Head of Laboratory
Minji Byun, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Minji Byun received her Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences from POSTECH, Korea, and then moved to the US to pursue graduate studies. She did her thesis work on novel immune evasion mechanisms of cowpox virus in Washington University in St. Louis. Upon receiving her Ph.D. in immunology, she moved to New York City for postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University. There she identified and characterized rare human mutations underlying Kaposi sarcoma and viral myocarditis. After her postdoctoral training, she returned to Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine as faculty, and then recruited to Precision Immunology Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2016. She joined UCI in 2022 as an Assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
Lab Members
Yuri Lee, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yuri Lee received a bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences from Kyung Hee University and a doctorate in Biomedical Sciences from Seoul National University, Korea. She did her thesis work on epigenetic regulation of skin aging. After receiving her PhD, she moved to the United States for her postdoctoral training at the University of Southern California, where she studied characterizing transcription factor target genes of cancer cells. After her postdoctoral training at USC, she joined BYUN lab as a postdoctoral researcher.
Hongseok Yun, Ph.D.
Visiting Scholar
Hongseok Yun received his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST, Korea, specializing in computational algorithms for metabolic engineering. He worked as a Professional R&D Expert at Samsung SDS, where he led projects in genomic analysis, and later served as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Genomic Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital. There, he developed NGS assays and multi-omics pipelines for clinical applications. With expertise in bioinformatics, genomics, and metabolomics, he leverages advanced analytical techniques to enhance personalized diagnostics and treatments. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and spending quality time with his family.
Yoshiko Takahashi, M.S.
Associate Specialist
Yoshiko Takahashi received her bachelor’s degree in Marine Biosciences and master’s degree in Marine Life Sciences at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology in Japan. Since then, she has worked as a researcher in both academia and industry with experiences in the fields of marine biology and regenerative medicine. She has extensive experience in stem cell research, including fish germ line stem cells and human pluripotent stem cells. She hopes to leverage her prior experiences to contribute to discoveries in the BYUN lab leading to the understanding of immune-mediated diseases.
Zach Pope, B.S.
PhD Student
Zach earned his B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Physiology from San Francisco State University in 2020, where he also pursued an M.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology before transitioning to UCI for his doctoral studies. In 2023, Zach joined UCI’s Cellular and Molecular Biosciences (CMB) program and became a member of the Byun lab. He is currently researching the functional roles of DNMT3A in human embryonic stem cells, incorporating dTAG to further explore its role in gene regulation. In his free time, Zach enjoys exploring nature, spending time with family, and teaching himself to play the guitar.
Marie Strauss, B.S.
PhD Student
Born in America, Marie grew up outside the US in southern Kazakhstan and Turkey. She returned to the country of her birth for undergrad and received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Biola University in La Mirada, CA. Now at UCI, Marie splits her time between her graduate studies and time in the lab. In the Byun Lab, she studies immune cells, exploring the effects of genetic mutations on DNA methylation and other epigenetic markers with the aid of UCI’s computing cluster. Outside the lab, Marie loves to explore nature, curl up and read a book, or play board games with friends.
Ulia Lopatin, B.S.
Rotation Student, CMB Program (Spring 2025)
Ulia earned her bachelor’s degrees in Neuroscience and Biological Sciences from Arizona State University. During her undergrad, she conducted research on neuroinflammation in the context of neurodegenerative diseases at the Biodesign Institute. She completed her degrees with an honors thesis focused on isolating microglial-derived extracellular vesicles to support an ongoing effort to track changes in microglial activation in Parkinson’s disease patients. In the fall of 2024, she joined UCI’s Cellular and Molecular Biosciences program to pursue a PhD. As a rotation student in the Byun lab, she is excited to leverage gene editing to develop an in vitro model for studying Sotos Syndrome. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, exploring Southern California with friends, and reading books at the beach.
Matthew Morcos
Undergraduate Student
Bio coming soon 🙂
Former Lab Members
Mallory Stephens | Associate Specialist (2023-2024)
Daniella Lu | Rotation Student, CMB Program (Fall 2024)
Tristan Tomasyk | Undergraduate Researcher (2024-2025)