1. leading the various collaborative projects focused on embryonic stem cell biology, initiated as part of the Center for Excellence in Stem Cell Genomics (CESCG) funded by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). For more details, please visit Salk CESCG
2. building gene regulatory networks [epigenetic and transcription factor mediated regulation] that shape early development in mouse, which is important to understand severe birth defects in humans like orofacial clefts and congenital heart defects, as part of the ENCODE phase 3 project,
3. analyzing transcriptomic changes in the brain during development of schizophrenia model of mouse which is relevant to understand long-term effects of neuropsychiatric disorders,
4. profiling the small RNA landscape of embryonic stem (ES) cells and their early lineages in order to elucidate their role in cellular differentiation.

I did my PhD in the lab of Dr. Paul Khavari at Stanford University, where I used massively parallel reporter assays to investigate non-coding germline genetic variants linked to cancer risk. I joined the Ecker lab in June, 2025, where I am working on understanding interactions between genetic and immune risk factors in autism.

I’m a postdoctoral fellow at the Ecker lab since December 2023, I did my Ph.D. work with Dr. Tony Wynshaw-Boris at Case Western Reserve University. During my graduate studies, I leveraged CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and human induced pluripotent stem cells(hiPSC) models to study the disease mechanism of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I discovered that ASD genetic background and a PTEN variant contribute to dysregulated cortical neurogenesis. I also co-developed a lineage tracing system in cortical organoids, revealing how an ASD-specific WNT pathway variant affects neuronal production in specific lineages.

Currently, I’m at the Ecker lab, focusing on developing and optimizing epigenetic editing tools using hiPSC models.

I graduated from UCSD with a MS in Biology and shortly after joined the Ecker Lab in July 2025 as a research assistant. My work goes towards the Brain Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) project where I help prepare/sort nuclei for snm3C-seq libraries and help run the MERFISH pipeline to create comprehensive transcriptomic imaging of the human brain. I have interest in epigenetics and how environmental factors may contribute to genetic variation.

I received my B.S. in Neurobiology from UCSD in 2023 and joined the Ecker lab in November 2024. As part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) project, I help prepare libraries for the single-cell methylation pipeline, and help run the MERFISH pipeline by working on tissue preparation and imaging using Merscopes.

I graduated from UCSD with a Bachelor’s in Human Biology and joined the Ecker GAL Lab in July 2025 as a Research Assistant. My main focus is on the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN), where I help prep snmC-seq3 libraries. Prior to the Ecker Lab, I was a research volunteer in Dr. Julie Law’s lab at Salk, where I investigated the targeting of RNA-directed DNA methylation in Arabidopsis.

May is a graduate student from UCSD biological sciences. She received her B.S. in Genetics and Genomics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021. May has been working in the Ecker GAL lab since 2022 and is now studying genetic and epigenetic regulations in diseased human brains.

I am a graduate student in the Biomedical Sciences program at UCSD. Previously, I graduated from the University of Washington with a dual BS degrees in Microbiology and Public Health (’22). Afterwards, I worked for a year at a precisions diagnostics biotech company in the Bay Area. I officially joined the Ecker Lab in June 2024 and have been analyzing how DNA methylation patterns evolve during biological development since.

Qiurui Rachel Zeng is a graduate student in the Biological Science Program at UC San Diego. She received her BA in Biomedical Science at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in June 2020. She joined the Ecker Lab in May 2022 and is now studying age-related epigenetic patterns in the mouse brain using single cell epigenetic sequencing technologies.