Dr. Cash

Dr. Jennifer Cash

Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator

B.S. in Zoology – Kent State University

Undergraduate research advisor: Dr. Gail Fraizer

Ph.D. in Structural Biology – University of Cincinnati

Graduate advisor: Dr. Thomas Thompson

Postdoc in Structural Biology – University of Michigan

Postdoc advisor: Dr. John Tesmer

Postdoc advisor: Dr. Michael Cianfrocco

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Personal Bio: Dr. Cash has had a career-long interest in understanding signaling pathways from structural biology and mechanistic perspectives. Her interests in this began as an undergraduate in the lab of Dr. Fraizer studying VEGF signaling. She began her training in structural biology as a graduate student by joining the lab of Dr. Thompson, there learning X-ray crystallography and studying regulation in TGF-ß signaling pathways. She furthered her training as a postdoc in the lab of Dr. Tesmer, learning mechanisms in downstream GPCR signaling, including RhoGEF pathways. She also extended her pallet of structural biology methods in the lab of Dr. Cianfrocco, picking up the technique of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). In starting up her own lab here at UC Davis, she plans to continue work on the P-Rex subfamily of RhoGEFs and to expand out to study other Dbl RhoGEF family members and how their signaling is regulated. Dr. Cash has a passion for structural biology and making it accessible to a wide audience and user base. She takes mentoring seriously and is looking for new members who want to join the lab in the near future.

Lauren Anderson

Lauren Anderson

Graduate Student, BMCDB

B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology – UC Davis

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Personal Bio: Lauren Anderson is a BMCDB graduate student in the Cash Lab. Her research interests lie within the realm of cell motility and how the cytoskeleton plays a role in cell movement. During her undergraduate research, she studied microtubule inner proteins in T. thermophila cilia with the guidance of Dr. Mark Winey (UC Davis) where she looked at protein domain structure-function relationships from a molecular biology perspective. Currently, her work in the Cash lab primarily focuses on how RhoGEFs, like P-Rex proteins, are regulated to drive appropriate levels of cellular movement through activation of small GTPases. Using a structural and biochemical perspective, she aims to uncover the intricacies of how P-Rex2 is regulated by PTEN and other signaling molecules.

Brandon Bartelmie

Junior Specialist and Lab Manager

UC Davis

Personal Bio: Brandon graduated from UC Davis in Spring 2022 and will pursue an M.D./Ph.D with the goal of understanding how we can develop new therapeutics involving gene editing for people affected by genetic diseases. Brandon is currently spending his gap year in the Cash lab and is hoping to learn more about structure, function, and mechanisms of signaling proteins, their implications in cancer, and how we can design therapies for cancers that develop because of them.

Chi Phan

Undergraduate student at UC Davis

Studying for B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Personal Bio: Chi is a third year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major who joined the Cash Lab during Summer 2022. She is interested in learning about protein signaling and regulation, especially in relation to the causation of diseases like cancer. Chi is excited to gain experience working in a lab and learning about different lab techniques. She is thrilled to learn about structural biology during her time at the Cash lab.

Matthew Braga

Graduate Student, BMCDB

B.S. in Biochemistry – University of Southern California

Pronouns: he/him/his

Personal Bio: Matthew Braga is a BMCDB graduate student in the Cash Lab. His research interests are broadly related to studying the cellular mechanisms that result in diseases like cancer. In his time as an undergraduate, Matt studied uncharacterized genes in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and investigated their roles in promoting genome integrity. Matt will now focus on how the RhoGEF, PDZ-RhoGEF, is regulated in the absence of active GPCR signaling. Matt is really looking forward to working with the Cash Lab and learning more about signaling pathways, biochemistry and structural biology.

Rohan Marde

Undergraduate student at UC Davis

Studying for B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Personal Bio: Rohan Marde is a first year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology undergraduate student at UC Davis who joined the Cash Lab in Spring 2023. He is excited to learn about academic research, especially in the fields of cell signaling, electron microscopy, and structural biology. In the future, he hopes to pursue a career in pharmaceutical research.

Emma Barpal

Junior Specialist and Lab Manager

B.S in Pharmaceutical Chemistry with a Minor in Neuroscience – UC Davis

Personal Bio: Emma graduated from UC Davis in Spring 2023 and is excited to embark on her journey in the Cash lab as she prepares for graduate school. During her undergraduate studies, she spent time in Dr. Whistler’s opioid lab, where she delved into the intricacies of experience-dependent myelination secondary to the release of the protein dynorphin. Emma’s keen interest in cell signaling and cascades has made her eager to explore the role of RhoGEF structure and signaling.

Lily Stine

Rotating Graduate Student, BMCDB

B.S in General Biology – UC San Diego

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Personal Bio: Lily is a graduate student in the BMCDB Program at UC Davis. Her research interests include protein-protein interactions and signal transduction. During her undergraduate research, she studied protein quality control pathways under the guidance of Dr. Randolph Hampton (UCSD) looking at ligand-dependent regulated degradation of a conserved metabolic protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Lily is excited to learn more about RhoGEF signaling and structural biology during her rotation in the Cash Lab.