A great number of our undergraduates conduct research alongside world-renowned experts to improve human health (physical and mental health) and the health of the environments we live in.
For the past twelve years, UCLA has been spotlighting and celebrating its undergraduate scholars at Undergraduate Research Week – the campus’ largest undergraduate academic conference.
This year, over 1,000 UCLA undergraduates presented their faculty-mentored research, representing a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, arts, social sciences, life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering.
Sixty-four UCLA students were awarded Dean’s Prizes for demonstrating excellence in research and scholarship. The vast majority of this year’s awardees (46) are Life Sciences’ undergraduates.
Great undergraduate research requires dedicated mentoring. In recognition of their consistent and enthusiastic mentoring of undergraduate research this year, five Life Sciences professors were presented with a UCLA Faculty Mentoring Award.
Life Sciences’ 2025 Dean’s Prize Winners
Research category: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering
| Student’s Name | Major | Project Title | Mentor |
| Lily Anderson | Biology | Examining Species-Specific Seed Bank Persistence in an Annual Grassland | Dr. Nathan Kraft |
| Isabel Angres | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Analyzing the Formation of Human Primordial Germ Cell-Like Cells Through a Peri-Gastruloid Model | Dr. Amander Clark |
| Chloe Borja | Physiological Science | Liver-Directed Disruption of Hsd3b7 in Adult Mice to Study Bile Acid and Lipid Physiology | Dr. Thomas Vallim |
| Maria Caballero | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Investigating the Effects of MECP2 Mutation on Neurogenesis in a Mosaic Brain Organoid Model for Rett Syndrome | Dr. Bennett Novitch |
| Erika Cha | Psychobiology | Optimizing Cardiomyocyte Differentiation from iPSCs Using Heparin and Metabolic Selection | Dr. Rene Packard |
| Kushal Chatterjee | Neuroscience | Enhancing Plasma Membrane Hyperpolarization to Mitigate Pro-Inflammatory Responses During Acute Lung Injury | Dr. Andreas Swingshackl |
| Winston Chen | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Denosumab Enhances Primary Stability of Dental Implants in Mice | Dr. Rueben Kim |
| Jacob Fischer | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | The Role of the POLYCOMB REPRESSIVE COMPLEX 2 in Defining Expression Boundaries in Arabidopsis | Dr. Jeffrey Long |
| Tess Fleser | Physiological Science | A Novel Function for Sarcospan in Skeletal Muscle Membrane Repair | Dr. Rachelle Crosbie |
| Sofia Garza | Human Biology and Society | Leveraging Patient Derived Xenograft Models to Elucidate Gynecologic Carcinosarcoma Pathophysiology | Dr. Sanaz Memarzadeh |
| Anne Go | Human Biology and Society | Determining Effects of HDAC6 Knockout and HDAC(6) Inhibition on Human-Induced Cortical Neurons | Dr. Harley Kornblum |
| Anton Guo | Physiological Science | The Role of nmnat and wallenda on Sleep-Dependent Synaptic Reorganization in Drosophila | Dr. Jeffrey Donlea |
| Galen Heuer | Computational and Systems Biology | Fragmentomic Cell-Free DNA Features in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis | Dr. Noah Zaitlen |
| Kenneth Ho | Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics | Characterizing The Transcriptional Factor Network That Define Human Memory Natural Killer Cells | Dr. Timothy O’Sullivan |
| Henry Hsieh | Psychobiology | Mapping the mitochondrial and lysosomal landscape in microglia during aging and models of PD | Dr. Lindsay De Biase |
| Rio Hundley | Psychobiology | Reorganization of Prefrontal Circuits Drives Long-Term Memory | Dr. Laura DeNardo |
| Kyle Kalindjian | Computational and Systems Biology | Interferon-Gamma Responsive Oasl1 and Oasl2 Drive the Transition of Cardiac Fibroblasts Towards a Pro-Inflammatory Phenotype During Aging | Dr. Pearl Quijada |
| Joanna Kim | Neuroscience | Sex Differences in Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Healthcare Utilization Among Individuals with DGBI in the Global Population | Dr. Lin Chang |
| Jonathan Le | Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology | Targeting STING to improve functions of CAR Macrophage | Dr. Anjie Zhen |
| Rachelle Le | Computational and Systems Biology | Novel T Cell Determinants of Female-Sex Bias in Autoimmune Thyroid Disease | Dr. Melissa Lechner |
| Cecilia Lei | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Understanding the Role of Autophagy in Dendritic Cells in Melanoma | Dr. Hilary Coller |
| Chengyuan Li | Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology | Topological measures on phylogenetic trees of the antibody repertoire reveal the underlying kinetics of B-cell fate decisions | Dr. Alexander Hoffman |
