked with Kevin Gardner to identify novel structural regulatory motifs on the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor, HIF, and with Joe Takahashi, to study the related bHLH-PAS transcription factor that drives circadian rhythmicity, CLOCK:BMAL1. In our lab, we strive to address these questions: How do animals measure time and use it to control biology on a daily basis?

Maria Ayala

Undergraduate research assistant  |  UCSC STEM Diversity Dreamer's Program

Superpower: Capturing nature's beauty in a photograph

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Priya Crosby

EMBO Long-Term Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Email address:

Superpower: I have an encyclopedic knowledge of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'

I graduated from St. Catharine's College, Cambridge in 2013 with a BA in Natural Sciences (Pharmacology). I subsequently completed my PhD - entitled 'Metabolic regulation of circadian timekeeping' - at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, also in Cambridge, under the supervision of Dr. John O'Neill. Having decided that there were far too many interesting questions in circadian biology to stop quite yet, I joined the Partch Lab in 2018

Diana Etwaru

Undergraduate research assistant

Superpower: Painting everything from landscapes to memes

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Alfred Freeberg

Undergraduate research assistant

Superpower: Orchestrating elaborate venmo payments

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Jennifer Fribourgh

UCSC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Yale University

Email address:

Superpower: Zen master of chromatography

I graduated from Yale University with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. There I worked with Yong Xiong to investigate the innate immune response to HIV infection. In the Partch lab, I am working on elucidating structural and biochemical characteristics of the core clock proteins. 

Crystal Garcia

Undergraduate research assistant  |  California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) Scholar

Superpower: If it's not labeled, it will be once I get my hands on it

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Adriana Gracia

Undergraduate research assistant

Superpower: Knowing all the lyrics to most Disney songs

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Ray Harold

Graduate student

Superpower: Whipping floppy protein tails into line

I graduated from the University of Montevallo with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry.

Taylor Holt

Undergraduate research assistant

Superpower: Chasing down post-translational modifications

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Joseph Palacios

Undergraduate research assistant  |  NIH IMSD Scholar

Superpower: The patience to handle proteins, long lab experiments, and your attitude.

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I’m a transfer student from Modesto Junior College. As an undergrad at UCSC, I’ve become a member of STEM Diversity program and the NIH-funded Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD).

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Gian Carlo Parico

Graduate student |  HHMI Gilliam Fellow

Superpower: Screening for circadian rhythms drugs for Batman can work the (K)night shift

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I graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S. in Bioengineering. After spending a few years in the biotech industry working on intrinsically-disordered proteins, it only felt natural to go back to school and study protein structure. In 2017, I joined the Partch lab to research how protein-protein interactions lead to 24-hour timekeeping in the cell.

Jon Philpott

Graduate student

Superpower: Woodworking / carpentry

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I finished my undergraduate degree up in beautiful northern California, where I studied biochemistry and applied statistics at Humboldt State University. I joined the Partch lab because I am fascinated by how structural biology and biochemistry can inform our understanding of emergent phenomena such as circadian rhythms.

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Andrea Ramos Coronado

Undergraduate research assistant  |   NIH IMSD Scholar

Superpower: Lifting weights and eating lots of food!

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Becca Spangler

Joint graduate student with Jordan Ward's lab

Superpower: Making it all look so easy...

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I graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Biochemistry and a minor in Biology. In 2019, I joined the Partch lab to study the similarities between different biological time-keeping mechanisms. 

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Jeff Swan

Graduate student

Superpower: Kinetics, kinetics and more kinetics!

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B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University

M.S. Chemistry, University of Colorado at Boulder

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My scientific career up to this point has focused primarily on structural kinetics and the enzymology of phosphoryl transfer. In the Partch lab, I am interested in understanding how the coordination of these processes is transduced into biological rhythmicity. To this end, I will be studying a (relatively) simplified circadian clock derived from cyanobacteria.

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