Principal Investigator

Jesse Dixon MD, PhD
Associate Professor
- (858) 453-4100 x1546
Postdoctoral Fellows

Tessa Popay
Postdoctoral Fellow

Yunwen Wu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yunwen received her undergraduate degree from Southwest University and earned her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Zhejiang University in China. Her research interests focus on understanding the dynamics of chromatin architectures and how it influences transcription during developmental processes. Outside the lab, she enjoys exploring new foods, traveling, and spending time with her family.
Graduate Students

Morgan Black
Graduate Student

Tula Keal
Graduate Student
Tula obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Arizona State University in Molecular and Cell Biology. As a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences Program at UCSD, she studies the role of genome organizing factors in facilitating oncogene activation at structural variants. Specifically, she is interested in how structural variants can promote brain tumor progression through these mechanisms. In her free time, Tula likes to cook, explore old movies, and see live music.

Ami Pant
Graduate Student
Ami graduated from UCLA with a BS in Biochemistry and a Statistics and Data Science Minor. She worked as a research assistant for two years before joining the lab as a PhD student in 2025. She is interested in the role of the cohesin subunit NIPBL in mediating cell cycle progression and its role in maintaining sister chromatid cohesion. She enjoys her free time at the beach, visiting national parks, and hanging out with friends.
Master’s Students

Meghana Hariprasad
Master’s Student
Meghana recently graduated from UC San Diego with a BS in Molecular and Cell Biology. As a Master’s student in Biology at UCSD, she studies the role of CTCF in the formation of Topologically Associating Domains (TADs) across diverse metazoan species. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, spending time outdoors with her friends, and cooking.