PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Yang Hai, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, Santa Barbara
B.S. Chemistry, Peking University, 2011
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 2016
LSRF Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA, 2020
Email: hai[AT]chem.ucsb.edu
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
Join us!
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Jin Yan (Year 2020)
Research Interest: Enzyme Structure-Function Relationship
Favorite Enzyme: Proteases
Science Hero: Hans Adolf Krebs
Fun Fact: One stress-relief activity for Jin is popping bubble wrap.
Asish N. Chacko (Year 2020)
Research Interest: Natural product biosynthesis and enzyme engineering
Favorite Enzyme: Nitrogenase
Science Hero: A. P. J. Abudul Kalam.
Fun Fact: Asish’s home is located 2.7 meters below sea level and about 90% of his village is covered by water bodies!
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Jasper Moh (Class of 2022, Biochemistry Major)
Research Interest: Epigenetics and biosynthesis of medicinal compounds
Favorite Enzyme: Amylase
Science Hero: Louis Pasteur
Fun Fact: Jasper sometimes spends hours of his free time looking at desert roads on
Google Maps
Zixuan Jiang (Class of 2022, Chemistry Major)
Research Interest: Enzymology and natural product biosynthesis
Favorite Enzyme: Telomerase
Science Hero: Rosalind Elsie Franklin
Fun Fact: Zixuan’s happiness comes from eating durian every day.
Darwin Lara (Class of 2022, Chemistry Major)
Research Interest: Drug design and synthetic chemistry
Favorite Enzyme: Creatine Kinase
Science Hero: Elizabeth S. Sattely
Fun Fact: Darwin likes watching anime.
Chloe Reavill (Class of 2022, Biochemistry Major)
Research Interest: Enzymology and drug development
Favorite Enzyme: Pyruvate Dehydrogenase
Science Hero: Rosalind Franklin
Fun Fact: Chloe was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and she has not lived anywhere else until she came out to Santa Barbara for college.
Matthew Hurtado
Research Interest: Epigenetics and drug design
Favorite Enzyme: Chymotrypsin
Science Hero: Ernest Rutherford
Fun Fact: Matthew has successfully completed the Buffalo Wild Wings challenge
Christopher Yeh
Research Interest: Metabolic engineering and drug development
Favorite Enzyme: Papain
Science Hero: Shen Kuo
Fun Fact: Christopher likes to play shogi (Japanese chess variant)
Wendy Wang
Research Interest: Natural products synthesis
Favorite Enzyme: Acetyl-CoA carboxylase
Science Hero: Marie Curie
Fun Fact: Buffalo wings are the only spicy food she can eat
Group Alumni
Zhongrui Li (Research Assistant, 2020-2021)
Current position: Ph.D. program at TSRI (San Diego)
Benjamin Jones (Graduate student, 2020-2021)
