News

8.28.25 Happy R21 NOA day to the Cortez Lab! 

8.22.25 Natalie is awarded new seed funding from the Dean to develop a science communication graduate course for the division! 

8.19.25 Happy R21 NOA day to the DuBois and Cortez Labs!

8.13.25 Michelle received a travel award to ABRCMS! 

8.7.25 Happy F31 NOA day to Natalie!  

5.27.25 Val is awarded a Koret Mentor Award! 

4.25.25 Michelle passes her QE and Melanie is awarded a STARRS scholarship and Graduate Dean Travel Award to support her travel to present at the American Society for Virology! Alejandro is accepted into the MCD Biology M.S. Program!

3.11.25 Michelle becomes a UC-Doctoral Diversity Initiative Fellow!

2.27.25 Matteo and Nickie receive acceptance letters to grad school!

2.26.25 Alejandro is awarded a Thermo Fisher Research Award at the CAMP Symposium!

1.27.25 Shivani joins the lab as an undergraduate trainee!

11.18.24 Alejandro is on a roll this year and is awarded a Koret Scholarship!

11.18.24 Tanya Castellanos (MCD) begins rotating in the lab

11.14.24 Natalie, Matteo, and Alejandro present at ABRCMS! Alejandro wins a Poster Award!

9.30.24 Mehernaz Haque (MCD) begins rotating in the lab

9.26.24 Val begins teaching BIOL 200A Critical Analysis of Scientific Literature

9.8.24 Nat, Jacob, and Melanie present at FASEB Gastrointestinal Tract XXI in Banff, Canada

7.6.24 Val presents at the International Congress of Mucosal Immunology held in Copenhagen, Denmark

6.20.24  Mariana Gaytan-Salgado starts her ACCESS summer research project in the lab

6.17.24 Val is a keynote speaker at the Viral Pathogenesis & Evolution Retreat @ Fred Hutch in Seattle, WA

4.25.24 Alejandro is accepted into the California Alliance for Minority Programs (CAMP)!

4.5.24 Skar is accepted into the Post-bac program at Baylor College of Medicine!

4.1.24 Michelle joins the lab as an MCD PhD student!

3.25.24 Val attends the Hispanic-Serving Research University Alliance Summit in Arlington, TX

3.19.24 Nat, Jacob & Melanie present posters at BayViro, hosted by Stanford University 

3.7.24 Natalie becomes a UC-Doctoral Diversity Initiative Fellow!

3.2.24 Nat wins the UCSC-wide Grad Slam!

2.21.24 Alejandro Poot joins the lab!

2.8.24 Nat wins the UCSC PBSci Division Grad Slam!

2.7.24 Danny gets into his top grad school pick, way to go!

1.29.24 Christian Montiel (METX) begins rotating in the lab

1.24.24 Nicole Heredia-Osuna joins the lab!

1.2.24 Melanie Kirkpatrick enters the MCD M.S. program

12.16.23 Skar graduates! We are so proud and sad to see her go.

11.20.23 Michelle Pablo (MCD) begins rotating in the lab

11.16.23 Matteo is awarded a Koret Scholarship!

10.26.23 Val, Angelina, Skar, Danny & Matteo attend NDiSTEM Conference in Portland!

10.9.23 Daniel Savala (MCD) begins rotating in the lab

9.28.23 Matteo Anicetti joins the lab!

8.21.23 Angelina receives a travel award to SACNAS!

7.31.23 Melanie Kirkpatrick joins the lab as a Research Specialist

7.17.23 Val participates in the RAPID program at UCSD

6.24.23 American Society for Virology held in Athens, GA, Natalie receives a travel award and presents her first talk. Val presents in the Satellite Symposium!

6.20.23 Angelina Fernando starts her ACCESS summer research project in the lab

5.18.23 Natalie passes her Qualifying Exam!

5.12.23 Skar and Danny receive travel awards to SACNAS!

4.3.23 Samuel Hernandez, B.S. transitions to a Research Specialist and Val begins teaching BIOL 113 Principles of Epidemiology!

3.24.23 Val is awarded a Hellman Fellowship

1.28.23 Val presents at Midwinter Conference of Immunologist at Asilomar, walk-up song

1.9.23 Val begins teaching BIOL 110K Introduction of Laboratory Research

12.1.22 Congrats to Natalie for being selected as a CITL Graduate Pedagogy Fellow!

11.14.22 UC-wide strike for fair contracts NOW

11.14.22 Samira Yitiz (MCD) and Devons Mo (METX) start their rotations in the lab

9.30.22 Art Marquez (MCD) started his rotation in the lab and Ben Rosales joins as a Research Specialist

9.13.22 Skar Lopez and Danny Cruz join the lab!

9.1.22 Jacob Gulman, B.S. transitions to a Research Specialist!

8.19.22 Val helps host the HSI-Doctoral Diversity Initiative Family Science Weekend

8.9.22 Dr. Rebecca DuBois (BME) receives a DEIA Mentorship Supplement to fund collaboration, mentorship, and cross-training in our labs!

7.27.22 Val presents at Mucins in Health & Disease held in Utrecht, The Netherlands 

7.16.22 Val presents at the International Congress of Mucosal Immunology held in Seattle, WA

7.15.22 Ayaka's last day before starting nursing school next month. We are so proud, but also quite sad to see her go!

7.12.22 Notice of award for NIAID Supplement to Promote Research Continuity and Retention of K awardees

6.22.22 Gabby White starts her ACCESS summer research project in the lab

6.20.22 Natalie is awarded a competitive spot on the NIGMS T32 MCD training grant!

3.30.22 Natalie defended her Master's thesis! Big congrats!!!

3.21.22 Natalie joins the lab as the FIRST grad student

2.14.22 Ayaka Lopez joins the lab as a Research Specialist

2.10.22 First invited seminar at Oregon State University, Department of Microbiology

1.24.22 Summer Jordan (MCD) and Sydney Smyer (METX) begin their rotations in the lab!

11.15.21 First rotation students, Fatima Rizvi (METX) and Natalie Pedicino (MCD), start in the lab! 

8.19.21 Back from visit to Newberry Lab @ WUSTL,  funded by the Society for Mucosal Immunology Technique-Sharing Grant 

7.26.21 Notice of award for NIAID K22 "I got money in the bank..."

7.1.21 First day as an Assistant Professor