Yujiro Umezaki, PhD
Yujiro Umezaki received a PhD in biology at Okayama University, Japan in 2011. He worked at Okayama University researching Drosophila circadian rhythms from 2011 to 2012. He then moved to Juntendo University School of Medicine to study neurodegenerative diseases using Drosophila from April 2012 to October 2013. Since November 2013, he has worked in the Hamada lab as a post-doc studying the temperature preference rhythms of Drosophila. He is now Assistant Professor in Setsunan University in Japan.
Victoria Zafra, BS
Victoria Zafra is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Davis majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a minor in Nutrition. She is interested in pursuing a career in research, particularly interested in protein research. Victoria started with the Hamada lab in April 2023
Anthony Yap, BS
Anthony Yap is an undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. He aims to pursue a career in the medical field after graduating. Outside of school, he enjoys playing sports, music, and spending time with family. Anthony started volunteering at the Hamada Lab in October 2023.
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Cheryl Heng, BS
Cheryl Heng is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Davis studying Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. She is interested in pursuing a career in healthcare and research, particularly in the fields of neuroscience and pharmaceutical sciences. Cheryl started with the Hamada lab in April 2022.
Cora Fisher
Cora Fisher is an undergraduate student majoring in Neuroscience. She is interested in pursuing a career in research post-grad, particularly studying seizure activity within model organisms in order to better understand this within humans. She began in the Hamada Lab in January of 2024.​
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Madison Aikawa, BS
Madison is planning to graduate in Fall 2022 with a BS in Global Disease Biology from UC Davis. In the years that follow graduation Madison hopes to attend veterinary school. She plans to work for the Hamada Lab from Summer 2021 to Summer 2023 as an undergraduate research assistant.
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Sheena Uchino, BS
Sheena Uchino graduated from the UC Davis in June 2023 with a B.S. in Clinical Nutrition and minor in Community Development. Sheena began volunteering at the Hamada Lab in July 2021. She will be attending UCLA in Fall of 2023 to pursue her Master’s in Public Health Community Health Sciences
Benjamin Falkenstein, BS
Benjamin will be graduating from UC Davis in June of 2022 with a BS in Nutrition Sciences and Biology. His plans are to pursue medical school after graduating.
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Jay Suh, BS
Jay Suh graduated from the University of Cincinnati in May 2020 with a BS in Medical Sciences and a minor in Psychology. He worked in the Hamada Lab from 2018-2020 and participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) with mentor Yujiro Umezaki. He will be attending the University of Chicago for medical school in the fall of 2021.
Tiffany Nguyen, BS
Tiffany will be graduating from the University of Cincinnati in May 2021 with a BS in Biological Sciences and BA in Liberal Arts. Her plans are to pursue medical school after graduation. She has worked in the Hamada Lab as an Undergraduate Lab Aide from Spring 2017 to Winter of 2020.
Rachel Kimura, BS
Rachel Kimura graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a BBA in Finance in 2019 and a MS in Finance in 2020. Rachel volunteered in the Hamada lab from spring 2019 to spring 2020. Starting the fall of 2021 she will be enrolled in medical school.
Shyh-Chi Chen, PhD
Shyh-Chi Chen received his PhD in the Biology Department at Queen’s University, Canada in 2013. During his PhD, he studied the non-visual functions of photopigments in fish chromatophores. He then studied the sociochronobiology in honeybees and bumblebees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Since September 2015, he has worked on the role of rhodopsins in Drosophila temperature preference in Hamada Lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
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Rasneet Grewal, BS
Rasneet Grewal is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Davis studying Biological Psychology with a Minor in Public Health Sciences. Her plans are to pursue physician assistant school after graduating in June of 2024. Rasneet started working in the Hamada Lab in May 2023.
Jeff McGee, BS
Jeff McGee is a University of California, Davis undergraduate student planning to graduate with a BS in Biological Sciences in the Spring of 2023. He began working at the Hamada Lab in the Fall of 2022 and is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician who also volunteers at Woodland Memorial Hospital. After graduation, he plans to attend medical school.
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Katherine Lim, BS
Katherine Lim is an undergraduate student majoring in a BS in Psychology at UC Davis. She plans to pursue a career in healthcare after graduation. Outside of schooling, she enjoys spending time with her family and playing the piano. Katherine began volunteering at the Hamada Lab in January, 2023.
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Jalal Saleh, BS
My name is Jalal Saleh, and I am an undergraduate Pre-med student at UC Davis majoring in biological science. I transferred from Foothill College from the bay area to UC Davis. I am planning to graduate in spring 2024. My goal is to attend medical school after graduation. I was born and raised in Jordan and came to the US four years ago to study and work. I speak Arabic and English fluently. I enjoyed working with lab equipment and recording results since I was doing chemistry and physics lab, which motivated me to join research labs. I am excited to work at the Hamada lab and meet new people.
Elinor Washington
Elinor Washington is an undergraduate student at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and plans to major in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. She is volunteering in the Hamada lab in the summer of 2023. She will graduate in the spring of 2026 and intends on going to medical school to pursue a career in surgery.
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Baian Bnyata, BS
Baian Bnyata, Undergraduate student at the University of California, Davis. Will graduate in 2022 with a BS in Neurology, Physiology and Behavior. She is scribe certified, and participated with Doctors Without Borders in Honduras, Summer 2021, and started with Hamada lab in Summer 2021.