| Coline Luo | Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology | Electronic Cigarette Smoke Induced Injury Effect in Airway Cilia Structure and Function | Dr. Brigitte Gomperts |
| Sophia Luo | Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology | Myeloid-specific Polymerase Gamma is critical for the maintenance of mitochondrial function and metabolic health of female mice | Dr. Andrea Hevener |
| Daniela Montero | Molecular, Cell, and Development Biology | Regulation of Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy By Knockout of Slit2 | Dr. Pearl Quijada |
| Lilane Morath | Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics | Post-transcriptional Regulation of Trained Immunity | Dr. Quen Cheng |
| Sarah O’Malley | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Optimizing Lentiviral Vector Design to Enhance Anti-HIV CAR Function and Efficacy | Dr. Scott Kitchen |
| Sophia Ong | Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics | A Biomimetic 3D Vascularized Tumoroid System to Model Glioblastoma Angiogenesis In Vitro | Dr. Yvonne Chen |
| Elizabeth Park | Psychobiology | Analysis of Premature Death Risk from Lupus Reveals Profound Racial/Ethnic Differences: A Nationwide Population-based Study, 2018-2024 | Dr. Ram Singh |
| Sydney Silverman | Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics | Designing Pathogen-Inspired Cationic Polymers to Promote Endosomal Escape | Dr. Andrea Kasko |
| Arnav Singh | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Estrogen Receptor Alpha Deficiency Induces Fibrosis in a Cellular Model of the Postmenopausal Heart | Dr. Andrea Hevener |
| Lavie Tran | Physiological Science | Klotho Accelerates Muscle Fiber Growth Following Acute Injury of Old Muscle | Dr. James Tidball |
| Sarah Wang | Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics | Drp1 Regulates Mitochondrial Health and Controls Skeletal Muscle Mass Through the Erk1/2-Nur77 Pathway | Dr. Zhenqi Zhou |
| Wilson Zheng | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Exploring the Metabolic Flexibility of Stem-Cell-Derived Squamous Cell Carcinomas via Pharmacological Inhibitors | Dr. William Lowry |
Research category: Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
| Student’s Name | Major | Project Title | Mentor |
| Madison Bishop | Psychology | From Hearing to Understanding: How Parents’ Language Impacts Children’s Emotion Categorization | Dr. Catherine Sandhofer |
| Joshua Chandran | Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology | Evaluation of Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Implementation in the Nama Sub-county of Uganda | Dr. Gregory Pierce |
| Dhanya Charan | Cognitive Science + Linguistics and Psychology | Resyllabification as a form of Empty-Onset Repair in English-Learning Children | Dr. Megha Sundara and Dr. Victoria Mateu |
| Gianna Clarot | Psychobiology | Heightened Risk of Psychopathology in Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder | Dr. Jennifer Silvers |
| Anne Gabrielle Go | Human Biology & Society | Assessing a Role-playing Game for Public Health Decision Making | Dr. Michelle Rensel |
| Ananya Katappagari | Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics | Evaluation of Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Implementation in the Nama Sub-county of Uganda | Dr. Gregory Pierce |
| Kristina Guadalupe Lopez | Psychology and Chicanx Studies | Inequalities in Child Welfare | Dr. Lauren C. Ng |
| Chengzhen (Angelina) Meng | Psychology | Tuned In Together: How Early Caregiver Interactions Shape the Child’s Interoceptive Function | Dr. Bridget Callaghan |
| Sanjana Narayanan | Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | Their Eyes, Their Lens: Empowering Student Voices Through Photographic Storytelling and Exploring Youth Perspectives on School Environment and Civic Engagement in Vadamanapakkam, India | Dr. Eri Srivatsan |
| Isabella Patton | Human Biology and Society B.S | Evaluation of Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Implementation in the Nama Sub-county of Uganda | Dr. Gregory Pierce |
| Jerry Wu | Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology | Evaluation of Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Implementation in the Nama Sub-county of Uganda | Dr. Gregory Pierce |
| Wanchen Yu | Psychology, Communication | Trust in AI: The Influence of Embedded Ideologies in AI-Generated Content on People’s Perceptions | Dr. Steven Peterson |
To see all of UCLA’s Dean’s Prize winners, click here.
Great undergraduate research requires dedicated mentoring. In recognition of their consistent and enthusiastic mentoring of undergraduate research this year, five Life Sciences professors were presented with a UCLA Faculty Mentoring Award.