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.

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.

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.

Dr. Herra Mendoza

Postdoctoral Researcher

Ph.D. Chemistry and Chemical Biology – University of California, Davis

M.S. Biochemistry – University of the Philippines Los Baños

B.S. Biochemistry – University of the Philippines Manila

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Personal Bio: Herra’s interest in protein biochemistry began when she worked on the purification and enzymatic characterization of the multifunctional stress response protein, OsGLP8-2, in the lab of Dr. Ajay Kohli at the International Rice Research Institute for her master’s thesis. The intricacies of how this protein’s oligomerization states and post-translational modifications differentially affect its activity and function made her pursue her doctoral degree at UC Davis, where she utilized tools in chemical and structural biology to study the structure, substrate recognition, and specificity of the RNA editing enzyme, ADAR, in the lab of Prof. Peter Beal. In the Cash lab, Herra aims to further her training in structural biology while studying the detailed regulation of the RhoGEF protein, P-Rex1.

Grace Muma

Undergraduate researcher

Personal Bio: Grace is a Biotechnology major with a specialization in Bioinformatics. Her research interests lie broadly within protein structure in relation to function. In the Cash Lab, she is studying the regulation of RhoGEFs and their interactions within the cell motility pathway. After graduating, she hopes to continue researching the role of proteins in the context of human health and future therapeutic applications.

Huantong Chen

Graduate Student, Biophysics

M.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences – Imperial College, London

B.S. in Biochemistry – Imperial College, London

Personal Bio: Huantong is a Biophysics graduate student in the Cash Lab. During his B.S. and M.S., he studied the structures and functions of bacterial flagellum motor and human oncoprotein c-Myc. His research interests lie on the dynamics and interactions between biomolecules essential to health. He is particularly interested in the combination of cryo-EM and biochemistry to reveal their mechanisms that favors potential therapeutics to relevant diseases.

Imani Cowart

Undergraduate researcher, UC LEADS program

Personal Bio: Imani is a rising fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Irvine and is studying for a degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Her research interests lie in protein structure and function, currently with a focus on innate immunity protein interactions and bacterial defense systems. Outside of the lab, she tutors organic chemistry and works as a peer mentor. After graduation, she hopes to continue researching protein structures and their roles in defense responses.

Kush Shah

Undergraduate lab technician

Personal Bio: Kush is an incoming Junior in Biochemistry with a Minor in Computer Science. He hopes to explore a career in biochemistry research to understand how the human body functions at a fundamental, molecular level. He is especially interested in protein dynamics and structural biology. He also loves to code and hopes to use his computer science background to expedite bench work and data analytics.