The Nuñez lab welcomes scientists from all backgrounds regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic background, or other historically marginalized groups. We strive to foster an inclusive lab environment where every lab member will thrive. We celebrate diversity and its power to drive the creativity needed to make innovative scientific discoveries.
James Nuñez, PhD
Principal Investigator
James is an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at UC Berkeley, a Hanna Gray Fellow of HHMI, and an Investigator of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. Previously, he was a postdoc fellow with Jonathan Weissman at UCSF and earned his PhD at UC Berkeley in Jennifer Doudna's lab. James is interested in all things CRISPR and chromatin biology. Outside the lab, you will likely find James on a tennis court or outdoors on his bike or hiking boots.
contact: jamesnunez[at]berkeley.edu
Nikita Divekar, PhD
Postdoc
Nikita earned her PhD from Northwestern University. She is a recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).
contact: nsd178[at]berkeley.edu
Da Xu, PhD
Postdoc
Da earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China. Currently, Da is interested in the development and engineering of epigenetic editing tools, with a focus on protein-directed evolution research. Outside of the lab, Da enjoys cooking and hiking.
contact: xd101928[at]berkeley.edu
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Luis Galán Palma, PhD
Postdoc
Luis earned his PhD in Biomedicine from Hospital Del Mar Research Institute and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. Luis is interested in how chromatin states influence stem cell fate during development and disease. Outside the lab, Luis enjoys practicing any sport and cooking.
contact: luigalpal[at]berkeley.edu
Rithu Pattali
MCB Graduate Student
Rithu is a fourth year PhD student in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department, jointly advised by Dr. Jennifer Doudna. She is a PhD fellow of the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation, a graduate fellow of the University of California Cancer Research Coordinating Committee and an Innovation Fellow of Bakar Labs.
contact: rithupattali[at]berkeley.edu
Izaiah Ornelas
MCB Graduate Student
Izaiah is a fourth year PhD student in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department and a recipient of a Gilliam Fellowship from HHMI, a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a UC Berkeley Mentored Research Award.
Izaiah works on developing CRISPR based epigenetic editors and aims to modulate gene expression in human cells for transient and heritable gene expression.
contact: izaiah_ornelas[at]berkeley.edu
Justin Lubin
Computer Science Graduate Student
Justin is a fifth year PhD student in the Computer Science Department and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. He researches programming languages and human-computer interaction to design programming systems for nontraditional programmers.
contact: justinlubin[at]berkeley.edu
Anna Christenson
MCB Graduate Student
Anna is a third year PhD student in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department.
She is studying the biological mechanisms of heterochromatin establishment and spreading in human cells.
contact: anna_christenson[at]berkeley.edu
Swen Besselink
Visiting Scholar
Swen is a second year Masters student in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from the Radboud University, the Netherlands. During his internship in the Nuñez Lab, he will be investigating new epigenetic-editing tools for therapeutic applications.
contact: swenbesselink[at]berkeley.edu
Ngan Phan
MCB Graduate Student
Ngan is a second year PhD student in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department.
contact: ngan_phan[at]berkeley.edu
Jinna Brim
MCB Graduate Student
Jinna is a second year PhD student in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department.
contact: jinnabrim[at]berkeley.edu
Peter Colias
Research Associate
Peter earned his bachelor's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley. He is performing post-baccalaureate research prior to applying for graduate school.
contact: pjcolias[at]berkeley.edu
Carolyn Nguyen
Undergraduate Student
Carolyn is a third year studying Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Molecular Therapeutics and Business Administration. Carolyn is a SURF Rose Hills Fellow and an Amgen Scholar at UCSF.
contact: carolyndvn[at]berkeley.edu
Mitzi Hernandez
Undergraduate Student
Mitzi is a fourth year Integrative Biology major with an emphasis in human biology.
contact: mh29[at]berkeley.edu
Bernardo Moreno
Undergraduate Student
Bernardo is a fourth year studying Bioengineering with an emphasis on Tissue Engineering.
contact: bmorenoarteaga[at]berkeley.edu
Anisha Shukla
Undergraduate Student
Anisha is a first-year undergraduate student studying bioengineering on the pre-med track. She is currently a SEED Scholar at UC Berkeley.
contact: anisha_shukla[at]berkeley.edu
Andrea Nuñez
Administrative Assistant
Andrea earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at Colorado State University. In addition to being the Nuñez Lab administrative assistant, she is also a mother of two boys and a german shepherd.
contact: andreanunez[at]berkeley.edu
You!
Postdoc • Graduate Student • Research Assistant • Undergraduate Student • Visiting Scholar
We accept graduate students from the Molecular and Cell Biology PhD program. Postdocs, research assistants, undergraduate students, and visiting scholars should reach out to James: jamesnunez [at] berkeley [dot] edu
Alumni
Former Undergraduate Students
Anatori Prieto, Ted Llera (McNair Scholar; now PhD student at UC Berkeley), Paulina Rios (Summer Amgen Scholar; now NSF GRFP PhD Student at MIT), Michelle Adutwum (Summer UCSF SSRP/CIRM Scholar; now college student at Johns Hopkins), Lily Baulete (Summer Intern), Eric Bass (Amgen Scholar), Jason Tello (REU Summer Scholar), Jerry Roberts
Former Research Associates
Scarleth Chalen Ulloa (now PhD student at UC Berkeley)