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Abigail Riley, MS
Abigail Riley graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2019 with a BS in Neuroscience and Biology. She joined the Hamada Lab in 2018 as an undergraduate research assistant, and upon graduation, began working with the lab full time. Abigail is currently a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati pursuing an MS in Cosmetic Science.
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Eleanor Grethel, BS
Elle graduated from The University of Cincinnati in 2021 with a BS in Biology, and a minor in Chemistry and Global Health. Elle currently works at The UC Health Microbiology Lab processing COVID-19 tests. In the future, Elle looks forward to attending graduate school and living abroad. She worked as a lab - aid for Dr. Hamada from March 2019 - April 2020.
Erika Nguyen, BS
Erika Nguyen graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2020 with a BS in Medical Sciences and a certificate in Minority Health. She worked as a research assistant in the Hamada Lab from 2017-2020, and she also participated in the SURF program in the summer of 2018 with mentor Yujiro Umezaki. Erika will be entering medical school in the fall of 2021.
From 2004 to 2019
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Postdocs:
Haruna Kaneko, PhD
Haruna Kaneko received a BS in biology in 2002 and an MS in biology in 2004, both at Tokyo University of Science. She transferred to Tokyo Medical and Dental University, where she graduated with a PhD in medical sciences in 2008. She worked in the Hamada Lab as a post-doc from October 2009-January 2011.
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Xin Tang, PhD (current: postdoc at U of Cincinnati)
Xin Tang received her BS in China. In 2010, she graduated from Vanderbilt University with a PhD in neuroscience. Before coming to Cincinnati Children’s to work as a research fellow, she studied the modulation of the GABAA ligand-gated ion channel by protein phosphorylation under the supervision of Robert Macdonald, MD, PhD. Xin was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab from April 2010 to July 2018.
Undergraduate students:
Michael Platt (current: MD student at Ohio University)
Michael Platt is a student at Xavier University (2012) studying biology in preparation for a medical health care career. From 2009-2011, Platt volunteered in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Cincinnati Children’s. He worked in the Hamada Lab as a lab-aide from January 2011-May 2012 and as a student III during the summer of 2013.
Lauren Head (current: PhD student at Emory University)
Lauren Head graduated from Xavier University in December 2010 with a BS in biology with minors in chemistry and peace studies. While an undergraduate, Head worked for Dr. Yutaka Yoshida in the Division of Developmental Biology at Cincinnati Children’s as a laboratory aide from 2008-2010, and for Fumika Hamada as a SURF student in the summer of 2010. She worked in the Hamada Lab as a RAII from January 2011-May 2012.
Manna Fujiwara
Manna Fujuwara came to the Hamada Lab from the Tokyo University of Science as a visiting undergrad student from September 2012 – February 2013.
Haley Herchek
Haley Herchek studied biology, chemistry, and peace studies at Xavier University and graduated in the spring of 2014.She became an aide in the Hamada Lab in the fall 2012.
Victoria Nguyen (current: MS student at UC Berkeley)
Victoria Nguyen graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a BS in biology in 2015. She worked as a lab aide in the Hamada Lab from August 2014 to July 2015.
Fay Alwattari (current: MS student at Rutgers Univ.)
Fay Alwattari graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a BS in Neurobiology and a minor in psychology in December 2018. Alwattari volunteered and then worked as a lab aide in the Hamada lab from November 2016- April 2018.
Michelle Chu (current: MSTP program in Indiana University)
Michelle Chu started in the Hamada lab as a high school summer fellow in 2012. She continued to work as a lab aide in the lab during summers and on school breaks until she graduated from Grove City College in Pennsylvania in 2018 where she majored in molecular biology with minors in computer science and math. She is currently enrolled in the MSTP program at Indiana University.
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Hanna Seo (current: MD program in KY college of Osteopathic Medicine)
Hanna Seo graduated from University of Cincinnati in 2017 with her BBS in operations management. She worked in the Hamada Lab from 2015-2017 and is currently pursuing her DO at KY college of Osteopathic Medicine.
Prasun Shah
Prasun Shah graduated from Xavier University in May 2019 with a BS in biology and minors in chemistry, spanish and peace & justice studies. She volunteered in the Hamada lab in the summer of 2017. She will begin medical school in the fall of 2019.
Serena Kaul
Serena Kaul is an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University and will graduate in May 2020 with a BS in Neuroscience and minors in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Sexuality Studies. She participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) with mentor Shyh-Chi Chen in 2017.
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Jenni Chu Nguyen
Jenni Chu Nguyen will be graduating in May 2020 from the University of Cincinnati with a BS in Environmental Studies, a minor in Biological Sciences, and certificates in Pre-Medicine and Environmental Literacy. She worked in the Hamada Lab from Fall 2017 to Summer 2019.
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Research Assistants:
Sean Hayley
Sean Hayley graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2009 with an AS in veterinary technology. A 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Sean worked as a veterinary technician in a general practice animal hospital for two years before starting at Cincinnati Children’s in October 2010 as a laboratory animal technician for Veterinary Services. He was a RAII from May 2013 to September 2016.
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Jennifer Leslie
Jennifer Leslie attended the University of Dayton and graduated in December 2008 with a BS in biology and a BA in chemistry. She worked in Dr. Yoshida's laboratory in the Division of Developmental Biology at Cincinnati Children's as a research assistant from January 2009 to April 2012 before joining the Hamada lab from April 2012 to July 2014.