The Team

Sha Sun (Principal Investigator)

Dr. Sha Sun joined UC Irvine from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she investigated lncRNAs in mammalian X-inactivation in the laboratory of Dr. Jeannie T. Lee.  Prior to that, she worked at UC Berkeley, investigating the Drosophila feminizing switch gene, Sex-lethal, in Dr. Thomas W. Cline’s lab.  Dr. Sun earned her Ph.D. in Evolution from the University of Chicago, studying molecular genetics of speciation under the supervision of Dr. Chung-I Wu.  Dr. Sun was born in China and obtained her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking University.

    Dongning Chen, PhD

    Dongning is a Postdoc in the Sun Lab. She obtained her doctoral degree in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests are related to matrix biology (collagen/ECM proteins interactions) and mechanobiology (matrix/cells interactions). Her current work in the Sun lab is exploring the correlation between matrix and Xist gene.
    In her free time, Dongning enjoys hiking and cooking. 
       

    Ikrame Naciri, PhD

    Ikrame is a Postdoc in Dr. Sun’s Lab. She obtained her doctoral degree in Epigenetics and Oncology from Paris Diderot University in France, where she worked in Dr. Pierre-Antoine Defossez’s lab. In the lab, she is interested in the role of lncRNAs in cancer progression. She is also interested in identifying proteins that interact with lncRNAs using CRISPR technology. Her current work focuses on the function of XIST in ovarian cancer progression. During her free time, she enjoys baking and spending time with her children and husband.

    Maria D. Andrade Ludeña 

    Maria is a second-year PhD student in the Sun Lab. She graduated from UC Irvine with a B.S. in Developmental and Cell Biology. She performed undergraduate research with Dr. Lee Bardwell studying cancer cell signaling pathways. She is interested in the cross-species differences of X-Chromosome Inactivation, and how lncRNAs interact with their environment. In her free time, Maria enjoys going to the beach, gardening, and spending time with her cat, Pipa. 

    SUN LAB ALUMNI

    • Sarah Carmona, PhD
    • Heather Karner, PhD
    • Benjamin Lin (Former undergraduate student in the lab, Excellence in Research Recipient, UROP and SURP Fellow)
    • Kathy Arroyo (UROP and SURP Fellow)
    • Najla Bernichi-Shilleh (UROP Fellow)
    • Shengyu (Neo) Xu
    • Raymond Wen
    • Yume Tateo
    • Sherry (Shichong) Liu (Research Specialist)
    • Ang Zhang (Masters student)
    • Micaela Erhard (UROP and SURP Fellow)
    • Michael Tram (Woodbridge High School Student)
    • Daniel Gutierrez (Undergraduate student, Winter-Spring 2017)
    • Antonio Zapata (Biomedical Informatics Training Summer Research Fellow, Summer 2016)
    • Chiu-Ho (Judy) T. Webb (Postdoctoral fellow, 2014-2016), Scientist at ResearchDX
    • Tristan Chou (Lab manager, 2014-2015), Georgetown University Graduate School
    • Jinal Chaudhari (Undergraduate student, UROP fellow, 2014-2015)
    • Daniel Haensel (Rotation student, Spring 2014)
    • Jovani Catalan-dibene (Rotation student, Winter 2014)