Lab Members [to be updated]

Lab Members Group Shot
Suckjoon Jun

Suckjoon Jun [(07/2021-) Professor of Physics ] [email] [office 858-534-2384, UH6250] [lab 858-822-1090, UH6249] [Google scholar]

I am a theorist by training in soft-matter and biophysics. I started a wet lab as a Bauer Fellow at the FAS Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University (2007-2012), and moved my lab to UCSD in 2012 to join the qBio initiative. My lab invented the mother machine and discovered the adder principle. Thanks to the work by people in my lab, I have received several awards, including the Allen Distinguished Investigator Award from the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (2013-2016), Pew Scholars Award (2013-2016), NSF CAREER (2013-2018), the Lattimer Award (2019), and most recently the Michael and Kate Bárány Award by the Biophysical Society (2022).

Ryan Thiermann
Ryan Thiermann [graduate student, UCSD physics, qBio, 2017-]
[B.S. in physics, the University of Chicago] [email]

Before coming to the Jun lab, I studied physics and mathematics at the University of Chicago. Here, I am investigating how bacteria coordinate ribosome synthesis with growth as conditions vary. More generally, I’m intrigued by whether and how cellular resource allocation serves to maximize fitness in different environments.

Saransh Umale
Saransh Umale [graduate student,  UCSD biology, qBio, 2018-]
[B.S. in bioengineering, IIT Madras][Ray Thomas Edwards fellow][email]

I studied Biological Engineering (Bachelors & Masters) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai, India. There, I briefly worked on retroactivity in synthetic gene networks. At the Jun lab, I will study the growth of metazoan cellular systems.

Haochen Fu
Haochen Fu [graduate student, UCSD physics, 2019-]
[B.S. in physics, Peking University][email]

I received my BSc in Physics from Peking University in 2019. In Jun lab, I am widely interested in looking for physical laws and principles in biological systems by quantitative approaches. Currently, I am studying the noise control of the chromosome replication initiation.

Aaron Ren
Aaron Ren [graduate student, UCSD physics, 2020-]
[B.S. in physics, UCSD][email]

I started my undergraduate study at UCSD as a biophysics major student, and fell in love with looking into biological systems through the lens of simple and intuitive physics. I started to work as a lab assistant in Suckjoon's lab when I was a junior, exploring the behavior of division proteins in E. coli cells. Now, my graduate path is a continuation of my passion on biophysics and quantitative biology, and my first markstone on my graduate program will be on the topic of mitochondria topology within yeast cells. Utilizing digital micro mirror device and other microscopic techniques, I'm looking forward to unveiling the pattern of internal connection within mitochondria and to understanding the topology-physiology relation.

Aman Sharma
Aman Sharma [graduate student (UCSD physics, 2020-)]
[B.S. in physics, IIT Bombay] [email]

I received by bachelors in Engineering Physics from IIT Bombay. I am interested in understanding how interesting biological features emerge from the underlying physical laws..
Michael Sandler
Michael Sandler [graduate student (UCSD physics, 2021-)]
[B.S. in physics and CS & math; previously at Google/YouTube] [email]

Towards the end of my four years at the University of Illinois, I fell in love with statistical mechanics and realized that I could use my quantitative background to study living systems. From there, my path was set. Broadly, I am interested in using tabletop science to understand biological systems through the lens of mathematics. At the Junlab, I am currently looking into the strategies that bacteria use to regulate their morphology.
Aniket Zodage
Aniket Zodage [graduate student (UCSD physics, 2022-)]
[BS-MS at IISER Pune] [email]

During my undergraduate, at IISER Pune, I fell in love with statistical physics as it provides tools to study multiparticle systems with simple and elegant approaches. I found biological systems intriguing because of their complexity and as opportunities to use these approaches as well as develop new such approaches. This got me interested in biophysics. At Jun Lab, I am broadly interested in designing physical models to study bacterial cells using the hybrid approach of experiments and theory development.
Cara Jensen
Cara Jensen [undergraduate (UCSD physics/biophysics)]

After spending several years as a professional in the music and art industry, unexpected events shifted my creative energy toward biophysics. Here I have found a true passion for biological systems and how multidisciplinary approaches can further our understanding of them.

Sofia Geva
Sofia Geva [undergraduate (UCSD physics/biophysics)]
I am an undergraduate majoring in physics with a specialization in biophysics. I’ve been interested in physics and math for many years, and in particular, applying these disciplines to the study of biological systems.
Jihyun In
Jihyun In [undergraduate]

Ziyuan Shu
Ziyuan Shu (Su) [undergraduate]





Former Lab Members (UCSD)

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