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.

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.

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.

Ashna Kadambi

Undergraduate researcher, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology – UC Davis

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Personal Bio: I’m a second-year Biochemistry & Molecular Biology undergraduate at UC Davis driven by curiosity about how chemical principles shape biological systems at the molecular level. Through hands-on lab coursework with PCR, gel electrophoresis, and analytical techniques, I’ve developed a strong interest in experimental research and data-driven discovery. With a background in sustainability, I’m especially interested in how biochemical insights can inform real-world challenges, and I’m excited to contribute to ongoing work at Cash Lab.

William Chen

Undergraduate researcher, Biotechnology – UC Davis

Personal Bio: William is a UCLEADS scholar with the Cash Lab approaching his third year as an undergraduate. His research interests lie in protein design and protein biochemistry. In his time at Davis, he has also worked with Dr. Heike Wulff’s Lab studying protein binders and nanobodies to target potassium ion channels. In the Cash Lab, William aims to purify and express NW30 MSPs and sortase A in order facilitate easier cryo-EM data processing for RhoGEFs.