Our Members

Current Members

Karl Willert, PhD

Principal Investigator
kwillert@health.ucsd.edu

Karl received his Ph.D. from UCSF, did his post-doctoral research at Stanford, and joined UCSD as Assistant Professor in 2008. He is currently a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Christina C. N. Wu, PhD

Project Scientist
c5wu@health.ucsd.edu

Naycari De Luna

Lab Manager
n1deluna@health.ucsd.edu

Neha Balaji

Master’s Student
nebalaji@health.ucsd.edu

Neha is a Master’s student in the Department of Bioengineering, UCSD and is from Bengaluru, India.  She is currently working on developing a Lipid Nanoparticle based drug delivery system targeting FZD7 overexpression in cancer cells to deliver cancer therapeutics in a site-specific manner.  Outside of research, she enjoys running, hiking, and breaking down movies and TV shows.

Erin D. Jeffs

CIRM Master’s Student
ejeffs@calpoly.edu

Erin is currently earning her graduate degree through Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo’s Regenerative Medicine Program and is thrilled to have her work at the Willert Lab be a part of her studies.  Her research is focused on the role of FZD7 as both a cancer stem cell marker and therapeutic target for mammary tumors.  Erin’s work involves both in vitro mammary organoid studies as well as in vivo cell transplantation studies in a murine model.  When not in lab, Erin enjoys playing video games, hiking, and rock climbing.

Sakshi Pradhan

Master’s Student
spradhan3408@sdsu.edu

Nathaniel Kenner

Staff Research Associate

Nathaniel is currently working on his Bachelor’s of Biological Sciences at California State University San Marcos. He is with the Willert Lab as a CIRM Intern through the CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. His research is focused on generating a novel Wnt mimetic using C. diff Toxin B. Outside of the lab, Nathaniel enjoys disc golf and being a husband and father.

Hailey Rowe

Staff Research Associate

Rylee Start

Staff Research Associate
rstart@ucsd.edu

Rylee completed his Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California – San Diego. He joined the Willert lab in March 2021 as an undergraduate student and he has since joined the lab as a Staff Research Associate. He has been working on protein purification and studying chromosome mis-segregation. In his free time, Rylee enjoys biking, cooking, and exploring San Diego.

Ashley Key

CIRM Undergraduate Student

Meghana Krishnan

Undergraduate Student
mkrishnan@ucsd.edu