WCOYOTELAB.COM - Key Persons

Catherine attended Simon Fraser University for her undergraduate studies and investigated redox reactions in the blue copper protein azurin. For her PhD, she is co-mentored by Dr. Brian Shoichet and studies the mechanism of ligand-dependent GPCR activation to develop better therapeutics. When she is not thinking about science, Catherine enjoys taking photos, listening to podcasts, and visiting the different store cats throughout the city.

Christian graduated from Arizona State University with degrees in Mathematics and Biochemistry, where he conducted research in the total synthesis of marine natural products with Dr. George Pettit. Afterwards, he attended the University of Michigan for his Ph.D. in Biophysics. In Dr. Randy Stockbridge's lab, he studied the evolution and function of a number of membrane protein families. As a postdoctoral fellow Chris is co-mentored by Dr. James Fraser working on developing deep mutational scanning molecular biology and computational pipelines and applying these to study the evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Outside of lab, he enjoys books, music, being outdoors and/or on a bike, and drinking too much coffee.

Job Titles:

• Graduate Student, BMS ( F31 NRSA )

Job Titles:

• SRTP Student

Job Titles:

• Graduate Student, Biophysics ( NSF GRFP )

Job Titles:

• SRTP Student

Matt's research focuses on developing and using mutational scanning platforms to study GPCR biology with the goal of generating holistic models for how receptors work at the protein level, and how perturbations propagate across cell biology and physiology. Prior to UCSF, Matt graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with degrees in chemistry and biology. At WashU, Matt worked in the Jackrel Lab studying structure- function relationships in the disaggregase Hsp104 and strategies for disrupting biofilm- associated amyloids.

Job Titles:

• Summer Student

Job Titles:

• Fellow

Noah received his Bachelor's in Biophysics from Harvard University. He then worked at the Broad Institute, where he analyzed DNA sequencing data to identify the genomic drivers that separate low-grade and high-grade brain cancers. Following his work at the Broad, he received his Ph.D in Cancer Biology from Stanford University, where he was co-advised by Mike Angelo and Christina Curtis. While at Stanford, Noah developed machine learning tools to profile highly-multiplexed imaging data. He then used these tools to characterize the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer patient samples, combining this spatial information with paired DNA and RNA sequencing data to predict patient response to immunotherapy. In the Coyote-Maestas lab, Noah will be using deep mutational scanning to understand the cross talk between cancer and immune cells.

Job Titles:

• Junior Specialist

Priyanka did her Bachelor's in Biochemistry at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi and her Master's in Biochemistry at the University of Hyderabad. She completed her Ph.D. from Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science under Prof. Raghavan Vardarajan. Her Ph.D. work involved developing high-thoughput screens for measuring the mutational sensitivity of the toxin component of the toxin-antitoxin system of E. coli. She carried out deep mutational scans of the site-saturation mutagenesis library and single-site synonymous mutant library of the toxin gene in operonic context.

I'm co-advised by Willow Coyote-Maestas and Robert Stroud. I am combining high throughput mutational scanning with biochemical and biophysical assays to study the mechanistic effects of mutations on transporters. In undergrad, I did my undergrad thesis with Randy Stockbridge, where I did structural and functional characterization of small multidrug resistant transporters. I'm now interested in using chemotherapeutic resistance as a model for studying substrate specificity. I think transporters are really neat :)

Job Titles:

• Junior Specialist

Rosa Sanchez received her bachelor's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As an undergraduate student, she worked in a Biochemistry and Chemistry Lab, under Michael Stone. Here, she learned about the telomeres and telomerase. One of her favorite parts was learning about shelterin proteins and purifying them! Rosa really enjoys going on long walks, conversations over a cup of tea, and watching comedy. Her favorite foods are pozole and tacos.

Job Titles:

• Faculty Support Analyst to Dr. James Fraser and Others / Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences

Steve Ha Faculty Support Analyst to Dr. James Fraser and others Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences email: Steve.Ha (at) ucsf.edu tel: 415 502-8084

Job Titles:

• Principal Investigator
• Assistant Professor / Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences / California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences

Willow graduated from the Evergreen State College with degrees in Chemistry and Environmental studies. As an undergraduate in Dr. Anitra Ingalls's lab at the University of Washington, he studied how B vitamins mediate microbial interactions and diversity in the open ocean. For graduate school, Willow did his Ph.D. in Dr. Daniel Schmidt's lab at the University of Minnesota, where he developed massively parallel sequencing-based methods to study and engineer membrane proteins proteins. Willow found mutational and insertional scanning methods can be useful for identifying regions of a protein involved in functionally meaningful conformational changes, developed mechanistic models for how to assemble protein domains to create useful multi-domain protein tools, and studied the evolution of ion channel regulation. Near the end of his PhD, Willow moved to the SF Bay Area to be close to family for personal reasons and took up residence as a visitor in Dr. James Fraser's lab at UCSF. Within mere weeks the Covid pandemic struck leading Willow to become stuck in the Bay Area and was convinced to stick around for a bit longer at UCSF as an HHMI Hanna Gray and QBI Fellow. In this role, Willow further developed mechanistic genetic screening approaches for studying how membrane proteins fold, traffic, function, and are regulated. This experience was a tremendous amount of fun and convinced both Willow and the UCSF community to make it an even longer term journey together when Willow was appointed as an Assistant Professor in Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF. Overall, Willow is inspired to develop a deep and comprehensive molecular, cellular, and physiological understanding for how membrane proteins allows us to interact with the world around us, how they break to cause the diseases that ail us, and how we can better treat these diseases with therapeutics. More broadly Willow wants to keep growing, learning, and having fun through the scientific endeavor! Outside of lab Willow enjoys spending time with dear friends and family, creating and listening to music, enjoying and making delicious food, and meandering through nature.