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EIP Team

  • Nelly El-Sakkary, Ph.D. - Vice Chair of Exposure to Industry Program

    Nelly El-Sakkary, Ph.D. - Vice Chair of Exposure to Industry Program

    nelsakkary@ucsd.ed

    Department: Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science
    My research: Drug screening and sequencing to identify drugs to treat parasitic disease schistosomiasis
    Favorite thing about the EIP: he fun events organized by the PDA and the fact that it facilitates networking between postdocs.
    Favorite quote:  Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Ying Zhao, PhD - EIP Member

    Ying Zhao, PhD - EIP Member

    yiz640@ucsd.edu

    Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry 

    My research: Epigenetic and genetic regulation in tissue differentiation and disease progression
    Favorite thing about the EIP: Meeting new people and peer outside academia, providing great networking and on-site events for colleagues, expanding the horizon on career choices for postdocs.
  • Guillaume von Gastrow, PhD - EIP member

    Guillaume von Gastrow, PhD - EIP member

    gvongastrow@eng.ucsd.edu

    Department: Nanoengineering

    My research: Understanding degradation pathways of silicon solar cells and panels, and relating them to electrical performance.

    Favorite thing about the EIP: It is a chance for postdocs and San Diego local companies to meet and interact. While the EIP program has been focused towards biotech companies in the past, it is now expanding its scope to engineering companies as well.
  • Ferdous Khuda

    Ferdous Khuda

    manowerekhuda@ucsd.edu

    Department: Cellular and Molecular Medicine

    My research: Genetic tools to identify functional regulators for lipoprotein and iron metabolism in human cells and mice.
    Favorite thing about the PDA: Meeting new people, making new friends and community engagement.
    Favorite quote: Success in not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. [Winston Churchill]
  • Min Zong, Ph.D.

    Min Zong, Ph.D.

    Department: Pathology, School of Medicine
    My research: Dissecting molecular and cellular mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis
    Favorite thing about the EIP: The EIP visits provide postdocs great opportunities to get exposed to the industry environment, understand their work dynamics, and network with company staff to learn how to apply academic skills in a biotech setting as well as other potential career paths.
  • Qiang Zhu, Ph.D.

    Qiang Zhu, Ph.D.

    Department: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

    My research: Disease mechanisms and therapy development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia

    Favorite thing about the EIP: Organizing wonderful events, meeting great people, providing diverse career opportunities to postdoctoral fellows. A great place to develop teamwork and leadership skills!

  • Sudipta Das, Ph.D.

    Sudipta Das, Ph.D.

    Department: Medicine

    My research: Understanding the biology of genomics driving asthma and lung fibrosis.

    Favorite thing about the EIP: Opportunity to connect and work with an amazing group of postdocs, network with industry leaders and explore new career possibilities.

  • Saranya Canchi, Ph.D.

    Saranya Canchi, Ph.D.

    Department: Neurosciences

    My Research: Understanding the role of CRF signaling in Alzheimer's Disease.

    Favorite thing about the EIP: The opportunity to interact and network with industry professionals to gain understanding of the various roles and the required suitable skills. In addition, it is a great platform to develop teamwork, organizational skills and to meet like minded postdoctoral scholars.

Previous EIP Team Members

  • Yaping Zhang, Ph.D.

    Yaping Zhang, Ph.D.

  • Nimish Khanna, Ph.D.

    Nimish Khanna, Ph.D.

    Nimish Khanna transitioned to Synthetic Biologist at Asimov Inc., Boston (2018).
  • Lucile Ryckebusch, Ph.D.

    Lucile Ryckebusch, Ph.D.

    Transitioned to Scientist, Translational Genetics, at Millenium Health, San Diego (2016).
  • Xiong (Sean) Zhang, Ph.D.

    Xiong (Sean) Zhang, Ph.D.

