Matthew Inlay, PhD
Associate professor (minlay@uci.edu)
Matthew Inlay received his Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 1997, then moved to UC San Diego for graduate school. There he joined the Yang Xu lab and did his thesis work in Immunology on the regulation of V(D)J recombination by the immunoglobulin kappa light chain enhancers. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in Biology in 2003, he moved back to Northern California in 2005 to join Irv Weissman’s lab at Stanford University for his post-doc. There he studied lymphocyte development, hematopoietic stem cell biology, and subsequently embryonic hematopoiesis. In 2013, Matt returned to Southern California to join the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UC Irvine as an assistant professor, where he now resides with his wife, son, and daughter.
Angel Ayala, MS
Phd student (laayala1@uci.edu)
Angel earned his B.S. in Biology from Cal Poly Pomona. After graduating, he joined San Francisco State University as a CIRM fellow, where he completed his masters thesis in the laboratory of Marius Wernig MD, at Stanford University. As a CIRM fellow Angel studied microglia replacement as a potential strategy to treat neurological disorders. After leaving Stanford, Angel joined UCI as a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Inlay. Currently he is studying glucocorticoid-induced reduction of graft-versus-host disease, a complication associated with bone marrow transplantation. Apart from lab, Angel enjoys spending time with his wife, two daughters, and cat, and is an avid collector of vinyl records.
Alizeh Ahmedani
Undergraduate researcher (aahmedan@uci.edu)
Alizeh is an undergraduate student at UCI majoring in biological sciences. In the lab, she focuses on closed culture of T cells using various drug cocktails in an effort to mimic how bone marrow grafts are treated in a clinical setting. Outside of lab, she enjoys baking, playing with slime, and traveling.
Alexii Villamar
CIRM Scholar (abvillam@uci.edu)
Alexii is a CIRM COMPASS scholar and an undergraduate researcher in the Inlay lab. Her focus in the lab is understanding the effects of glucocorticoids on NK cells after graft conditioning.
Chanel De Smet Master’s student (cdesmet@uci.edu) Chanel earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is currently pursuing her master’s in biotechnology (MSBT) at UC Irvine. Chanel is investigating how cAMP activators influence T cell populations in the context of glucocorticoid-mediated reduction of graft-versus-host disease. Outside of the lab, Chanel enjoys spending time hiking, running, and playing volleyball!