    Department: Ophthalmology 
    My research: Retinal development and stem cell therapy for optic nerve injury
    Favorite thing about the EIP: Learning about different career opportunities in the industry, meeting and networking with scientists and leaders in industry, organizing events that serve our peers.
  • Zac Carrico, Ph.D.

    Zac Carrico, Ph.D.

    Transitioned to Scientist at Illumina, San Diego (2016).
  • Fabian Zanella de Sa, Ph.D.

    Fabian Zanella de Sa, Ph.D.

    Transitioned to Head to Cell Biology at StemoniX, San Diego (2015).
  • Bo Zhou, Ph.D.

    Bo Zhou, Ph.D.

    Department: Biological Sciences
    My research: Study the expression and function of innate immune signaling regulators in neurons.
    Favorite thing about the EIPThis event provides me a great opportunity to get insights into the business and structural aspect of various-size biotech/pharma companies. It is exciting to learn their core science and technology by which basic scientific research is translated into clinical valuable drugs or products. It will also be an awesome journey to join this team to help myself and other UCSD postdocs expanding their horizon on career choices and alternatives.
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    Alejandra Nieto, Ph.D.

    Transitioned to Scientist at F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., Basal, Switzerland (2014).
  • Maria Noutsou, Ph.D.

    Maria Noutsou, Ph.D.

    Transitioned to Product Development/Technical Support Specialist at GenWay Biotech, San Diego (2015).
  • Anindita Sarkar, Ph.D.

    Anindita Sarkar, Ph.D.

    Transitioned to Springboard Fellow at CONNECT - San Diego (2015).
  • Shu Zhou, Ph.D.

    Shu Zhou, Ph.D.

    Department: Pharmacology, School of Medicine 
    My researchGPCRs as novel therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblasts 
    Favorite thing about the EIPThe EIP Program provides great opportunities for UCSD postdocs to interact with local pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Through EIP events I gained valuable insights into industry career development and expanded my professional network. It is a very enjoyable experience working on the EIP team. Hope this program will benefit more UCSD postdocs.
  • Pam Bhattacharya, Ph.D.

    Pam Bhattacharya, Ph.D.

    Department: Bioengineering
    My Research: Developing mathematical and computational models of next generation genomic sequencing data.
    Favorite thing about the EIP: The opportunity to meet, collaborate, and share ideas with fellow postdocs from a variety of fields, and through PDA events explore career development opportunities and alternative career paths.
  • Jie Jiang, Ph.D.

    Jie Jiang, Ph.D.

    Department: Neuroscience, and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
    My research: Understanding pathogenic mechanisms of C9orf72 repeat expansion in ALS/FTD
    Favorite thing about the EIP: EIP provides UCSD postdoctoral scholars an unique platform to interact with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at San Diego. Through this program, postdocs learn different career opportunities outside of academia, and gain first-hand experience of what life look like in industry by networking with colleagues in various companies.

Co-Founders of UCSD Exposure to Industry Program

  • Milos Lazic, Ph.D.

    Milos Lazic, Ph.D.

    Department: Scientist II at Jecure Therapeutics; Former UCSD Postdoctoral Fellow in Pediatric 
    My research: We are focused on the discovery of novel therapeutics for the treatment of fatty liver disease, NASH, and fibrosis. I am a cellular pharmacologist and also lead efforts to determine compound efficacies in animal models of human diseases. 

    Favorite thing about the EIP: Its potential to develop into a platform to enhance collaboration between academia and industry and serve as a professional hiring tool for the companies. Amazing potential for postdocs to network and learn more about the local industry!

     

  • Sheila Semaan, Ph.D.

    Sheila Semaan, Ph.D.

    Department: Product Manager at Biosearch Technologies; Former UCSD Postdoctoral Fellow in Reproductive Medicine 
    My research: Manage and shape the future of the Stellaris(R) RNA FISH product.
    Favorite thing about the EIP: The inspirational interactions with employees in Industry, getting to know UCSD Postdocs, and feeling like EIP will continue to help with career development so that everyone can reach their career goals, armed with the right information!